He decided on a local (to our mutual friends) area bar to have his very first drink, though most upper school (high school) students were drinking socially, often at homes under the supervision of parents or out with parents or guardians in restaurants where we could be served booze.
As such, many local bars had us adolescents as weekend regulars. There was The West End up by Columbia University—a great way to feel mature “around” college kids — Dublin House on West 79th Street, and a host of mostly innocuous Upper East Side bars. Drake’s Drum, Wicked Wolf, Fitzpatrick’s, Little Finland, Phil Hughes, Heidelberg, Pedro’s, and Fleming’s, all orbiting what would become the social “HQ” for 100s of adolescents from a dozen Manhattan prep schools, Dorrian’s.
And by the mid-80s, these socialites also comprised a large faction of the NYC “club kids” who were attending and hosting parties at Studio 54, the Palladium, Nells’s, Danceteria, Limelight — rubbing elbows with the popular celebrities of that era.
Even with that wide scope of nightlife influence, Dorrian’s was where most nights started and ended, becoming the “second home” for us regulars, none of us knowing at that time how long and important this beloved hub of connection would be.
By my senior year I was a Dorrian’s regular, only discovering a year earlier that one of my drinking buddies was one of eight scions of Dorrian’s affable owner. When the drinking age went up to 19 in 1985, and 21 a year later, Dorrian’s became the center of the universe socially, through my Dorrian friend and, over a quick time, his seven siblings. A female friend was dating a Dorrian’s bartender, one of many Irish bartenders that not only “took the stick” behind many neighborhood bars, but also ran them.
Scandinavian au pairs working for area families became Dorrian’s regulars, as did flight attendants and a rotating roster of Elite models. Wall Streeters made Dorrian’s their frequent hang out. Manhattan debutantes, having “come out” to “society” Thanksgiving Eves at the Plaza Hotel, would celebrate afterwards with nips at storied Trader Vic’s right downstairs from the ball before descending upon Dorrian’s (if not skipping Trader Vic’s altogether).
I agreed to take a 1986 summer job at Dorrian’s as a waiter (before starting NYU that fall), and at that time had no intention or idea that I would, now almost 40 years later, be vocationally and socially involved with Dorrian’s ever since: Setting up friends who eventually married and now have children older than us when we first met. Some of those kids, now of age, make Dorrian’s their “second home” as well. Two post-New York Yankee World Series Championship celebrations; celebrations of the perfect games on NY Yankees David Cone and David Wells; a 2010 50-year anniversary party attended by record-breaking numbers of regulars from a 3-decade (‘80’s, ‘90s, ‘00s) span; starting karaoke (initially, for my birthday in 2002), the still weekly event becoming the most popular UES karaoke spot. (And, yes, persevering through an awful tragedy involving people that many of us knew from our circles.)
Since 1986 I’ve waited tables, floor managed, day/night bartended, worked the door, cooked, designed menus (and dishes for the same). I created the Dorrian’s website and social media and designed the Dorrian’s merchandise, of all which I still maintain. I’ve seen the white paint come off the interior walls to expose the lovely brick. I’ve seen that back section of the (now) front room lose its elevation. I’ve seen the original kitchen be relocated to make way for the back room. I’ve seen the sawdust-on-the-floor phase. I’ve listened as the ambient music went from Duke playing live piano jazz to a jukebox with 45s to a 45s/CD jukebox to just CD jukebox to a digitally streaming jukebox. I’ve seen my “old guy” day-drinkers pass on to the “great bar in the sky” while I’ve met new Dorrian’s staff who are the offspring of former Dorrian’s co-workers.
And I’ve stayed more connected to a larger number of friends I made at Dorrian’s — A familiar place I thought I could make some quick cash working in for only a couple weeks before college—than any other circle of friends I have.
Sean-Patrick is right in his story: Dorrian’s was, is, and always will be, our St. Elmo’s Fire.