A whole lot of beer gets poured at Fraunces Tavern, established in 1762, but it's also a gathering spot for several cocktail and whiskey clubs, with the Dingle Whiskey Bar a destination for its Scotch collection.

This Little Italy bar and restaurant has been open since 1908, starting as a dive and going a little classier more recently.

In a building that dates from 1817, the Ear Inn started serving beer and spirits in the mid-19th century, operating without a name until new owners christened it the Ear Inn in 1977. Go here for fantastic regulars, late-night music, a fine Guinness, owner Martin Sheridan and staff.

New York's oldest gay bar, opened in Greenwich Village in 1840 as a grocery, operating as a bar since 1864.

Dating back to 1880, the White Horse Tavern was a center of bohemian culture in the '50s and '60s, as a favorite of Dylan Thomas, Jack Kerouac, James Baldwin, and others.

The Old Town Bar has been serving drinks near Union Square since 1892. It also purports to have the city's oldest dumbwaiter and 102-year-old urinals in the men's room.

Open since 1911 and in this location since 1936, this is a family-run neighborhood pub. Like lots of longtime places, it's in danger of closing due to development by the year's end.

Rudy’s got one of New York’s the first liquor licenses when prohibition ended in 1933 and has since become one of the city's finest dive bars. "Sidle up to the original mahogany bar, custom-made for $300 on the Bowery," reads the website. "You’re hip-deep in good company now in our legendary microcosm of New York, as friendly, unpretentious, and wildly diverse as the best of the city itself." Free Hebrew National hot dogs with the purchase of a drink.

PJ Clarke's building on Third Avenue was built in 1868, becoming a bar in 1884. Starting when PJ Clarke himself bought the bar in 1912, it became a destination for the rich and famous, including Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, and Nat King Cole. The bartenders there make a pretty mean Manhattan.