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Dublin House Celebrates 100 Years on the UWS, Surviving Prohibition, COVID-19 and Everything in Between

November 19, 2021 | 4:04 PM - Updated on November 22, 2021 | 8:55 AM
in HISTORY, NEWS
15

By Carol Tannenhauser

Dublin House, the Irish pub on West 79th Street between Amsterdam and Broadway will celebrate 100 years on the Upper West Side this weekend — a remarkable achievement made even more so by the fact that its most popular product was illegal when it opened. The pub, whose magnificent neon sign is being restored with the help of some donors, is having a three-day party starting on Friday (see the schedule below).

The bar opened shortly after the last major pandemic hit the United States, and just one year after Prohibition, the constitutional ban on alcohol in the United States, went into effect. Bars couldn’t serve alcohol from January, 1920 through December, 1933.

Banning alcohol didn’t curb America’s thirst for it, which is why Dublin House began as a speakeasy. According to the blog Lost New York City:

[A] man named Carway rented the space back in 1921 and operated it as a speakeasy. The first floor was the bar, the second floor the restaurant, the back of the third floor was the kitchen. There was a dumb waiter where the phone booth currently is. Carway bought the building in 1933 after Prohibition was repealed. At that time, he erected the neon harp sign. Perhaps he made the sign so big and bright as a sort of rebuke to The Noble Experiment.

The bar remained family-owned and operated for the next 85 years, with Carway’s nephew Chris Water taking over at some point. Mike Cormican, a Dublin House bartender (born in Ireland), bought it in 2006. He’s a small man with white hair. I saw him busying himself about the place when I was last there, saying hello to the regulars, who mostly spoke with Irish accents.

We spoke to Mike this week as he prepared for the celebration. “We survived the Covid. We’re back in business. They’ve been here for so many years,” he added, sounding more like a temporary steward of the bar than its owner. “It’s very good to see they’re still here. We definitely want to keep it going, definitely want to keep it going. That’s for sure.”

Dublin House will be celebrating its century of good cheer and great beer (they’re known for their Guinness) all weekend. Here’s the schedule.

And read WSR’s earlier story about the night Mrs. Maisel and Lenny Bruce had drinks at Dublin House!

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Cr
Cr
1 year ago

Beautiful.
Here’s to another hundred years!
The neon restoration from Let there be neon is spectacular.

0
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Doe
Doe
1 year ago

My pub for over 40 years. Thanks to Mike, possibly the cleanest joint in Manhattan. Bartenders are top notch. Superstitiously, the place I go after doctor or vet visits. And my go-to to meet friends or introduce visiting friends or relatives to life in the big city.

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David
David
1 year ago

Every time I turn the corner and see that sign, I breathe a sigh of relief that the jackals haven’t stripped all the meat from the carcass of overdeveloped NYC.

Started drinking there when I was 16. I’m now 61.

God Bless The Dublin House.

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Reply
Ish Kabibble
Ish Kabibble
1 year ago

Happy Birthday, Dublin House!!

0
Reply
Paul Segal
Paul Segal
1 year ago

The Dublin House was for many years in the 1980s a “hiring hall” for my then office, Paul Segal Associates Architects. We got many wonderful hires, as “gofers” and andmin assistants from there.
Congrats on 100!
Paul Segal

0
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jeffrey cloidt
jeffrey cloidt
1 year ago

Congratulations!
Took my daughter and son-in-law Here a few years ago.
I liked going there after work at my office on CPW.

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Mary Quiltrr...Brian's mum
Mary Quiltrr...Brian's mum
1 year ago

Sorry i will miss this celebrat>on but will see you on wednesday. Congratulations, Mike and to my favorite barkeeo, Tony.
Never a visit to nyc without a stop at Dublin House.

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Reply
John E.
John E.
1 year ago

Love the Dublin House! My favorite neighborhood dive bar!

Great place to meet up with a blind date because if you get stood up, who’s going to notice??

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Reply
JFK
JFK
1 year ago

As a coach in the West Side Little League for 7 years. My fellow coaches would meet on Thursday night and over a “few” pitchers. We would go over our lineup for that weekend’s game. One of our coaches decided to “self-sponsor” our team, but give the Dublin House credit. The back of our team jersey’s read. “Dublin House Dads, We Know Pitchers”.

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Reply
Nicholas M Archer
Nicholas M Archer
1 year ago

The Irish don’t have an “accent.” They have a brogue.

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Reply
Kenneth J Mule
Kenneth J Mule
1 year ago

The best guineas in the city!

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Reply
John Carway
John Carway
1 year ago

Do you know anything about the man called Carway in the article? I am wondering if he might have been a relative.

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Reply
Susan Cunningham-Brett
Susan Cunningham-Brett
1 year ago
Reply to  John Carway

John P Carway from Sligo in Ireland. My grand uncle.

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Reply
Mark Moore
Mark Moore
1 year ago

Saw Dublin House on local Fox News about 12:18 last night (this morning).

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Reply
Shlomo
Shlomo
1 year ago

Do they still take spreads ?

0
Reply

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