Gray, “Colonel” Jim (1855–1914), was the second-most famous bartender in New York during the first golden age of the cocktail, yielding only to William Schmidt, although his approach to the craft of mixing drinks was the antithesis of Schmidt’s. See Schmidt, William. James W. Gray was a native New Yorker who began working behind the bar at fifteen. In 1882, he was at the Astor House when he was recruited by the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York’s most prestigious (it was where sitting presidents stayed, as well as the prince of Wales). See Astor House. Gray remained there until a few weeks before the hotel’s closing in 1908. The hotel was a home away from home for the Republican party, and Gray (ironically, a Democrat) entertained among his regular customers presidents Ulysses S. Grant, who “seldom drank anything except ale or porter,” and Chester A. Arthur, “a very sociable, pleasant customer” who liked a Tom Collins, along with a parade of other Republican officeholders. See Tom Collins.
Gray was famous as a mixer of drinks, but more for their quality than their variety: his specialties were Medford Rum Punch, made by the glass, and the Old-Fashioned, which he claimed to have invented in 1881 (his version cannot be considered orthodox, as it was shaken and omitted the bitters). See Old-Fashioned Cocktail. But Gray was as renowned for his hospitality, gentlemanly demeanor, and rectitude as for his drinks. He was also known for his gaudy vests, a personal trademark: he changed them several times a day, and his prominent customers made it a game to see who could bring him the loudest fabric.
With the demise of the Fifth Avenue, Gray moved north one block to the Hotel Albemarle and then next door to the Hoffman House, where he took over Charley Mahoney’s old job as bar manager. See Hoffman House. At his welcoming reception, attended by Buffalo Bill Cody and a host of other celebrities of the day, “to demonstrate that he was still a spring chicken” Gray “mixed 35 punches in 45 minutes, talking the while.” The closing of the Hoffman House in 1911 basically put an end to his career as the dean of Fifth Avenue bartenders and, symbolically, to the first era of the bartender as celebrity.
“Gloom in Fifth Avenue Bar.” New York Sun, April 7, 1908, 7.
“Grief at Razing of Fifth-Avenue Hotel.” New York Herald, March 29, 1908, 9.
“Col. Jim Gray Jogs North.” New York Sun, April 11, 1910, 7.
By: David Wondrich