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Many Schools in One
But when that laboratory of Bacchic endeavor was in
its heyday, students came from far and wide-from all
corners of the globe. They flocked about the rectangular
Bar counter and drank deeply of what was good stuff, if
not wisdom. As soon as the first bartender appeared in
the morning, before even arranging the multitude of
glasses of various sizes and shapes on the "high altar"
that took up the central space of the rectangle, he must
satisfy the demands of at least half a dozen accumulated
patrons, either for breakfast appetizers or for something
to take away what was left of the jag of the night before.
From five o'clock in the evening until eight, the room
was jammed at its tables and at its' counter, and late–
comers, whose "innards" were sending out an S.O.S.,
found themselves impeded in their progress toward sa tis–
faction by S.R.O. conditions.
In
order to reach that bar,
men struggled and pushed and sometimes exchanged
blows.
During those three hours named, the Waldorf Bar was
Wall Street moved bodily uptown for an adjourned ses–
sion of the Stock Exchange, with men betting on how
stocks would perform the next day.
In
~i:ie
discreet cpr–
ner a ticker kept clicking off news. Here market pools
were often formed. Here were to be found men who were
willing to bet on anything, and to any amount. Financiers
and market operators, with names that gained newspaper
front pages every day or so, clustered about the tables,
or joined in the maggot-like surge that squirmed for a
foothold on the substantial brass tradition that ran along
the bottom of the counter. Some who once gained such a
post of vantage never left until the Bar closed.
[ 17]