Hundreds of couples have found love at this Philly pub
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Real-life fairy tales. Photo: Courtesy of McGillin's
If you look at its stats, you might think McGillin's Olde Ale House is brewing love potions in the back.
Why it matters: The Center City pub, the oldest continuously operating in the city, boasts of being the "most romantic place in Philadelphia." It has love ledgers to back up that claim: album books brimming with pictures and love stories of hundreds of couples who met there.
The big picture: So what's its secret? "We offer the atmosphere your grandparents experienced," bar owner Chris Mullins tells Axios.
- "All the pretenses are checked at the door."
And they mean all. To get to the front entrance, you have to traverse an alleyway, navigating past dumpsters.
- But once inside, couples say, the ambience is the perfect mix of "party" and "home," including during holidays, when McGillin's decks out the place.
Booze helps too. "We were both obliterated," Stuart Redman recalls. "That part was mutual."
- With a little liquid courage, Redman approached his now-fiancée Sabrina Mechler after she finished a toasty rendition of Owl City's "Fireflies," one of his favorite songs. The rest is history.
Zoom in: Retired FBI agent Gordon Zacrep was at McGillin's with some coworkers one fateful Friday night in 1972.
- "That was one of our favorite places to go. It was convenient from where we [worked]," Zacrep tells Axios.
- The bar was packed, and they ended up sitting at a table with his future wife, Eileen Kennedy, and her friend. Zacrep says they mingled, danced and stayed up all night talking.
Fast forward: For their 25th anniversary, Zacrep rented a limousine to re-create the magic from the couple's wedding night, including a stop for drinks at McGillin's.
The intrigue: Kennedy's friend married one of Zacrep's colleagues whom she also met that night.
In 1976, Mary and Jack Butler met there during happy hour. They've been together more than four decades and still have McGillin's wedding mugs they toast from each anniversary.
- "I liked everything about him," says 73-year-old Mary, who was surprised when the dark-haired, blue-eyed stranger planted a goodbye kiss on her as she boarded her train home that night.
- "We've had a good life together," Jack says.
The bottom line: James Zingarini says he might never have talked to his wife, Katie, if he hadn't met her at McGillin's. The couple matched on a dating app weeks before, but he never messaged her.
- After Katie spotted James at the bar singing Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up," she figured he might appreciate persistence.
- Soon enough, the two were swooning to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer." They'll celebrate their second anniversary this year.
"That was one of those moments I'll never forget," James tells Axios.