September 2, 1999…A Hard Day At NBC; “Studio 1H” Closes

September 2, 1999…A Hard Day At NBC; “Studio 1H” Closes

Inside 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Hurley’s Bar was lovingly called “Studio 1H”. As you can see in the photo below, Hurley’s (which opened in 1892) was just a half a block away from NBC’s studio entrance, making it the nearest watering hole for everyone from stars to stage hands. It became the favorite for radio, television, newspaper and sports celebrities as well as tourists and midtown workers.

Liz Trotta noted “You never knew who would be standing next to your lifting elbow at Hurley’s. Jason Robards, Jonathan Winters, jazz musicians from the local clubs and the ‘Tonight’ show, starlets, football players, the lot.”

Johnny Carson made the Hurley name nationally familiar while he did his show live from Rockefeller Center. It was the bar in all of his Ed McMahon drinking jokes. David Letterman did several on-air visits to the bar.

Hurley’s was known as a place where status was left at the door. Mayor John Lindsay stopped in once, only to be hissed by the patrons. When Henry Kissinger and two bodyguards got noisy, they were ejected by the bartender “for rowdy behavior.”

The bar had been here since 1892 and had always done well, even during prohibition when a florist shop was used to disguise the bar and it’s new back door, but all that history ended September 2, 1999. That night owner Adrien Barbey served the last glass of beer in the bar that had stood at Sixth Avenue and 49th Street for 102 years.

Today, the old Hurely’s location is a bakery (in the aqua circle), and NBC’s 49th Street entrance is a half a block down (in the red circle). The 11 story NBC studio building is just behind Hurley’s. -Bobby Ellerbee

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