"I don't ask for your pity, just your understanding. Not even that, but your recognition of me in you and time, the enemy in us all." Tennessee Williams

On June 6th, 2005, O'Donnell's Bar on 23rd St. and 1st Avenue closed its doors for the last time. There was no big party or notice in any of the papers or tabloids. The bartender Nev just served the last pint of beer, counted the money, walked out and locked the door. At the start of 2005, Gramercy had three old-school Gin Mills left - O'Donnell's, the Blarney Cove and O'Hanlon's. By the end of the year all three will be gone. The Blarney Cove will go the way of O'Donnell's, lost to the ages, and O'Hanlon's (Sloppy O's as my friend Dave Bergen calls it) will become a more 'neighborhood friendly' establishment. Read: a lounge with Drum and Bass mixes filling the air on 14th Street on any given night.

The news that these bars were closing quickly made the rounds of the Irish bars that populated Gramercy and Kips Bay. I found out when I was sitting in Molly's Shebeen. I was shocked when I was told by the bartender when the last day for each would be.

"You look perplexed." He said.

"I'm just shocked." I said. "I mean, Jesus, O' Donnell's is a neighborhood staple."

"Take a look outside Alex, old Gin Mills just don't last anymore."

He's right. From St. Marks Place to 34th Street, Third Avenue is now filled with Irish Bars, Nouveau Singles bars, Lounges and Sports Bars. And it isn't just on Third Avenue or on the East Side, but the whole of Manhattan from river to river, 96th on down.

I posed this question, "Are there any Gin Mills left in Manhattan?", to one of the only people I know who knows more bartenders than I do in the city - Kenny Lazlo, General Manager of Maloney and Porccelli, one day over a beer and burger. "Define a Gin Mill," I said.

"It opens at 11 am and closes at 4am. Long bar against the wall that caters to a neighborhood crowd that drinks on both shifts. It doesn't serve food and looks like it's been lived in for a million years. The kids today call them an Old Man bar."

Kenny sat quietly. "Gleasons." He answered after a few minutes.

"That's all?"

"That's all I can think of."

Lazlo added one more to my list, making about six total. This list includes the Cherry Tavern, the International, Vasacs, Rudy's, and the Holland Tunnel Bar.