Dorrian's Red Hand

Dorrian bought the bar, known for its red and white checkered tablecloths, a week before Christmas in 1959¹. When he tore some paper down, he found it had been covering two bullet holes in the mirror¹. The bar dates itself to 1960, started by Irish immigrant James "Red Dog" Dorrian and run by his son Jack^{2, 3}. Dorrian eventually bought the apartment buildings upstairs too, and the bar started drawing the newspapermen who lived in them¹.

It became a social pillar for preppy Upper East Side teenagers, college students and young professionals². On August 26, 1986, Jennifer Levin, 18, who had been out with friends at Dorrian's, left with Robert Chambers, 19, a school friend of one of Dorrian's sons and a regular there^{1, 4}. They walked to Central Park, where he killed her¹. Chambers pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served 15 years¹.

In 2009 a society writer who had been Levin's friend told the New York Observer that Dorrian's was a rite of passage for anyone who grew up on the Upper East Side¹. That year the owner described its dress code as "not tuxedos but it's not tank tops"¹. In 2015, the New York Post reported, Gwyneth Paltrow downed a Fireball shot there with friends before a reunion at the Spence School¹. Gossip Girl, U.S. Marshals and Fleishman Is in Trouble have all filmed there².

Jack Dorrian died in August 2022⁴. The bar is still family-owned, run by his son Jimmy, and there's a second Dorrian's in Jersey City². Its October 2026 calendar has Tuesday karaoke and the Knicks' season opener³.