P. J. Clarke's
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
P. J. Clarke's is a famous saloon, established 1884 and occupying a building located at 915 Third Avenue (the legal name of the establishment) on the northeast corner of 55th Street in New York City.
The building is a holdout and is surrounded by a 45 story skyscraper. Clarke's former owners, the Lavezzo brothers, signed a 99-year lease in a lucrative deal hammered out with Tishman Realty and Construction. However due to financial reverses the Lavezzos were forced to sell their interest to a consortium, which includes George Steinbrenner, Timothy Hutton, and others.
The bar was used to represent Nat's Bar in the Ray Milland movie The Lost Weekend, directed by Billy Wilder. Charles R. Jackson, author of the novel on which that movie was based, was a daily regular at P. J. Clarke's. The bar has catered to a number of famous or infamous notables over the years. Johnny Mercer penned One for My Baby on a napkin while sitting at the bar at P.J. Clarke's (The bartender at that time was named Tommy Joyce, and Mercer reportedly apologized to Joyce, saying "I couldn't get your name to rhyme".) Nat King Cole proclaimed in the late 1950s that his P.J. Clarke's Bacon Cheeseburger was "The Cadillac of burgers!" Frank Sinatra was an extremely generous tipper at P.J. Clarke's, and was considered the "owner" of Table 20. When he cruised New York bars, he would start out at Sardi's, but he would always end up at P. J. Clarke's. Interior designer Robert Denning was said to be a daily regular until his death in 2005.
Ernest Borgnine and Ethel Merman announced their impending nuptials to an astonished crowd (the marriage lasted less than two months). Other celebrities who have been patrons of Clarke's include Steinbrenner, Peter O'Toole, Pete Hamill (with Shirley MacLaine when they were a pair), Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Aristotle Onassis (Ari Onassis reportedly offered to buy Clarke's, but Danny Lavezzo refused), Richard Harris, Billy Martin, Rocky Graziano, Joe Namath, Elaine Stritch, Teri Shields, Arlene Francis (with Martin Gabel), Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf, Dabney Coleman, Shirley Jones, Liza Minnelli (with Ben Vereen), Mel Brooks, Martina Navratilova, Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Bob Costas, and the legendary Cary Grant, among many others.
Richard Harris, when asked about his favorite food replied "I adore the hamburgers at P. J. Clarke's. In my drinking days, it was my first stop from the airport. A fellow named Vinny used to be the bartender there, and when I told him I wanted the usual, he lined up six double vodkas. I told an interviewer that once, and he said, "That's a lot of bull, that's one of your exaggerated stories! I said, Call a taxi." We walked into P. J. Clarke's, I said, "Vinny, my usual." And he lined up six double vodkas.
The bar was actually owned by a Patrick J. Clarke, an Irish emigrant who was hired in the early 1900s by a Mr. Duneen who ran the saloon. After about ten years working for him Clarke bought the bar and changed the name.
There is also a P. J. Clarke's on the Hudson on Vesey Street near #4 World Financial Center (almost on the doorstep of the site known as Ground Zero since the 9/11 attacks).
