Mad Men Tour of Midtown Manhattan

8. The 21 Club

New York, NY

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It should be mentioned at this point that, to date, the 21 Club was never officially in "Mad Men." However, there is no denying that this decades-old establishment was part of the world of Don Draper, Roger Sterling, Joan Harris and the ad world of the 1950s and 60s. If you are a fan of "Mad Men," you have likely noticed -- to make a severe understatement -- that the characters enjoy a drink now and then. If the show took place a few decades earlier, during prohibition, then New York's many speakeasies would have made multiple appearances. The 21 Club actually had its beginnings as Red Head, a Greenwich Village speakeasy in the 1920s. Being an establishment where patrons could find prohibited alcohol, Red Head founders Jack Kreindler and Charlie Berns earned quite a few loyal customers who followed the bar even as it moved uptown to 49th street and eventually its current location in 1929. By then the club was known as Jack and Charlie's 21, and owners Jack and Charlie had an elaborate mechanical system which would brush the bar's liquor collection from the shelves into the sewers during the numerous raids which would occur. After Prohibition was repealed, the 21 Club kept its loyal customer base while expanding its popularity to include a number of wealthy regulars who began donating the lawn jockeys displayed above the club's entrance. The once secret wine cellar became a preferential spot for the city's and the world's biggest celebrities, including Sophia Loren, Judy Garland, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Nixon and John F Kennedy, to keep their private wine collections. The underground wine storage space is now rented to private parties. Even though the 21 Club has yet to make an official appearance on "Mad Men," the legendary New York City location has enjoyed mentions in a vast range of pop culture from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" to "I Love Lucy" to "Sex and the City" to "Archer." [Photo credit: Noah Axelrod]