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Among of the saloon's legendary tales was the story of how novelist [John O'Hara] walked in with a new cane, which he told his friend [Ernest Hemingway] was "a genuine Irish blackthorne." Hemingway refused to believe his drinking buddy and told O'Hara to prove it. He did by breaking the stick over his own head. The two pieces were still over the bar last night as bartender Phil O'Leary poured the last round.
Tim Costello's, the drinking spot for generations of newspapermen and writers, has called it quits, succumbing to the fitness boom and the economic bust.
The bar, named for its owner Tim Costello, opened as a speakeasy in 1929, back when beer was a nickel and against the law, and the Third Avenue El was a noisy neighbor. It moved from 699 Third Ave. to its most recent location on East 44th Street in 1974, when chrome and glass office towers replaced the homey brick walkups that once lined Third.
It was a male stronghold to the end. Men could run tabs and pay for their drinks at the end of the month, but women had to pay cash. The bar was also a place where down-on-their-luck newspeople were able to get credit and an occasional loan.
The bar had been home to writers Ernest Hemingway, John O'Hara, A. J. Liebling and James Thurber, and cartoonist Walt Kelly, creator of "Pogo." Cartoons drawn by the hard-drinking Thurber still drew tourists into the place right up until closing time.
Kelly's son, Steve, 40, was among the mourners at the wake, which continued into the early morning hours yesterday. "It's too bad. But the writing was on the wall. Times are different," Kelly said. The younger news people aren't drinkers, he said.
Among of the saloon's legendary tales was the story of how novelist John O'Hara walked in with a new cane, which he told his friend Ernest Hemingway was "a genuine Irish blackthorne." Hemingway refused to believe his drinking buddy and told O'Hara to prove it. He did by breaking the stick over his own head. The two pieces were still over the bar last night as bartender Phil O'Leary poured the last round.
(Copyright Newsday Inc., 1992)