Pfaff's beer cellar
Encyclopedia
The vault at Pfaffs where the drinkers and laughers meet to eat and drink and carouse
While on the walk immediately overhead pass the myriad feet of Broadway
Opened in 1855 by Charles Ignatious Pfaff, the original Pfaff’s was modeled after the German Rathskeller
s that were popular in Europe at the time. Charles Pfaff's beer cellar was located on Broadway
near Bleecker Street
(before 1862, Pfaff's address was given as 647 Broadway; after 1865, its location was advertised as 653 Broadway) in Greenwich Village
, New York City
. To enter the beer cellar, a vaulted ceiling bar and restaurant, its patrons had to go down a set of stairs.
From the mid-1850s to the late 1860s, Pfaff’s was the center of New York’s revolutionary culture. As writer Allan Gurganus
has said, “Pfaff’s was the Andy Warhol factory, the Studio 54
, the Algonquin Round Table
all rolled into one.”
Habitués included journalist and social critics Henry Clapp, Jr., Walt Whitman
, poet and actress Adah Isaacs Menken (“Ada Clara”), playwright John Brougham
, and artist Elihu Vedder. Whitman called Charlie Pfaff "a generous German restaurateur, silent, stout, jolly,” as well as “the best selector of champagne in America." Whitman also wrote an unfinished open about Pfaff’s called “The Two Vaults,” excerpted above.
Clapp, considered by many the “King of Bohemia”, founded The Saturday Press (later called The New York Saturday Press) as New York’s answers to the Atlantic Monthly. Started as a literary magazine, The Saturday Press eventually became a countercultural zine “with a mix of poetry, stories, radical politics, and an enthusiastic spirit of personal freedom and sexual openness. Before it folded in 1868, it published numerous poems by Whitman and a short story by Mark Twain
. The Saturday Press championed Leaves of Grass, a move that many view as a significant factor in the success of the 1860 edition.”
In 1870, Charles Pfaff moved his business up to midtown. Whitman wrote about Pfaff’s in “Specimen Days” after a visit to the restaurateur's newer location many years later:
The subterranean lounge serves wine, cocktails (classic and “themed”), and food from a small but upscale menu, which is now printed on newspaper and resembles The Saturday Press format made famous by Henry Clapp, Jr. The oak bar, a prominent feature of the space, is over 150 years old. During restoration of the space, a 19th century fieldstone wall was discovered and now accents the back room. The furniture design in the Vault is inspired by a saloon car design from the mid-19th century period. Katherine Blackburne, a New York City based artist, collaborated with designer Mark Zeff to paint panels on the back of the sofas to echo saloon car murals popular at that time. References to notable authors, artists, politicians and stars are evident throughout the space. As recounted in Whitman’s unfinished poem about Pfaff’s, there are also two vaults in today’s space.
While on the walk immediately overhead pass the myriad feet of Broadway
-
- – "The Two Vaults", an unfinished poem, Walt Whitman
Opened in 1855 by Charles Ignatious Pfaff, the original Pfaff’s was modeled after the German Rathskeller
Rathskeller
Ratskeller is a name in German-speaking countries for a bar or restaurant located in the basement of a city hall or nearby...
s that were popular in Europe at the time. Charles Pfaff's beer cellar was located on Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
near Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street is a street in New York City's Manhattan borough. It is perhaps most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street is a spine that connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was once a major center for American bohemia.Bleecker...
(before 1862, Pfaff's address was given as 647 Broadway; after 1865, its location was advertised as 653 Broadway) in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. To enter the beer cellar, a vaulted ceiling bar and restaurant, its patrons had to go down a set of stairs.
From the mid-1850s to the late 1860s, Pfaff’s was the center of New York’s revolutionary culture. As writer Allan Gurganus
Allan Gurganus
Allan Gurganus is an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist whose work is often influenced by and set in his native North Carolina. His writing has been compared to the work of William Faulkner and Eudora Welty, who also were identified with the American South.-Biography: Gurganus was...
has said, “Pfaff’s was the Andy Warhol factory, the Studio 54
Studio 54
Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
, the Algonquin Round Table
Algonquin Round Table
The Algonquin Round Table was a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929...
all rolled into one.”
Habitués included journalist and social critics Henry Clapp, Jr., Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
, poet and actress Adah Isaacs Menken (“Ada Clara”), playwright John Brougham
John Brougham
John Brougham was an Irish-American actor and dramatist.-Biography:He was born at Dublin. His father was an amateur painter, and died young. His mother was the daughter of a Huguenot, whom political adversity had forced into exile. John was the eldest of three children...
, and artist Elihu Vedder. Whitman called Charlie Pfaff "a generous German restaurateur, silent, stout, jolly,” as well as “the best selector of champagne in America." Whitman also wrote an unfinished open about Pfaff’s called “The Two Vaults,” excerpted above.
Clapp, considered by many the “King of Bohemia”, founded The Saturday Press (later called The New York Saturday Press) as New York’s answers to the Atlantic Monthly. Started as a literary magazine, The Saturday Press eventually became a countercultural zine “with a mix of poetry, stories, radical politics, and an enthusiastic spirit of personal freedom and sexual openness. Before it folded in 1868, it published numerous poems by Whitman and a short story by Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
. The Saturday Press championed Leaves of Grass, a move that many view as a significant factor in the success of the 1860 edition.”
In 1870, Charles Pfaff moved his business up to midtown. Whitman wrote about Pfaff’s in “Specimen Days” after a visit to the restaurateur's newer location many years later:
- An hour’s fresh stimulation, coming down ten miles of Manhattan Island by railroad and 8 o’clock stage. Then an excellent breakfast at Pfaff’s restaurant, 24th Street. Our host himself, an old friend of mine, quickly appear’d on the scene to welcome me and bring up the news, and, first opening a big fat bottle of the best wine in the cellar, talk about ante-bellum times, ’59 and ’60, and the jovial suppers at his Broadway place, near Bleecker Street.
- Ah, the friends and names and frequenters, those times, that place. Most are dead - Ada Clare, Wilkins, Daisy Sheppard, O’Brien, Henry Clapp, Stanley, Mullin, Wood, Brougham, Arnold - all gone.
- And there Pfaff and I, sitting opposite each other at the little table, gave a remembrance to them in a style they would have themselves fully confirm’d, namely, big, brimming, fill’d-up champagne-glasses, drain’d in abstracted silence, very leisurely, to the last drop.
Modern Times
In the spring of 2011, the Vault at Pfaff’s was re-established at 643 Broadway. Like in the original, today’s patrons descend a set of stairs into a refurbished cellar.The subterranean lounge serves wine, cocktails (classic and “themed”), and food from a small but upscale menu, which is now printed on newspaper and resembles The Saturday Press format made famous by Henry Clapp, Jr. The oak bar, a prominent feature of the space, is over 150 years old. During restoration of the space, a 19th century fieldstone wall was discovered and now accents the back room. The furniture design in the Vault is inspired by a saloon car design from the mid-19th century period. Katherine Blackburne, a New York City based artist, collaborated with designer Mark Zeff to paint panels on the back of the sofas to echo saloon car murals popular at that time. References to notable authors, artists, politicians and stars are evident throughout the space. As recounted in Whitman’s unfinished poem about Pfaff’s, there are also two vaults in today’s space.