Refreshment Concession

Central Park has always had various forms of food concessions, ranging from high to low. Most people are aware of Tavern on the Green, a pricey restaurant, on the west side of the park near 68th Street; most people are not aware that the core of its building is the sheepfold for the adjacent Sheep Meadow. After the sheep were forcibly removed from the park in 1934, the building was converted. About the same time, the restaurant called the Central Park Casino, operating out of a converted “Ladies’ Refreshment Salon” on the east side of the park near 72nd Street, was demolished.

Another example that I never heard of before today was McGowan’s Pass Tavern:

That’s a substantial building (photo by the Wurts Brothers) and it fits in nicely with the architectural design of the park’s buildings. Note the car: this photo is well into the twentieth century. “McGowan’s Pass” is a winding route through the hills at the north end of the park, now the part of the East Drive that doubles back on itself between 106th and 107th Streets. The name comes from a family that owned the Black Horse Tavern in the area in the eighteenth century; nothing of that tavern remains as far as I can find. The restaurant opened in 1884 as the Mount St. Vincent Hotel (like the Casino, it was not what the name implied, but simply a restaurant and bar). In 1905 or so, The Park Commission renamed the area “McGowan’s Pass” and renamed the restaurant to McGowan’s Tavern. The business failed and the building was demolished in 1915 or so, which is unfortunate, as the current management by the Central Park Conservancy could surely find a use for that building.