XLIX / 174
INTRODUCTION
hotel and restaurant bar was very popular. He also owned
another place in Warren Street, a few blocks north of John
Street and not far from City Hall, which is still in operation
as a restaurant, although the bar has long since vanished.
Charley Perkins was the Principal Bartender at the John
Street establishment, assisted by Charley Foster, and Gus
Yooss, a gifted drink mixer from Philadelphia. It was
Stewart's custom to divide among his employees the receipts
of both barrooms on Christmas and New Year's Days.
Dennis Sullivan's saloon, at Grand and Clinton Streets,
numbered among its regular customers many city and court
officials, and business men throughout that part of the city.
Kirk & Company owned barrooms at No.69 Fulton Street
and at No. 709 Broadway, which a reporter of the period
described as"synonyms of bibulous respectability." John
F.Peterson was the Principal Bartender at Kirk's Broadway
establishment, and was famous for his bald head,said to be
the most highly polished in the city. He possessed a secret
preparation with which he rubbed it three times daily, and
frequently permitted the gay bloods who thronged the saloon
to use it as a mirror. John Bowman operated a noted saloon
at No. 157 Fulton Street,where the Principal Bartender was
Len Stockwell, who varied his labors with occasional stage
appearances as a clog and jig dancer.
Over on the East Side John Austin was Principal Bar
tender at Meagher's Saloon, which in 1879 had been in
continuous operation for twenty-five years. Across town, at
Broadway and Spring Street, was the Prescott House, then
one of the oldest hotels in the city,butlong since demolished.
Jack Kelly was Principal Bartender there for many years.
He had also worked at Kitner's Bar in Spring Street, near
Broadway,which was one of the most palatial saloons in the
city. It was especially famous for its cocktails, which news
paper writers described as particularly"smooth and insin
uating."
xlv