One of Thrillist's Best Books of 2017
A deeply stirring memoir of fathers, sons, and the oldest bar in New York City
Since it opened in 1854, McSorley's Old Ale House has been a New York institution. This is the landmark watering hole where Abraham Lincoln campaigned and Boss Tweed kicked back with the Tammany Hall machine. Where a pair of Houdini's handcuffs found their final resting place. And where soldiers left behind wishbones before departing for the First World War, never to return and collect them. Many of the bar's traditions remain intact, from the newspaper-covered walls to the plates of cheese and raw onions, the sawdust-strewn floors to the tall-tales told by its bartenders.
But in addition to the bar's rich history, McSorley's is home to a deeply personal story about two men: Rafe Bartholomew, the writer who grew up in the landmark pub, and his father, Geoffrey "Bart" Bartholomew, a career bartender who has been working the taps for forty-five years.
On weekends, Rafe Bartholomew would tag along for the early hours of his dad's shift, polishing brass doorknobs, watching over the bar cats, and handling other odd jobs until he grew old enough to join Bart behind the bar. McSorley's was a place of bizarre rituals, bawdy humor, and tasks as unique as the bar itself: protecting the decades-old dust that had gathered on treasured artifacts; shot-putting thirty-pound grease traps into high-walled Dumpsters; and trying to keep McSorley's open through the worst of Hurricane Sandy. But for Rafe, the bar means home. It's the place where he and his father have worked side by side, serving light and dark ale, always in pairs, the way it's always been done. Where they've celebrated victories, like the publication of his father's first book of poetry, and coped with misfortune, like the death of Rafe's mother. Where Rafe learned to be part of something bigger than himself and also how to be his own man.
By turns touching, crude, and wildly funny, Rafe's story reveals universal truths about family, loss, and the bursting history of one of New York's most beloved institutions.
Show moreOne of Thrillist's Best Books of 2017
A deeply stirring memoir of fathers, sons, and the oldest bar in New York City
Since it opened in 1854, McSorley's Old Ale House has been a New York institution. This is the landmark watering hole where Abraham Lincoln campaigned and Boss Tweed kicked back with the Tammany Hall machine. Where a pair of Houdini's handcuffs found their final resting place. And where soldiers left behind wishbones before departing for the First World War, never to return and collect them. Many of the bar's traditions remain intact, from the newspaper-covered walls to the plates of cheese and raw onions, the sawdust-strewn floors to the tall-tales told by its bartenders.
But in addition to the bar's rich history, McSorley's is home to a deeply personal story about two men: Rafe Bartholomew, the writer who grew up in the landmark pub, and his father, Geoffrey "Bart" Bartholomew, a career bartender who has been working the taps for forty-five years.
On weekends, Rafe Bartholomew would tag along for the early hours of his dad's shift, polishing brass doorknobs, watching over the bar cats, and handling other odd jobs until he grew old enough to join Bart behind the bar. McSorley's was a place of bizarre rituals, bawdy humor, and tasks as unique as the bar itself: protecting the decades-old dust that had gathered on treasured artifacts; shot-putting thirty-pound grease traps into high-walled Dumpsters; and trying to keep McSorley's open through the worst of Hurricane Sandy. But for Rafe, the bar means home. It's the place where he and his father have worked side by side, serving light and dark ale, always in pairs, the way it's always been done. Where they've celebrated victories, like the publication of his father's first book of poetry, and coped with misfortune, like the death of Rafe's mother. Where Rafe learned to be part of something bigger than himself and also how to be his own man.
By turns touching, crude, and wildly funny, Rafe's story reveals universal truths about family, loss, and the bursting history of one of New York's most beloved institutions.
Show moreRafe Bartholomew is the author of Pacific Rims. He was one of the original editors of Grantland, where he wrote and edited sports features from 2011 to 2015, and his work has appeared in Slate, the New York Times, the Chicago Reader, Deadspin, and other leading online and print publications. Several of his stories have been honored in the Best American Sports Writing series. He lives in Los Angeles.
Praise for Two and Two "This is more than a story about a famous
speakeasy where, for the price of a beer, you can still sit at the
same tables where great writers like Joseph Mitchell, Eugene
O'Neill, and e.e. Cummings once sat and ruminated. This is a story
about a father and son, both of whom toiled for years amidst the
ghosts a hundred years past, when a group of hard working Irish
Americans created one of New York's greatest institutions with
nothing more than sweat, beer, liverwurst sandwiches, and an
occasional punch in the nose to all spoilers and bullies. "Many a
day I have sat in McSorley's amidst the sawdust and beer and said
to myself, 'You'd have to be a child of this place to make these
ghosts speak.' And that is exactly what Rafe Bartholomew is. His is
the voice of ages, the shouts of thousands of fireman, cops,
soldiers, drunks, bums, wayfarers, liars, and good souls whose hard
luck brought them to McSorley's, and whose good spirit still reign
over the place. He hoists this wonderful piece of Americana into
the air with all the humor, joy, humility and love that it
deserves."--James McBride, author of The Color of Water and The
Good Lord Bird
"A love letter to McSorley's most idiosyncratic conventions"--Grub
Street
"An unabashedly sentimental--yet realistic--look at the father-son
relationship"--BookPage
"Charming... will make you immediately thirst for a few mugs of its
beer and inspire a sojourn to the legendary Big Apple
monument."--The Daily Beast
"Few bars in America are as storied as New York's McSorley's Old
Ale House, which dates back to 1854. No matter if you've had the
pleasure of enjoying a pint of its signature dark beer or not,
you'll enjoy Rafe Bartholomew's memoir of his experience working at
the establishment alongside his father."--Noah Rothbaum, The Daily
Beast
"In Two and Two, Rafe Bartholomew has not just lovingly crafted an
homage to a singular American place of drink, but also given us a
steady look into the intense realm of father and son. This memoir
pulses with uncommon talent."--William Giraldi, author of The
Hero's Body and Hold the Dark
"McSorley's is a storied bar, but its stories have rarely been this
well told....In Bartholomew's book he reminds us of [McSorley's]
greatness, and in a real sense, our own."--Cahir O'Doherty, Irish
Central
"McSorley's Old Ale House had been a Manhattan legend for more than
100 years when the author's father was hired on to work the taps.
....The nostalgia-drenched memoir makes us want to revisit the
joint."--Booklist
"Quite simply the best thing I've read about fathers and sons
(Turgenev, eat your heart out)."--Lawrence Block, New York Times
bestselling author
"Rafe Bartholomew has written a smart, moving book for the inner
New Yorker (and inner barfly) in all of us. His father-not to
mention Old John McSorley himself-should be damned proud."--Tom
Bissell, author of Apostle and Extra Lives
"Rafe's like a brother to me. So to read this book is to discover a
childhood I never knew he had (never knew any kid could have!) and
a dad I can't wait to meet. Rafe presents both with enviable,
high-definition affection. This is a biography of a father and the
bar that became part of his soul. It's a memoir of a son the bar
co-parented. It's history of New York City and a sly, considered
essay on masculinity. It's a book quietly about a mythic America
that simultaneously never really existed yet, obviously, totally
did. Rafe's writing, his memories, his sensitivity and sweetness
made me laugh. They moved me. In my years living in New York, I
never thought of a bar like McSorley's as a bar for me. The hefty
beauty and lasting surprise of this book is how it reminds me over
and over that I was probably - maybe certainly - wrong."--Wesley
Morris, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
"Rafe's relationship with McSorley's is deeply personal and
effectively illustrative of the true nature of fatherhood and the
importance of familial traditions... [McSorley's] shaped his
identity and appreciate for the tradition of
storytelling."--Christina Troitino, Forbes
"The bar's incomparable atmosphere is difficult to capture, but in
his new book, Two and Two, Rafe Bartholomew does just that,
providing a vivid history of the bar and a firsthand account of
working there....A 'touching, redolent memoir' that should appeal
to barflies and NYC historians alike."--Eric Liebetrau, Kirkus
Reviews
"There is no bar in New York City--perhaps even all of
America--with as much history as McSorley's Old Ale House.... but
for former Grantland editor Bartholomew, McSorley's was just
home... The author expertly weaves together entertaining stories
from his nights behind the bar... with more poignant moments
between father and son.... Bartholomew does both his father and
McSorley's proud with this touching, redolent memoir."--Kirkus
A "big-hearted memoir of a lifelong romance with New York City's
oldest (continuously operating) saloon... a watering hole for
artists, politicians, and oddballs, a storehouse of oral tradition
passed through generations of staff... [Bartholomew's] portrayal of
the rough humor and blue-collar warmth feels completely
earned."--Publishers Weekly
For "anyone interested in the city, beer, or the infinitely mutable
ideal of 'Old New York.'"--Thrillist
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
