"Spooky score: ???????? Our server at this West Village institution, which opened in 1880, was almost too eager to tell us that there is “definitely” something paranormal going on here—kind of like it was part of his training to talk up the haunted angle. To feel closer to the supposed ghosts of White Horse Tavern, bypass the sports-bar energy of the spacious first room and head for the back, which feels more like a red neon-lit dive. There, it’s easier to imagine this place filled with an impressive resume of literary regulars, like James Baldwin, Jack Kerouac, and most notoriously the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who’s said to have died at the Hotel Chelsea after drinking 18 whiskeys here in 1953. Thomas remains at the White Horse Tavern even now, in a portrait on the wall. As you sip your $5 happy hour draft, his eyes seem to follow you wherever you go. " - molly fitzpatrick
