Saloons of the Golden Age

Image: The Smithsonian - The Spirited History of the American Saloon
 

You know how you can tell this photo is authentic? No barstools.

"Not many Americans had seen anything quite so impressive (as the saloon at The Pavilion hotel, Staten Island, 1839) but as the century wore on, fancy saloons appeared in every American city. They were intended to dazzle, in the Victorian manner, with an all-out decorative onslaught. Woodwork was massive, ceilings high, glassware ornate. 'I have visited in my day the barrooms of all civilized countries,' Mencken wrote in the 1940s, 'but none that I ever saw came within miles of a high-toned American saloon of the Golden Age....(In) the time I speak of, saloon architects stuck to mirrors...to honest brass and to noble and imperishable mahogany."

Straight Up or on the  Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail by William Grimes