1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days by Albert Stevens Crockett

Many Schools in One But when that laboratory of Bacchic endeavor was in its heyday, students came from far and wide-from all corners of the globe. They flocked about the rectangular Bar counter and drank deeply of what was good stuff, if not wisdom. As soon as the first bartender appeared in the morning, before even arranging the multitude of glasses of various sizes and shapes on the "high altar" that took up the central space of the rectangle, he must satisfy the demands of at least half a dozen accumulated patrons, either for breakfast appetizers or for something to take away what was left of the jag of the night before. From five o'clock in the evening until eight, the room was jammed at its tables and at its' counter, and late– comers, whose "innards" were sending out an S.O.S., found themselves impeded in their progress toward sa tis– faction by S.R.O. conditions. In order to reach that bar, men struggled and pushed and sometimes exchanged blows. During those three hours named, the Waldorf Bar was Wall Street moved bodily uptown for an adjourned ses– sion of the Stock Exchange, with men betting on how stocks would perform the next day. In ~i:ie discreet cpr– ner a ticker kept clicking off news. Here market pools were often formed. Here were to be found men who were willing to bet on anything, and to any amount. Financiers and market operators, with names that gained newspaper front pages every day or so, clustered about the tables, or joined in the maggot-like surge that squirmed for a foothold on the substantial brass tradition that ran along the bottom of the counter. Some who once gained such a post of vantage never left until the Bar closed. [ 17]