Bar Profile: White Horse Tavern

Located in the West Village at 567 Hudson street, this historic bar is frequented by tourists and locals wishing to sit in the same stool as famous artists of the past. The pub lives up to its name by displaying an overwhelming amount of white horses as the main decor. Go ahead and try to count the number of white horses in the bar, I dare you.The bar was founded in 1880, and you can certainly tell that some of the bar hasn't changed at all since then. This is definitely a cool aspect of the bar, making you feel just as Jim Morrison or Bob Dylan did, who saw this bar in a similar fashion years ago. In its early years, the bar was mainly frequented by longshoremen up until the 1950's where a Bohemian culture took over. The Clancy Brothers, Jack Kerouac, Norman Mailer, and James Baldwin are some of the other greats who enjoyed a drink here. Dylan Thomas, however, is the artist most associated with Whitehorse Tavern. The Welsh Poet enjoyed his whiskey at "the horse" and legend has it he took 18 shots one night which is linked to his death. There is a whole room dedicated to Dylan Thomas where you can admire the poet and try to match his 18 shot record, although we do not recommend it. The Catholic Workers spent time at this bar and the idea for the Village Voice was stumbled upon here as well. The White Horse enjoys a rich history that you can only truly appreciate by wetting your whistle here firsthand.
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Get the full experience of the history of White Horse Tavern and plenty other historic bars by taking the West Village Pub Crawl Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.