Oliver St John Gogarty’s Bar

Oliver St John Gogarty’s Bar (from the series: The Accidental Pilgrim)

This is one of the most colorful bars in Dublin. It is easy to find, as it lies at the heart of the Temple Bar district and it’s easy to spend time there. When I passed by, the bar was packed and two local musicians were entertaining the crowd, with a penny whistle and a guitar.

Some time in the past, the bar became a shrine to Oliver St John Gogarty (1878 - 1957) who had many claims to fame. By trade he was a physician and ear surgeon, but he was also a soccer player for Bohemian F.C., and a political figure of the Irish Free State. He is remembered most as a writer, poet, wit and raconteur - the man who became a model for the character Buck Mulligan in James Joyce’s Ulysses. In the 1920s, when the Arts were an accepted part of the Olympic Games, Gogarty won an Olympic bronze medal for his poem Ode to the Tailteann Games.

He traveled widely and died, far from home, in New York City.