1931 Old Waldorf Bar Days by Albert Stevens Crockett

OldWaldorf Bar Days

MR. MORGAN'S DAILY M A NHATTAN To name the important figures that were to be seen at various times in that Barroom during its first fifteen or twenty years would be like settingdown most of the names from various editions of Who's Who in America-ex– cepting, of course, always preachers-and including a good-sized list taken from the British Who's Who and the Almanach de Gotha. Later, the place lost many of the head-liners that during its early years helped win it distinction. And from the first, one should stress that not every visitor to the Bar "crooked his elbow." The room was one of the real sights of New York. Perhaps, its most famous patron during its first decade was the late J. Pierpont Morgan, the grea t financier. Morgan had started patronizing the old Cafe-the sit– down Bar that was the predecessor of the Bar that be– came famous. For some years after the new place with the brass rail was opened, he continued to call almost daily. But he seldom lingered. H is habit was to come in after the close of the Market down town and have Johnnie Solon, whose role will command later exposition, compose a Manhattan cocktail for him. Two of the early frequenters of the Waldorf Bar, when it was in its chrysalitic, or "sit-down" stage, wereWilliam R. Travers, a well-known New York fin ancier, and his close friend "Larry" (Lawrence) Jerome, a stock-broker in the days of the Jay; Gould influence in Wall Street. Larry Jerome was famous in his generation as a wit. His son, William Travers Jerome, named after his bosom fri end, through his big fight against Tammany H all and his prosecution of the Thaw case, was to make the Dis- [ 24).