» On 9/01/2024 12:30:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Hurley's Saloon and The Beer Of Keys. 

Hurley's Saloon, a 19th century townhouse-turned-bar at Sixth Avenue and 49th Street, was originally opened for business in 1892. It eventually became one of the oldest restaurants in New York City. When the area was being bought out to create Rockefeller Center in the 1920s and 30s, owner Adrien Barbey resisted, forcing real estate developers to build around Hurley's. As a result, the four-story structure carves out a much-lower profile on the southwest corner of the 66-story building known as "30 Rock." Hurley's was the hangout for TV stars like Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, mainly due to its proximity to the NBC studios.

[Recently, a group of celebrity investors including Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson converted the old-timey Irish pub into a ritzy multi-level watering hole, with a "secret entrance" from 30 Rock on the fourth floor.]

During the late 1970s, Hurley's was the Sunday-morning destination of choice for SNL crew members and NBC Pages. After the show's goodnights at 1 am, we all headed over to decompress and suck down a beer or two. Cast members and guest performers were whisked away in limousines for their own fancy wrap party, but the rest of us peons had to settle for Hurley's. The drink prices were pretty steep, on a lowly Page's salary, but the bar offered free plates of chicken wings, so we supplemented our normal food intake by gobbling down the wings, while nursing our beers. A couple of us got into the habit of ordering Beck's Dark. It was a little more expensive, but it was much tastier. Over the months of our Pagedom, we eventually moved up the pecking order to become supervisory Key Pages. On the Sunday morning after our promotion, we finally noticed the key logo on the Beck's label and simultaneously blurted out, "The Beer Of Keys!"

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