Author Archives: Alexander Goetzfried

There were many important news stories this week. The Justice Department subpoenaed phone records of AP journalists who reported on a thwarted plane bombing CIA operation in Yemen. I feel this is the most important, because of it’s implications on a journalists constitutional right to gather news, and government interference with that right.

An article I read recently does not hold much news weight in the traditional sense, but I found it very interesting, and well written. It was about endangered Monk Seals being killed in Hawaii, presumably by angry locals who feel the endangered animals get more rights than the local fisherman whose families have lived in Hawaii for generations. It proposes an interesting dilemma. We have protected many endangered animals which are now making a comeback, but as population numbers return, humans don’t know how to live with the animals, and one realizes why they may have been killed off in the first place. Here is a link if anyone is interested in reading it.

1) Do you think that there are any integrity issues with writing a detailed profile using stories and anecdotes to describe a person you have never met?

2)Would you describe works you have done like the piece on Richard Pryor as new journalism?

3) What is your process for maintaining a clear chronology, while writing a piece as long and detailed as the Pryor or Fonda profiles?

4)What is your note taking process like, and how do you use notes to develop a story?

The article we read on Jane Fonda by Hilton Als was a great read filled with wonderful detail.  I would ask Als how he got all of those details from so many different situations over such a long period of time. Was he actually there for all of them?  This article read like new journalism to me and I would be curious as to how he got details like what Fonda was drinking at her kids wedding, what her husband said in his speech, etc.

by Alex Goetzfried

It is 2 in the afternoon on a Tuesday in March and the Baker Street Pub is packed with ravenous soccer fans. The scene could easily be mistaken for a Saturday night if it wasn’t beautiful and sunny outside.

The match is a big one, Manchester United vs. Real Madrid. There is an order to the seating arrangements. Real Madrid fans are at the bar, Manchester United fans occupy the tables in the back.

The patrons are Albanian, Israeli, Irish, English, and some, the bartender Eileen, doesn’t know what they are and has no idea what they are saying, so she serves them whatever she feels like.  “Can you speak up! I can’t read lips back here!” Eileen yells at a patron with an indiscernible accent. “Some are alright, and some are cheap,” she says with a roll of her eyes.  It is what would normally be considered an off day, but she knows European soccer fans are her weekday bread and butter.

At most bars weekday lunch shifts are a death sentence or are reserved for training newbies, but not at the Baker Street Pub.  What happens on any given day, at any time revolves around soccer and rugby schedules.  An outsider couldn’t tell the difference between what is going on here and a Sunday afternoon of American football.

by Alex Goetzfried

The Baker St. Pub is named after a road in England, and is also the address of Sherlock Holmes, but on the Upper Eastside of New York City it is the second home to many Irish immigrants.

Baker St. Pub on 1st Ave

The Pub was the location for the original scenes from the film Cocktail starring Tom Cruise, as well as the location of the original TGIFridays.  Now the pub is a place where Irish immigrants can go to see soccer and rugby games, and to chat about the old country.  It is ironic that a bar with an English address serves mostly Irish customers.

This is a true neighborhood bar, the bartenders know everyone’s name and there is a family atmosphere that most bars in a city as big as New York don’t have. The place is packed at random times like 10 on a Saturday morning because they get all of the major soccer and rugby games. With St. Patty’s day around the corner a feel good story about Irishmen and their sports bar is appropriate.  The history is interesting as well.  Tom Cruise has acted there and it was where TGIFridays took off, originally planning on opening a TGIMonday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. until realizing that Friday is what bar patrons are looking forward to. It is also located around the corner from Sloan Kettering and has a good number of nurses who go there, and they serve traditional Irish breakfasts as well.

The profile of Sherlock Holmes watches over Baker St.

I will interview the bartenders, managers, and patrons, who are Irish and a few patrons who are not but live in the neighborhood.  A few short articles have been written about this pub but nothing substantial the links are attached.

http://nyclovesnyc.blogspot.com/2011/03/baker-street-irish-pub-in-new-york-with.html

http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/c/cocktail.html

http://nymag.com/listings/bar/baker-street-pub/