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Costello's (also known asTim's) was abar andrestaurant inMidtown Manhattan, New York City, from 1929 to 1992. The bar operated at several locations near the intersection of East 44th Street andThird Avenue. Costello's was known as a drinking spot for journalists with theNew York Daily News, writers withThe New Yorker, novelists, and cartoonists, including the authorErnest Hemingway, the cartoonistJames Thurber, the journalistJohn McNulty, the poetBrendan Behan, the short-story writerJohn O'Hara, and the writersMaeve Brennan andA. J. Liebling. The bar is also known for having been home to a wall where Thurber drew a cartoon depiction of the "Battle of the Sexes" at some point in 1934 or 1935; the cartoon was destroyed, illustrated again, and then lost in the 1990s. A wall illustrated in 1976 by several cartoonists, includingBill Gallo,Stan Lee,Mort Walker,Al Jaffee,Sergio Aragonés, andDik Browne, is still on display at the bar's final location.
The bar was founded in 1929 as aspeakeasy on Third Avenue by brothers Tim and Joe Costello, who had emigrated to the United States from Ireland. Tim was known as an affable, intelligent proprietor with an interest in literature. In the early 1930s, the bar moved to the corner of East 44th Street and Third Avenue, before moving one door away on Third Avenue in 1949. The bar moved to its final location at 225 East 44th Street in 1974. Costello's closed in 1992; the Turtle Bay Café took over the space, operating until 2005. Since then, the location has been occupied by a sports bar called the Overlook. The bar is remembered through the stories that have been told about it over the years. The writerJohn McNulty is credited with creating a mythology around Costello's—which he called "this place on Third Avenue"—through a series of short stories published inThe New Yorker in the 1940s.
Tim Costello (September 5, 1895 – November 7, 1962)[2] and his brother Joe opened the eponymous Costello's (also known as Tim's)[3] in 1929 (duringprohibition) as aspeakeasy—a bar illicitly selling alcohol—inMidtown Manhattan, New York City.[b] It was located onThird Avenue near the East 44th Street intersection and under theThird Avenue El.[5] Tim and Joe were born and raised inFerbane, Ireland, to James and Teresa (née Flynn), who owned a drapery shop. As a young adult, Tim worked as a taxi driver in Dublin.[6] He was arrested in 1922 for dangerous driving, sentenced to three months in prison, and fined £10 (equivalent to $690 in 2023).[i] Tim emigrated to the United States in 1927; in transit, he met his future wife, Kathleen Gordon.[4] Tim was known as an affable, intellectual proprietor, who was knowledgeable about literature, opinionated about art, and often well-dressed in aBrooks Brothers suit.[7]
After the1933 repeal of the prohibition of alcohol in the United States, Costello's moved to 701 Third Avenue,[8] on the corner of Third Avenue and East 44th Street.[c] From opening at 701 Third Avenue throughWorld War II, Costello's and its neighborP. J. Clarke's "were the great egalitarian mixers of New York", according to a 1976 story inThe New York Times, where "chauffeurs, ice-men, taxi drivers andhod carriers"[12] dined and drank with writers, journalists, and artists. Contributors toThe New Yorker, columnists and reporters for theNew York Daily News, correspondents with theAssociated Press andUnited Press International, and cartoonists forYank Magazine, as well as people working in theMadison Avenue advertising industry, were attracted to Costello's because of its proprietor's literary knowledge and charm.[13] The journalistJohn McNulty, a regular at the bar, described it as "somewhat dim and dusty" and "run in a catch-as-catch-can style, with no efficiency at all".[14] Other notable regulars included the authorErnest Hemingway, the cartoonistJames Thurber, the poetBrendan Behan, the short-story writerJohn O'Hara, and the writersMaeve Brennan andA. J. Liebling.[15] In 1949, Costello's moved one door south to 699 Third Avenue.[10]
When Tim died in 1962 at the age of 67,[9] his son Timothy Costello inherited and continued operating the business.[16] In the 1970s, Costello's began to change along with the neighborhood, which was being developed by larger businesses and facing increasing rents.[11] By 1972, Costello's was no longer a gathering place for authors and journalists; rather, according to Timothy Costello, it catered to businesspeople, whom he referred to as "technicians".[12] The bartender John Gallagher said that many of their customers worked onWall Street.[10] Through the 1970s, however, someDaily News journalists continued to frequent the bar.[12]
Costello's was evicted from 699 Third Avenue in 1973 because the building's owners intended to tear the building down; theTimes reported that a spokesperson for the building's owner said "Yes, ... it's too bad about Costello's."[11] Despite claiming that he could not afford rent in the neighborhood, Timothy Costello reopened the following year at 225 East 44th Street.[17] Costello's closed in the morning of February 29, 1992, in part as a result of theearly 1990s recession.[18] Later that year, adive bar called The Turtle Bay Café moved into the location. The bar was frequented by diplomats, United Nations employees, and the cast and crew of the soap operaGuiding Light.[19] 225 East 44th Street has been occupied by asports bar called the Overlook since 2004.[20] Regarding the closure of Costello's, the wines and spirits journalist Robert Simonson observed: "How quickly the character drains from things in 21st-century New York."[21]
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Costello's was decorated with illustrations that were painted and drawn directly on the walls by several notable cartoonists, includingJames Thurber,Bill Gallo,Stan Lee,Mort Walker,Al Jaffee,Sergio Aragonés, andDik Browne.[22][20][23] At some point from 1934–1935, when Costello's was located at 701 Third Avenue, Thurber illustrated the walls, depicting theBattle of the Sexes.[24] The journalist Jacquin Sanders described the cartoons as black and white illustrations that were "full of large, angry women, small, cowed men and regretful dogs".[25]
There are several conflicting accounts of when and how Thurber completed the cartoon.The New York Times journalist Murray Schumach wrote that he borrowed the keys to the bar and painted the cartoon in one day in the winter of 1935.[10] Susan Edmiston and Linda D. Cirino reported that, one night, he drew the cartoon in 90 minutes.[24] By contrast, theTimes journalist Robert Tomasson stated that Thurber worked throughout 1934–1935; he would arrive to the bar late at night, working from booth to booth, and in the morning, the walls would bevarnished to preserve the illustrations.[11] The cartoon was accidentally destroyed when painters hired by Tim Costello painted over them. Thurber then again illustrated the wall with a similar cartoon. In 1949, that section of the wall was removed and moved to the bar's new location at 699 Third Avenue.[26] On April 8, 1972, several cartoonists who had worked forYank Magazine during World War II restored the illustrations.[10] The Thurber cartoons were brought to the bar's final location at 701, where they were only occasionally displayed.[9] The Thurber cartoons disappeared in the 1990s.[20]
In 1976, two years after Costello's moved to its final location, Timothy Costello enlisted the cartoonistBill Gallo, who was then president of theNational Cartoonists Society, to illustrate one of the walls.[27] Gallo initially declined because he "didn't want to compete with Thurber".[23] Eventually, he struck a deal with Costello to close the bar and provide free food and drink for the approximately 40 cartoonists who contributed to the wall, includingStan Lee,Mort Walker,Al Jaffee,Sergio Aragonés, andDik Browne.[28] The wall features characters such asHägar the Horrible,Beetle Bailey, andSpider-Man.[29] In 2005, the cartoonistBill Kresse called the wall the "Sistine Chapel" of the National Cartoonists Society.[27]
When the Overlook took over the lease in 2004, there was fear that the cartoons would be removed during renovations.[30] The Overlook's owner denied that they had intended to remove the cartoons; instead, they preserved the cartoons—including old graffiti—under glass.[31] Gallo and two dozen other cartoonists returned in 2005 at the invitation of the Overlook's owner to illustrate a corner of the bar.[32] In 2009, the wines and spirits journalist Robert Simonson wrote that the 2005 illustrations "feel like wan attempts to recapture a more glorious artistic past", noting that each of the characters had been given dialogue advertising the Overlook.[21]
Costello's is a part of the stories and mythologies of several writers.John McNulty wrote about the discussions and happenings at the bar, which he called "this place on Third Avenue", in the 1940s in a series of short stories forThe New Yorker.[33] In those stories, McNulty recorded the bar's customers and staff, their doings, and their discussions.[34] The journalistThomas Vinciguerra called McNulty's short stories "ramblingyarns with titles as long and shaggy as the stories themselves".[35] According to the journalistGeorge Frazier inEsquire, "there were thoseNew Yorker writers who considered it unthinkable to hand in their manuscripts to the magazine before getting [Tim Costello's] approval".[36]
In one oft-repeated story about Costello's—which was recorded inThe Oxford Book of American Literary Anecdotes—in the spring of 1944,Ernest Hemingway andJohn O'Hara bet $50 (equivalent to $893 in 2024)[ii] that Hemingway could not break ablackthorn cane over O'Hara's head. Hemingway then proceeded to do so.[37][d] The cane was allegedly a gift fromJohn Steinbeck, who was reportedly "disgusted by the incident and lost any personal admiration he had for Hemingway".[39] The two halves of the broken cane were displayed over the bar until Costello's closed.[18]
Timothy Costello, bar and grill, renewal in 701 3d Ave ....
40°45′06″N73°58′20″W / 40.7517°N 73.9723°W /40.7517; -73.9723
