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BILLIE'S BAR Billie's Bar, variant
image 1 Opened in 1880 by Michael Condron, Billie's Bar was run in the 1930s by his grandson William Condron, Jr. The well-maintained Victorian fixtures bespeak a pride in family tradition. The bar stood at the corner of a block dominated by the abandoned buildings of Peter Doelger's Brewery, which before Prohibition had kept Billie's and many similar taverns well stocked. Billie's clientele were recent immigrants who lived in nearby tenements and worked in the factories and slaughterhouses along the East River. Billie's Bar, variant
image 2 Without flash, Abbott photographed three aspects of the establishment: a table of four, a single customer seated near a potbelly stove and the bar. She later remarked that these photographs were "not very successful" but that she took them for historic value (McQuaid, 364). Abbott also photographed the famous McSorley's Old Ale House, opened in 1854 at 15 East 7th Street, across from Cooper Union. Although she met the challenge of gaining admission to McSorley's, which barred women, Abbott discarded the image and retained Billie's Bar for the project. Billie's Bar, variant
image 3 McSorley's Old Ale
House, discarded image In the 1950s, Billie's gave way to a block-long apartment building. McSorley's still stands and now admits women. Return to the Middle East Side |
