A lonely, long-gone West Village cocktail lounge

I have no idea when George Herdt’s bar and restaurant opened or closed.

And I can only guess at the clientele—perhaps the same mix of longshoremen, factory workers, and locals who frequented the White Horse a few blocks away back in the 1940s and 1950s, way before the far West Village became trendy.

This lovely, ghostly photo was taken in the early 1970s by author Katherine Towler. She lived in Chelsea then; luckily she documented some West Side haunts of the time—most, like this one, are no longer there.

Today 284 West 12th Street houses Cafe Cluny.