HISTORY
The intersection of Spring and Mulberry Streets now marks the northern edge of what was once a bustling Little Italy - now blending into the trendy boutiques of modern-day Soho. Today, the neighborhood is vibrant, youthful, and diverse, reflecting the dynamic mix of cultures that define New York City.
48 SpRING STREET HISTORY
1920’S PROHIBITION
The location of 48 Spring Street has been a bar for over 75 years and the back room was rumored to have been a “beer to go” joint through Prohibition.
1940’S ‘PUERTO RICO COFFEE COMPANY’
In the series of photos that were taken in the City during the early 1940’s the location housed the Puerto Rico Coffee Company with its entrance at the corner of the two streets. Again, it was rumored that beer was served in the back room often in buckets “to go” for neighborhood customers to pull up to their walk up apartments by rope.
1940’S ‘CHAPPY’S’
Sometime in the early 1940’s the bar took over the coffee roasters and was called Chappy’s after its owner. His picture adorns the wall of the current establishment showing him standing on the bar chugging a bottle of wine to celebrate the allied invasion of Italy during WWII.
1960’s ‘Wilson’s 10:30’
The next business to take over the space was a place called “Wilson’s 10:30” where the ’10:30’ apparently referred to the craps games that would commence at that time in the basement. This was told to me by a long time resident of 209 Mulberry who has since passed.
1970’S ‘SPRING LOUNGE’
The next owner was Pat and Vincent “Jimmy Red” Casserta who took the bar over in the late 1970’s and named it Spring Lounge.
During that time, it was very much a locals joint catering to regulars and their acquaintances only and there was no draft beer as bottles and cans were served out of an iced garbage can and limited selection of booze was available for patrons.
‘Shark Bar’ Nickname - Jimmy Red was a fan of fishing and caught and hung the two sharks in the front room of the bar (one above the bar, and the other above the archway) along with a bunch of other aquatic decor items which the locals then nicknamed Spring Lounge as ‘Shark Bar’ which we are still proudly referred to as today.
Jimmy Red had quite a reputation and unfortunately met his demise by unnatural causes in the 80’s when his wife, Pat, took over running the bar. She was a tall, tough, and no nonsense red head who could swear and smoke with the best of them.
The back room had been converted into a pizzeria ‘Jimmy Red’s Pizza’ by her sons but fell into financial problems so she closed it down. The sign from the pizzeria is still in that back room today.
1997 ‘SPRING LOUNGE’ WITH NEW/CURRENT OWNERSHIP
Bryan Delaney bought the bar from Pat in early December 1996 and reopened after construction March 15th, 1997 and remembers someone telling him he was crazy to have gone east of Broadway!” because New York City was in the very early stages of gentrification and there were many neighborhoods considered ‘No Go.’
From that day on we have tried to be open every day as many hours as are allowed by law. We have survived three power outages, some of which lasted nearly a week in the case of Hurricane Sandy. We stayed open during 9/11 after Bryan and his wife watched the trucks loaded with double shifts of firemen from the local houses (Engine 55 and Ladder 20) zoom to their demise on that fateful day. Bryan and his wife even celebrated their wedding reception and Thanksgiving in the bar on November 26, 2002, then endured the market crash of 2009, and most recently made it through the Covid 19 pandemic shutdowns and restricted openings.
2014 ‘Early Morning Drinkers Society’ (E.M.D.S.) - was established by workers and regulars because the bar opens at 8am Mon-Sat with nearly 200 proud members to date.
