Global icon Harry’s New York Bar (Paris) recently celebrated its 100th birthday – a fine notch for a venue that’s lived through two World Wars, seen countless local developments and hosted some of last century’s most famous faces.
The story began in 1911 when US jockey Tod Sloan acquired it and with the help of his friend Clancey, a Manhattan bar owner, and set about creating a unique American bar in Paris. The duo embarked on a mad-house scheme to dismantle Clancey’s NY bar and rebuild it the French capital. Clancey, it is said, was determined to escape the draconian restrictions that were being forced upon the alcohol industry in the US, and so the pair made good their dream and relocated some 5,800km away.