The 3:43 Toast at McSorley’s Old Ale House.

McSorley’s Old Ale House History. From its humble origins as an Irish working man’s saloon — cheese and crackers on the house-beer for pennies, to its rediscovery by the mainstream in a 1940s NEW YORKER magazine profile. McSorley’s is steeped in a cultural cacophony of Americana. Presidents, residents, authors and thieves — the lot of humanity have sat and shared, all abiding by McSorley’s golden rule “Be Good or Be Gone”.