April 20, 2011
As those of you who follow this blog (and I appreciate each and every one of you) know one of the many blogs I read daily is Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York. Yesterday Jeremiah posted about Sardi’s bar and about how the swizzle stick is yet another vanishing item in our culture. I never thought about it, but probably should, I did go to 365 bars last year after all and I chewed on plenty of those crummy little red plastic thingys they put in mixed drinks these days.
The comments section on that post was quite lively and fun. One anonymous commenter wrote that he had a collection of glass swizzle sticks. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a glass swizzle stick. After I read that I obsessed over it all day. I went to 365 bars in 365 days and never got to see, much less keep, a glass swizzle stick. What a fucking gyp!
So, tonight I’m off in search of the oh so elusive glass swizzle stick. The commenter from the JVNY post mentioned two of the places where he got his, but searching around on the internet, they appear to have vanished. I went back and consulted my bar list. Maybe I got one and was so drunk caught up in my bar crawling duties I didn’t even notice it. I immediately thought of the King Cole bar in the St. Regis Hotel. But check out the picture below:
Plastic! And I paid nineteen bucks for that thing and I don’t even like tomato juice! I only got it because it was their specialty drink. Then I remembered going to the Oak Bar. I went there because they had some goofy-ass drink they had invented called, “The Mel Gibson.” Remember Mel? Remember the phone messages? Aaahh, the good-old pre Charlie Sheen days. Let’s check out my drink there:
Plastic! Motherfucker! And I payed over twenty bucks for that shit and it tasted like three-year old rat piss.
Okay, back to the list. I feel much like an old MTV hit when I say, “Aha!” Sir Harry’s in the Waldorf Astoria!
I had a beer in there, so I can’t be 100% sure, but it’s worth a trip back. The people that work there were really nice to me and told me that Johnny Depp had recently been in and left a 100 dollar tip. You know Johnny Depp demands a glass swizzle stick, so let’s go check it out.
I had to work late and it's after one in the morning, luckily Sir Harry's is open till 2:30 am.
Taxi!
And we're off.
And here we are, the Waldrof Astoria, the home of Sir Harry's.
The green stairs match my Gumby bag.
They still have the Lena Horne album on display. I love this album cover.
And here's Sir Harry's, looks like we beat the last call here.
Wow, it's more crowded in here than I thought it would be, but I spy a seat at the end of the bar. Let's snag it.
I've been sitting here for over five minutes and the fucking bartender hasn't moved. He's talking to some couple and I just want to get my glass swizzle stick and get out of here. It's loud and loaded with drunk tourists, all happy to be paying ten bucks for a draft beer. Sheesh!
Jesus fucking Christ, it's going on ten minutes! I'm not going to be ignored, Dan!
Finally after coughing and waving my arms like an epileptic after three hits off of a crystal meth pipe I got a drink. I ordered a double gin and tonic. Check out the swizzle stick...one word: Plastic. Talk about your Dustin Hoffman moments. A real fucking disappointment.
And I can't even tell what the design is supposed to be. From my perspective it looks a little like an alcoholic Hula Hula Girl. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson. Let's get out of here.
Oh well...why not, for old times sake...
Obligatory bathroom mirror shot! Now with Gumby!
Oh and so the night wasn't a total loss, I stole the bartender's pen. It's silver and shiny! Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
Sir Harry’s
301 Park Ave. (@49th St.)
212-872-4890
Further reading: Los Angeles Times, Go Antiques, New York magazine and Wikipedia.
You might also like: Burning Feet, Burning Man and Burning Bridges.
Four Other Swizzles
Rum Swizzle
The Swizzle Inn
Swizzle Scandium
T-Swizzle
38 Comments
Reader Comments (38)
i love the fact you stole the bartenders pen! he deserved it for ignoring you!
thief!!!!!!!!!
i love it...
I dont have any glass ones here..
if i did jack would have stole them by now:)
I love the Gumby bag!!!!!!! :D
Marty you're right! I just remind that the swizzle sticks were in glass few years ago (few=15 years ago) !! When I was a kid (yeah I was a kid 15 years ago!), I used to piss people off in bars doing "cling cling cling" against the glass with the glass swizzle stick !!
It's gone in France too... Maybe it has been declared terrorist weapon! yeah you can badly hurt a CRS agent with a glass swizzle stick while protesting!! (CRS = riot control forces in France) LOL
@rita r: Plus he charged me 41 bucks for that drink that had a PLASTIC swizzle stick in it!
@Gidigie: It took a thief! I didn't know Jack drank, impressive!
@Zioum Zioum: The Gumby bag is my favorite purchase in a long time. A lot of people at the bar were jealous of it, no one said anything, but I could just tell.
glass swizzle stick , I have a collection , & I was wondering what to do with them , now I know .
I am going to give them to Marty !!!!! So when you invite friends over you can hand out glass swizzle stick .
They are not fancy , but simple stick with a small ball head . Oh maybe I should ask my wife ( my sister says I should call my wife by her name & not call her my wife , but said I was a newbie anyway ) before giving away .
So it's a maybe until I hear from here Marty , to tired wasn't thinking .
@JHwang: Too cool! Where are they from? I'll trade you my skull shotglass for them. I'll bring it in to work.
COOL PEN!
Plastic!
Bastards!
Good thing you're not doing the 365 Crawl or they would be sorry!
I actually have a collection of some Glass Swizzle Sticks that were my Dad's.
(as well as the first 20 Years of Playboy in Mint Condition if anyone knows of anyone who would be interested)
OK enough shameless plugging for one day.
Great blog Daddio.
I took pity on your plight. I did some checking around on the internet and made a purchace. You should be recieving a small fragile package before too long...few days, couple weeks at most. Don't say I didn't do anything for you Marty.
Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you - just one word.
Ben: Yes sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Ben: Yes I am.
Mr. McGuire: 'Plastics.'
Ben: Exactly how do you mean?
Mr. McGuire: There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?
Ben: Yes I will.
Mr. McGuire: Shh! Enough said. That's a deal.
As an avid thief of hotel bar pens, I must tell you they are -- by necessity I presume -- the cheapest things ever and will quickly fall apart or stop writing or the fancy logo will rub off. That's why you gotta keep going to hotel bars and keep stealing pens! No more expensive doubles for you, though.
I do like the artsy deco-ey swizzles at The Waldorf even if they are plastic. (Next time I see you remind me to show you the "macro" button on your camera!)
We have a few collection of etched glass sticks (stolen from nightclubs by nice people generations ago) but I rarely drink highballs. They're swell to look at, tho (with a magnifying glass).
@"Boris:" I'd buy the Playboy's but I'm broke after shelling out the dough for that drink!
@Jaws: Thank you so much! That's too nice of you! And now I feel pretty guilted out, I haven't sent you that John Lennon drawing, can you send me your address again? I'm horrible about mailing things out, just ask Clacky!
@csp: Are you trying to seduce me?
@Grade "A" Karen: The pen is pretty good quality for a hotel pen. When it falls apart, I'll post it and we'll see how long it survives in my company. I'll look for the macro thingy on my camera, I'm assuming it will help with close-ups. And if you can, the next time we meet, will you bring some of those swizzle sticks? They sound really cool.
I wish I could afford to live at the Waldorf, take each night as an excursion without ever leaving the building. The Bull and Bear, Sir Harry's, Peacock Alley, a massage at the spa, few laps in the pool, afternoon tea, wow what a life that would be.
That drink cost you $41?! Seriously? I mean, I'm pretty sure I know what you ordered...and there's a lot of booze in that motherfucker, for sure...but $41?! In Chicago, it only cost you $12! Am I right?! Actually, I can't remember if I'm right. That was a pretty long day. In any event, I once saw on HBO's Real Sex a segment on a company that makes glass dildos. You may be able to get them to make you some glass swizzle sticks, but you'll probably need to use some REALLY BIG cups.
At the forementioned drink prices...and with a cheap plastic swizzle stick after all that waiting, a bartender like Dan would really boil my bunny too. 41 dollars? Jesus H. Christ in a sidecar.
@Al: What a home that would be! Although I'd have to go to the Mars bar now and again just to keep things in balance.
@Biff: You read right and it was just a double. The drink in Chicago was a quadruple. The bartender held up a bottle of gin and said is this okay, and like an idiot I said, "Yeah, whatever." I just wanted to get the swizzle stick and get out of there because of all the drunk tourists. I think it was probably some crazy-ass expensive gin. I love your glass dildo idea! You still gots it, Bifferoonie!
@Jaws: "Boil my bunny." Ha ha ha! Nice one!
@MAD,: For $41, he really should have twirled your swizzle-stick a bit. I'm glad you stole his pen.
classic post...am SHOCKED (like the monkey) that MAD gets obsessed over little things in every day life...doubt there is enough time or space to even start this rant let along end it...
"Say you sold someone a round of drinks for $17.50, ... You'd ring in $7.50, put the $17.50 in (the register), and put a swizzle stick in the drawer as a reminder that the drawer is up by $10. At the end of the night, if you had eight swizzle sticks in there, you'd pocket $80 before closing out your register."
~ Richard Kimball
rr
$41 .... UFB ! I would have given it back and left ! WOW !!!
@csp: I thought about asking, but he wasn't my type.
@rr: Is that from the Fugitive? If so, that's wild, because I've been watching old episodes from that show on NetFlix! Nice find, as always!
@GENE: I was already 2/3 of the way through the drink. And my mantra for the last year when things go bad or weird is, "Oh well, it'll be good for the blog." I swear I could run over a troop of Girl Scouts and I'd think, "Wow, that's fucked up. But it'll make a hell of a blog. Let me get a photo before the ambulance gets here! I'll probably get tons of comments on this one!"
@MAD .... could you run over a group of idiots that periodically go out pub crawling in Snuggies ? I find people doing something like that totally reprehensible !
@GENE: Ha ha ha! I would love that mission and that would be one hell of a blog! And we lived through it!
no really i was thinking 'bout peter g being envious of phil c and something 'bout rite aid...and being "pissed" or somethin'...i don't know i sorta think that's how it went...
rr
I know this has already been gone over, but shit I think I'll stick to diet coke when I'm in NY! And I'm also glad you stole his pen. I hate how much plastic there is. It doesn't sit well with my hippie soul.
Just finished watching the Pink Panther, great suggestion :)
Damn, I'm a bit late in the game, but I also have a set of glass swizzle sticks for you, & they're so absurdly appropriate I guarentee you will love them! Will have to arrange drop off down the line.
@kari: So glad you finally saw The Pink Panther, what a great film!
@onemorefoldedsunset: Too nice! I can't wait to see them! I hope the Christmas tree standings are updated soon!
@ MAD and Kari; You know, I once brought up the subject of the Pink Panther movies to Zioum Zioum the Chainsaw, and she had no idea what I was talking about...had never seen the films, I would SO like to see Zioum's reaction to Inspector Clouseau!
Biff won that one by a length!
@MAD .... was that when we were at the Stoned Crow ... enjoying a light crowd for a Saturday ... and all those douchebags invaded the place ... the you found out they were closing ?
The Snuggie crawl periodically happens in Baltimore. They scare me. Why would someone even consider doing that ? I'll gulp my beer down and run in the opposite direction !
@MAD .... was that when we were at the Stoned Crow ... enjoying a light crowd for a Saturday ... and all those douchebags invaded the place ... the you found out they were closing ?
The Snuggie crawl periodically happens in Baltimore. They scare me. Why would someone even consider doing that ? I'll gulp my beer down and run in the opposite direction !
WTF did that post twice ... and I misspelled a word !
I want an edit button !
@Ned Sparks: Biff wins everything by a length!
@GENE: That was the Stoned Crow night, that's what I thought you were talking about. A bunch of asshat pub crawlers came in with Snuggies and it was frightening! We quickly retreated.
@MAD ...... I vaguely remember the Snuggies that night ..... I was so terrified about all those people coming in at the same time -- that I remember plowing through the crowd to hit the bathroom and then out the door. It all happened so quick ... sitting there in peace and then leaving in mere seconds :(
The BBC - a month, or so, later - ran into a Snuggie crawl in Baltimore. We saw them -- and went somewhere in the opposite direction they were walking in ....... but ! we ran into the fuckers anyway at our stop -- it was like playing Hide & Seek with them all night.
I'm glad you took the bartender's pen, the bastard should not have let a "over paying customer" sit there for 10 mins before getting your drink.
The plastic stick design looks like someone hugging them selves, kind of like the self centered bartender who kept you waiting for 10mis. Can you guess I hate waiting for a drink. Next time you come out to one of the finer establishment like the Knuckles Tiki Bar maybe you will get a glass stick in your drink
@Knuckles Tiki Bar: Looking forward to the next visit!
Very soon my friend , bring Card Board Man
I'm a little late to comment here, Marty, but just so you don't feel too bad, plastic swizzle sticks were being used back in the 60s and I think even the 50s and maybe part of the 40s. I have a bunch of old swizzles that I've kept for years, even though I didn't use them for a long time, and while most are glass there are some plastic ones in there. My favorite one is pretty nice, a delicate glass stick with a beautiful clamshell at the end (think the same shape as the shell in the Shell Oil logo), pale, pale blue. It's also a very thin straw, and swizzle straws have always been around because good bartenders will put the stick in the drink, place a fingertip on the top of the straw, and then taste the drink via the liquid trapped inside the straw to make sure they drink tastes the way it should. Of course, that particular use means you don't get the swizzle...once it's been in the guy's mouth it gets thrown away (of course).
I also have a pretty sturdy cobalt blue glass stick that's very classy, which adds a nice color to a gin or vodka and tonic, refracting the light to give the drink a little tiny bit of a blue glow. Very nice, indeed.
@dark1p: Hey, you're never too late to comment here! Thanks for the swizzle stick memories, nice!