The Green Door

If all this is about ye olde bar rooms in New York City, and it is, you knew this was coming.  This sketch in oil is from the Ear Inn, as fine example of an untouched neighborhood joint as any you’ll find.  Considering what is happening to what has been for decades a sparcely populated backwater of lower Manhattan, that is a small miracle.  Being so far off the beaten path has helped preserve the Ear Inn’s regulars-only character, but you can’t help but wonder how it might change with Soho creeping ever westward, and all the new office space opening up.   But for now it’s still as it ever was, and always worth a stop.  This picture is of the flipped up hatch at the end of the bar, and the random looking collage formed from an old cardboard drink coaster, a drawing of a crayon labeled “The Ear”, an enameled metal “In” sign, and a price list in a plastic sleeve hanging from a rubber band.  Our old friends Peto and Harnett would be pleased with the composition.