1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days by Albert Stevens Crockett

OldWaldotf Bar Days

INSPIRATIONAL COMPOSITION AND FREE LUNCH

The like of the rectangular counter that graced the room, and what happened behind it, and before it, and passed over it, may never again be seen in this country-at least in our time. Many forms of beverage dated their origin to the inspiration of some clever Waldorf bar– tender. Or, perhaps, it was a translation of the passing fancy of a patron who wanted something different to drink, and entirely of his own conception. If the result met his expectations, he might thereafter call only for his own cocktail, or whatever it was, and the bartender, out of compliment, would christen the new drink after its godfather. A school of drinking, and a distinctive one, the Wal– dorf's Bar undoubtedly was. And-which may surprise many-it was a real school of art-a school in which more than one connoisseur who has since spent hundreds of thousands in collecting paintings and sculpture got his first tuition from the pictures on the Bar walls, whose appeal was often emphasized by the cumulative influence of cocktails or highballs. More than one middle-aged American who has sur– vived into the era that has seen bootlegging grow into one of our most important industries, has reason to re– member gratefully at least one feature of this particular American School of Drinking, and in which, perhaps, it was preeminent among institutions of similar learning. This was the free lunch table. There are many rich men in this land to-day, who, were they frank, could date their first acquaintance with Russian caviar to that gen-

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