1817 Federal-style townhouse built by African-American Revolutionary War veteran James Brown, now a Hudson Square tavern where staff and patrons report the ghost of a sailor known as Mickey.
326 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013
Age
21+
Cost
$$
Tavern menu of sandwiches, burgers, and bar fare; full bar. Cash and cards accepted.
Access
Limited Access
Historic 1817 townhouse with low ceilings, narrow doorways, and a single-step entry.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1817 · 1817 Federal-style Townhouse · Built By African-American Revolutionary War Veteran · NYC Landmark 1969 · Long-running Sailor's Tavern
The Federal-style townhouse at 326 Spring Street was constructed in 1817 for James Brown, a free African-American man who, by family tradition, had served as an aide to George Washington during the Revolutionary War. The building was erected during a period of westward expansion of Manhattan settlement, when the Hudson River shoreline ran roughly along present-day Washington Street — just a block to the west — and the building stood essentially on the waterfront.
Landfill operations through the 19th century progressively pushed the Hudson shoreline further west, but the James Brown House remained a waterfront-oriented establishment serving sailors, longshoremen, and waterfront workers. Through the 19th and early 20th centuries the building functioned in turn as a restaurant, a saloon, a boarding house catering to merchant seamen, a brothel during certain periods, and during Prohibition as a speakeasy reportedly operating with the cooperation of Hudson River bootleggers.
The Ear Inn moniker dates to 1977, when the bar was renamed in honor of Ear magazine, an avant-garde music publication then produced in upstairs offices. Because the building was a designated New York City landmark and changing the exterior neon 'Bar' sign would have required Landmarks Preservation Commission review, the operators painted out part of the 'B' to read 'Ear,' a workaround that remains in place today.
The James Brown House was designated a New York City landmark in 1969. The Ear Inn occupies the ground floor and basement; upper floors are residential and editorial spaces. The bar is also celebrated as one of the oldest continuously operated taverns in Manhattan and hosts a live jazz residency on Sunday and Wednesday evenings.
Sources
According to the NY Ghosts profile of The Ear Inn and the Bowery Boogie 2015 feature, the most-cited resident entity is Mickey, described as a 19th- or early-20th-century sailor who lived in the upstairs boarding-house floors and frequented the ground-floor bar. According to the lore — which appears in multiple haunted-site survey publications but is not independently sourced to obituaries or historical records — Mickey was struck and killed by an automobile in front of the building, with his death occurring just yards from the bar where he spent most of his life.
The most frequently reported phenomenon attributed to Mickey involves drinks. Patrons leave a beer or whiskey on a table and return moments later to find the glass partially or fully empty without any other patron having been seen to approach. The phenomenon is reported with sufficient frequency that the bar's online haunted-history listings cite it as Mickey's defining behavior.
Female overnight guests in the upstairs apartments have reported, in published accounts collected by the New York Haunted Houses survey, being joined in bed by an unseen presence; sensations include the depression of the mattress beside them and a feeling of warmth. These accounts are reported as benign — described by witnesses as flirtatious rather than threatening.
Additional reported phenomena include disembodied touches, plates and silverware moving, and lights or candles extinguishing unexpectedly. The Ear Inn does not run formal paranormal programming but bar staff have publicly acknowledged the reports in interviews with Bowery Boogie and similar outlets.
Secondary entities cited in published Ear Inn lore include sailors lost on the Hudson River shipping lanes and former boarding-house occupants, though Mickey is the only entity consistently named across multiple sources.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Eat and drink in a 1817 Federal-style townhouse that has housed a tavern since the 19th century. The building's history as a sailor's bar and former boarding house is evident in the preserved low ceilings, narrow rooms, and exterior signage. The 'Ear Inn' name dates to the 1970s when the upstairs floor housed Ear magazine; the bar's old neon 'Bar' sign was modified to read 'Ear' to avoid Landmarks approval requirements.
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