1935 Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book

V. HISTORICAL

THE OLD WALDORF BAR 1897-1919 "And drop upon its grave a tear." N OT far from the spot where the Indian chief who sold Peter Minuit the Island of Manhattan coined the expression, "Here's how!" when he tackled the bottle of rum that the crafty Dutchman threw a~er his twenty– four dollars to bind the bargain; not far from that spiritu– ous spot, in later years, arose a mighty hotel. In one of its great halls, disciples, if not descendants, of the noble red man were wont to assemble every afternoon, and to preface, as well as conclude, with his utterance on that memorable occasion, deals which caused the original New York real estate speculation to dwindle to the proportions of a fly-speck. What some of those men did, under the influence of a just-ended session of the Stock Exchange, of the news– ticker that kept discharging its tape into a waste-basket, and possibly-and probably-of what was dispensed in that hall by a dozen talented bartenders, helped make American history. Men staked fortunes there; they formed pools; they plotted to corner markets. For years the names of certain of them made the first page of the newspapers almost every. day. They were, in their way, giants, and they took their ease in a Gargantuan way. Many of that noble army of gallant drinkers I knew by name; many others I knew by sight. The majority 150