P. J. Clarke's
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P. J. Clarke's established 1884 the famous saloon is in a building located at 915 Third Avenue on the northeast corner of 55th Street in New York City that dates to 1864 or 1868 in the city records.
The building is a holdout and is surrounded by a 45 story skyscraper. The bar was used to represent Nat's Bar in the Ray Milland movie The Lost Weekend by Billy Wilder. The writer Charles Jackson was a daily regular as was the interior designer Robert Denning until his death in 2005. The bar has catered to everyone from the famous, to the infamous. You can say "So, set 'em, Joe" where Johnny Mercer penned "One for My Baby" on a napkin, sitting at the bar at P.J. Clarke's while Tommy Joyce was the bartender. The next day he called Tommy to apologize, "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 an extremely generous tipper and considered the "Owner" of Table 20 would start out at Sardi's, as he cruised the bars, but he would always end up at P. J. Clarke's.
Richard Harris when asked for 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.
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