B.P.O.E. Lodge 944
Ashland Oregon

Paul Sommers' Delancy St. Saloon

"The revels of the jolly crew meeting at Mrs. Giesman's became disturbing to the other boarders and she finally required them to forego their Sunday gatherings in her house. Quarters were found at 17 Delancy Street, over a saloon kept by one Paul Sommers, where the meetings were continuted." (Nicholson, 1992, 13)

	Image from 1852 Wall Map of New York City

Meeting above a saloon was in keeping with the working class environs of the Bowery. Saloons, as George Chauncey notes, "were central to the social life of most working class men ... Located on every block in some tenement districts, saloons served as informal labor exchanges ... Saloons cashed paychecks and made loans to men who had little access to banks, and they provided such basic amenities as drinking water and toilet facilities to men who lived in tentaments without plumbing.

Above all, they became virtual 'working-men's clubs,' where poor men could escape crowded tenements, get a cheap meal, discuss politics and other affairs of the day, and in a variety of ways sustain their native cultural traditions of male sociability. Saloons were often attached to large public halls, which saloonkeepers made available for meetings of unions or social clubs, whose members returned the favor by patronizing the bar."
(Chaucey, 41-2)

The nineteenth-century saloon, in fact, sounds a little like an Elks lodge! While Elks come from all walks of life, most lodges are still places where people can get an affordable meal, socialize, and gain inexpensive access to facilities for public gatherings.

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Last updated on 3/22/03