In his 1923 poem "i was sitting in mcsorley's", poet E. E. Cummings described McSorley's as "the ale which never lets you grow old". He also described the bar as "snug and evil". McSorley's was the focus of several articles by "New Yorker" author Joseph Mitchell. One collection of his stories was entitled "McSorley's Wonderful Saloon" (1943). According to Mitchell, the Ashcan school painters John Sloan, George Luks and Stuart Davis were all regulars. Between 1912 and 1930, Sloan did five paintings, of the saloon — “McSorley’s Bar,” “McSorley’s Back Room,” “McSorley’s at Home,” “McSorley’s Cats,” and “McSorley’s, Saturday Night.” The first of which hangs in The Detroit Institute of Arts. The bar has also been painted by Harry McCormick. and photographed by Berenice Abbott.