woW. I learned something new about Chumley's in New York as well as the term "86". Why doesn't someone re-open Chumley's and fix up the place? Looks cool. Wish I could see the inside.
Used to go there ...long ago. The way I would take people in was down the alley way, past the garbage cans to the unmarked door. People were always very surprised. Was a great romantic, woody type bar space.
Wikipedia has a good history of it. Seems they reopened....but then closed permanently in 2020. Would have been nice to go to the auction of contents and buy a small cocktail table.
Amazing! -- I was there a couple of times in the 1980s, and never knew the place had a name! (I was just told to go to the place at Bedford and Barrow.)
Apparently Brendan Behan met Hemingway there and tied one on for the ages. I'd be shocked if those two didn't drink the place dry. If anyone has never read Behan's work you're missing out.
Well that's strange, I work in engineering and "86 it" is a lockout device if something is not working properly. I thought this term was coined during the second industrial revolution.
There are a variety of interesting origin stories for the term, but according to Jef Klein in "The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York" Chumley's is the real deal! Other fun ones include that it rhymes with the word "nix," the F-86 fighter jet in the Korean War, and the end of the elevated NY Subway at 86th Street where the conductor would "86" any drunks who had passed out on the train. Would love to know the history of the second industrial revolution story, do you happen to know any more about it?
