Opened in 1950, the Kettle of Fish—with its large neon “bar” sign outside the door—was already old-school by the time The New Inside Guide to Greenwich Village came out in 1965:
By then it had earned its cred as a hangout for the early-1960s folk music crowd, and before that as a haunt of beat writers, such as Jack Kerouac.
In Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair in Letters, author and Kerouac girlfriend Joyce Johnson recalls a night in 1958 when Kerouac visited the Kettle of Fish with poet Gregory Corso:
“Shortly before he returned to Orlando to start packing, [Jack] went out one night with Gregory Corso to the Kettle of Fish, a bar on MacDougal Street that had a rough clientele and was frequented by moving men like Henri Cru. In the fall Jack and I had been photographed in front of its red neon sign by Jerry Yulsman.
“In the small hours of the morning, Jack and Gregory left the bar, followed outside by two men, who beat Jack up, banging his head repeatedly against the curb and breaking his nose and his arm. To his horror, he found he lacked the will to defend himself. . . .”
Kerouac and Joyce Johnson at the Kettle of Fish on MacDougal. The bar moved to the old Lion’s Head space on Christopher Street several years back, where it still is today—and strangely has become the epicenter of Green Bay Packers fandom, as the Daily News explains.
The Kettle of Fish in the 1950s, part neighborhood pub, part beat haunt
Tags: Beat writers, beatniks, Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair in Letters, folk music in New York City, Gregory Corso, Jack Kerouac, Joyce Johnson, Kettle of Fish bar, MacDougal Street bars, New York in the 1960s, The Lion's Head, the Village in the 1950s
Ephemeral New York 
January 3, 2010 at 4:17 pm |
Wow- that review (except for the prices and phone exchange) could have been written today. How little language has changed.
January 4, 2010 at 6:47 pm |
[…] Ephemeral NY takes the time machine back to the Kettle of Fish in Greenwich Village. Opened in 1950, it was a bar that became haunt for many beat writers and folkies [Ephemeral NY] […]
January 5, 2010 at 10:44 pm |
This is now the Esperanto Cafe, and still very hip.
January 6, 2010 at 9:12 pm |
[…] to Ephemeral New York for the Kerouac shot. And also for the excerpt from 1965's The New Inside Guide To Greenwich […]
January 12, 2010 at 5:42 am |
That image of Kerouac was used for a Gap ad about 15 years ago. They photoshopped Joyce Johnson out of it.
Great read!
January 12, 2010 at 6:48 pm |
Thanks. Wow, a Gap ad. I can’t imagine it helped them sell a lot of khakis.
January 18, 2010 at 4:11 pm |
In the early 60’s The Kettle of Fish was a good place to find such up and coming singer-songwriters as Phil Ochs, Eric Andersen, and a kid named Dylan. Apparently, as Dylan outpaced everyone else, jealousies emerged, especially after he told Ochs: “You’re not a songwriter, you’re a journalist.”
April 17, 2011 at 12:10 am |
[…] them were Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac (with Carr at left, at Columbia), and William S. Burroughs—not a student, but part of the crowd. […]
January 15, 2012 at 12:30 pm |
[…] which opened on MacDougal St. in 1950, was a favorite hangout of the originalbeatnik, Jack Kerouac. But as the excellent urbanite blog Ephmeral New York notes, the lifespan of cool on the island of Manhattan is notoriously short. By 1965, a guidebook to the […]
February 17, 2012 at 11:34 am |
Trying to locate Roy Norman who frequented and might have worked as bartender at the Kettle in the 60’s
September 19, 2012 at 7:07 pm |
I used to spend time at the Kettle when it was a neighborhood pub and a watering spot for Beats and would-be bohemians. Of course it’s moved to the location of the old Lion’s Head. What ever happened to the famous painting of those striking Italian gentlemen at leisure?
November 12, 2013 at 3:01 pm |
[…] current location is at 59 Christopher St.) and used to be a hangout for Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan. Ephemeral New York excerpts Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair in Letters by Joyce Johnson, a writer and former […]
May 22, 2017 at 6:52 am |
[…] Lion’s Head has been shuttered for 21 years; in its place is the Kettle of Fish (below), another old-school Village bar that moved over from Bleecker […]
November 24, 2018 at 4:19 pm |
Check this out: https://thedailybeatblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-last-bohemians-blog-about-history.html
July 11, 2019 at 3:57 am |
In the early 90s, Kettle of Fish was on West 3rd St. just off 6th. (Been the Fat Black Pussycat since Kettle left that location). Used to party with some of the house band from Cafe Wha there after hours.
February 18, 2024 at 7:32 pm |
[…] drunken inspiration on Jack’s storied old stool.” FAR OUT, W – White Horse Tavern Ephemeral New York: Jack Kerouac at the Kettle of Fish in the Village On the Cape with Jack Kerouac NY Times: Owners Vow to Rebuild Long Island Bar Frequented by Kerouac […]