John Wesley "Wes" Joice (October 22, 1931 – June 6, 1997)Dates of birth and death pe
Social Security Death Index
/ref> was the owner of the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

's literary hangout, ''The Lion's Head'' (also called ''The Head''), which he first opened in 1966 at 59 Christopher Street. A former minor league baseball player, policeman and

P.J. Clarke's P. J. Clarke's is a bar (establishment), saloon, established 1884. It occupies a building located at 915 Third Avenue on the northeast corner of East 55th Street (Manhattan), 55th Street in Manhattan. It has a second location at 44 West 63rd S ...

bartender, the establishment attracted writers and editors who spread the word. Joice filed for bankruptcy in 1994. ''The Lion's Head'' closed two years later, in 1996, due to rising rents. The place became legendary as the location where: *

Lanford Wilson Lanford Wilson (April 13, 1937March 24, 2011) was an American playwright. His work, as described by ''The New York Times'', was "earthy, realist, greatly admired ndwidely performed."Margalit Fox, Fox, Margalit"Lanford Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-Wi ...

had scribbled a play on a napkin *

Rod Steiger Rodney Stephen Steiger (; April 14, 1925July 9, 2002, aged 77) was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. Cited as "one of Hollywood's most charismatic and dynamic stars," he is closely assoc ...

picked up his mail *

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...

had planned his 1969 campaign for Mayor *

Pete Hamill Pete Hamill (born William Peter Hamill; June 24, 1935August 5, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and editor. During his career as a New York City journalist, he was described as "the author of columns that sought to capture th ...

had reportedly talked

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...

into running for the Senate *

Jessica Lange Jessica Phyllis Lange (; born April 20, 1949) is an American actress. She is the 13th actress to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, having won two Academy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award, along with a Screen Actors G ...

was once the second prettiest waitress on her shift

Background

Joice, who was born in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York but raised in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, was the son of the chairman of the

Chicago Board of Trade The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established on April 3, 1848, is one of the world's oldest futures and options exchanges. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and three other excha ...

. His surname was of Norwegian derivation, not Irish, as was often commonly assumed. Returning to the Bronx for high school, he would spend one year at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

, three years in the Army in Korea, and two years with the

New York Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

, before becoming a publican, first as a bouncer at another pub, Downey's, and later as a bartender at

. Finally he became the proprietor of ''The Head''.''New York Times'' obituary "John Wesley Joice, 65, Dies; Ran Lion's Head, Writers' Pub"
by Robert McG. Thomas Jr., June 8, 1997

Last years

When Joice lost the pub to bankruptcy in January 1994, "he felt that he was losing a little piece of himself", said his widow, Judy. Joice's son, Maxwell Kane, said "My Dad was that restaurant."

Death

Joice died from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

in 1997, aged 65. In addition to his wife and son, he was also survived by three children from his first marriage, two children from his second marriage, and six grandchildren at the time of his death.

Legacy

Wes Joice Corner at Christopher Street and Seventh Avenue South

References

External links

York Daily News'' obituary for Wes Joice
(June 8, 1997) {{DEFAULTSORT:Joice, Wes 1931 births 1997 deaths American people of Norwegian descent Businesspeople from the Bronx Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) 20th-century American businesspeople United States Army soldiers