At one of the many bars in Center City I found myself talking to the iconic columnist from the Philadelphia Daily News: Stu Bykofsky.

His distinctive Hawaiian shirt immediately caught my eye as he arrived to our meeting.  His drink of choice -- Jack Daniels on the rocks with a slice of lime. Given that they were out of Kenzinger beer,  mine was a gin and tonic.

Our drinks were served not just at any bar, we were seating at the Pen & Pencil Club the oldest running press club in America. 

"It has survived two World Wars, Prohibition and the press crisis", was one of Bykofsky's first remarks. The veteran journalist is an active member of the club and its Secretary.

Founded in 1892 when Philadelphia had seven morning and six evening newspapers, P&P started as "an oasis, a home, a place of relaxation" for journalists.

"I joined the club in 1972 when I joined the Daily News and sometime in the mid-seventies the then-president for P&P, Ron Goldwyn, asked me to run for secretary — which I've done off and on for the last 25 years," Bykofsky said.

With more than a century of history the club has faced challenges and evolved with the industry.  Today amid the print media crisis it manages to survive as a beloved tradition in Philadelphia.

For Bykofsky, press club membership has indirectly benefitted his career.

"You meet people here, you mingle with people you wouldn't otherwise. Frequently you'll be pissing and moaning about your boss or your job and you get a kind of psychic support," Bykofsky said.

As the conversation moved along,  he told me that we were violating a very important rule at the club. "Eveything that happens at the club is off-the-record. When we have our programs, on Wednesdays, we invite speakers to come in. The mayor comes in once a year, we'll get the movernor and various politicians, union and business leaders," Bykofsky said. "We want them to be as candid as possible so we promise we are not going to report what is said. It also means no posting anything on Facebook and no tweeting." 

Bykofsky remembered a recent visit to the club by the Philadelphia Police Commisioner during which he said some very interesting things. Immediately the columnist wanted an interview.

"I call up his press spokesman to ask if the Police Commisioner  would repeat what he said but on-the-record. I listed five things, he talked about four but not the fifth," Bykofsky said.

Though P&P now has approximatly 500 active and associate members, in its hey day it counted with around 1,200. 

"Not just reporters or media people can join, we're also a social club. Membership is $40 dollars a year for everybody, we make no distinction," he said.

One of the few bars in town that are kept open after hours, the club has hosted larger-than-life guests, among them presidents William Howard Taft, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Famous names like Mae West, Billy Sunday and Victor Herbert are among those listed as regulars in the club's history, according to the web page.

In terms of what the journalist foresees for the future of the club given what some consider a dying industry, Bykofsky was unwilling to predict if P & P would be open in 50 years or so. 

"There are eight million blogs How many of them are read by anybody other than its  writer? Very few," he said." What I see now is a lighting-fast torrent of bullxxx, and stuff it isn't worth looking at or listening to 99.9 percent of the time. The 1 percent that I am interested does travel fast and gets handled probably too fast."

Seasons come and seasons go but one can only hope that P & P will have an open bar and plenty of journalists around it for a long time yet.