The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-04
THE HOFFMAN, HOUSE MOVING.
OLD GUARD SWAPS STORIES OF
ITS EARLIER DAYS.

WOrkmen start 10 Tear Down inc MAIN
Observation-Disclosures OF the Genesis
OF the Rickey-Souvenirs Of the Mosaic
Rooster in the Barroom in Demand,
A barrier Of new pine boards covers the
front of the Broadway entrance to the
Hoffman House and inside workmen are
tearing things to pieces, preparatory to
pulling down the old part Of the hotel
altogether to make room for a fourteen
story structure, which will be the new
Hoffman House.
Visions Of fourteen stories fourteen
months or more hence didn't entirely con-
sole the real "old guard, whose members
never call themselves by that title but re-
mark casually that they have been there
since "a or '79 or something Of that sort,
thus q~uieting for a minute or two the up
starts who do call themselves the old guard
Of the Hoffman, before strangers at least.
They seem to think that three drinks make
a lifetime and going through one night Of
election betting in the corridor gives them
all the political, dramatic and historical
traditions Of the place.
The real old timers we're In evidence the
day when the wreckers began to wreck and
hammer.
They might at least have made that
barrier of juniper wood" muttered George
Crouch as somebody came to slide a leather
couch out from under him.
The bar was moved on Sunday, with
out spilling a drop or cracking a glass.
1t is now one store-front north Of where 1t
was, and where jewelry clerks were selling
wedding rings and scarfpins up to Saturday
night the Hoffman House bartenders are
now at work, with their labors doubled, be-
cause every purchaser Of a drink THINKS
he is entitled to know the past history and
the future plans Of the house.
The entrance to the new bar is still on
Broadway and is sven more convenient
for a thirst going south on Broadway than
it was before, but it will take folks coming
from down. town some days to get aoous-
toned to it, George Crouch thinks.
The Nubian slaves, bearing fruit, ths
Flemish strong box and all the other relics
were moved with the bar. Of course, but
the fixtures are not up yet However,
that need not ~disappoint anybody who
comes to town 80 as to be able to whisper
to the folks at home that he saw those
pictures in the Hoffman House bar. For
as soon as the fine board wall was put up
a sidewalk vender of postal cards tool
his stand in front Of it and the visitor can
look at the cards, unless Anthony Com
STOCK sees them first: Next to the man
with the postal cards there is an old woman
selling live rabbits.
Tearing things up made the old timers
reminiscent as they stood around in the
dismantled bar telling Hoffman House
stories.
"Old Cassius Reed came in here two
days ago. said Crouch. He was the
proprietor when came here to live in 1888.
Stokes was only a guest here then-it was
the time that Stokes was in the Tombs, at
Sing Sing and in Auburn Cassius Reed
saw to it that everything that could be
done for a man in jail was done for Stokes.
Then when Stokes got out and got some
money and bought the house old man Reed
had to get out. You can call that rank
ingratitude or what you like, but those are
the facts. It's about the only thing I don't
like 70 remember about this place.
Most everybody has stayed here-all
the actors. all the statesmen, all the horse
men and some damn scoundrels, as l might
say, some of our best known criminals.
And there's been history made right
here under this roof. The Erie deals were
engineered from here and
Yes Interrupted John A. Dooner, who
thought the company was getting too
serious, 1T was right in this bar that Col,
Hickey introduced his drink 10 New York
He was standing right there when he
told the bartender how to make 1t, said
Mark Mayer, pointing to where a workman
was ripping up the thing.
Beg your PARDON said Dooner, 'he
was at the other end Of the bar. I was
with him. I remember just how he looked
when he picked out the lime"
You're wrong. said Mayer; I know,
Then Charlie Mahoney, the boss bartend-
er, was asked to fix the spot before it was
torn up, but he said that he happened to
be of the night the rickey was introduced,
Mahoney has held his job for many years,
partly by being a diplomat.
Il was with Col. Hickey two hours before
he died, = said Mr.. Crouch.
He did go very suddenly, replied an
other mourner. Il had a drink witt him
but one hour before he died. 1t was his last
drink"
hour" exclaimed another who had stopped
for a minute in his search for the bars
new site.
The oronies are all waiting for the
wreckers who were tearing up the tessel-
lated floor to get to the mosaic rooster in
the middle of the corridor. Each one was
bound to have a colored cube OF marble out
of that bird.
1t was in honor Of that rooster, when a
new floor was laid some years ago, that
Mahoney invented his new drink-the
ROSTERS egg. This is still a favorite break
fast with those h came to the Hoffman
in the eos and the '70s. 1t is made with a
raw egg dropped into four fingers of Scotch
whiskey. If breakfast is ordered before the
egg man has been around it may be made
by doubling the ~whiskey and leaving out
the egg,
This moving and rebuilding. said the
friends Of the management yesterday, is
not a last resort to get rid Of any Of the
cushion warmers, as one renovation OF the
Hoffman House was reported TO have been.
That was when they had to wall up Col.
Ochiltree's favorite corner, so they said,
and send to the upholsterer all the settlers
upon which he sat when he was supposed to
be handing out the stories that he never
told.
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