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There have been a lot of stories on that theme, but I believe the granddaddy of them all is Edmond Hamilton's 1945 Weird Tale "The Inn Outside the World", available at the Internet Archive (click here for download options).

Merrill stood and stared. Most of the inn was a big common-room, stone-flagged, with heavy, timbered walls. A huge fireplace at one side held a leaping blaze, and its flickering light joined the reddish glow of torches in wall-sockets to illuminate the room. There were long tables down the center. Grouped around the longest table, with their wine-cups standing unheeded upon it now, were the most motley group of men possible to imagine. A tall Roman in bronze sat beside a man in super-modern zipper garments, a grave, bearded man in Elizabethan ruff and hose beside a withered, ancient Chinese, a merry fellow in the gaudy clothes of 16th Century France beside a stout, sober man in the drab brown of an American Colonial. At the far end of the table, silent and brooding, sat a man wrapped in dark robe and cowl-like hood, a man with a pale, young-old face. [. . .] Merrill learned that the handsome Zyskyn was a great scientist of the 31st Century Antarctican civilization. The old Chinese was Lao-tse of the 6th Century B.C. and the swarthy, slender man beside him was the Dutch philosopher Spinoza. Stout, pawky Benjamin Franklin sat beside the great Buddhist emperor Asoka. Next to them was John Loring, a famous space-explorer of the 25th Century, and across from them the merry face of Francois Rabelais.

Unlike some of those other timeless taverns, this one is pretty exclusive. The main character explains the set-up to the aide whom he accidentally brought through the portal with him:

"But listen. This world, in its other space-time frame, is always close to Earth, contiguous. Held there—what did Zyskyn say?—by inter-dimensional gravitation. Meshed forever with Earth, yet forever invisible and untouchable to Earthmen. [. . .] This world, and the way into it, have been known for thousands of years. A scientist of ancient Atlantis found the way first. He passed the secret down to a chosen few in each generation. [. . .] A few of the greatest men in each age have been admitted into the secret and have been bequeathed the jeweled Signs which are the key to entrance here. [. . .] And all the members of our secret brotherhood, the greatest men of every age of Earth in past and future, come often into this world and gather at our meeting-place."

The story has appeared in various anthologies and collections over the years, such as My Best Science Fiction Story and What's It Like Out There? and Science Fact/Fiction and Lost Stars 2.

There have been a lot of stories on that theme, but I believe the granddaddy of them all is Edmond Hamilton's 1945 short story "The Inn Outside the World", first published in Weird Tales, July 1945, available at the Internet Archive. The story has appeared in various anthologies and collections over the years, such as My Best Science Fiction Story and What's It Like Out There? and Science Fact/Fiction and Lost Stars 2.

Merrill stood and stared. Most of the inn was a big common-room, stone-flagged, with heavy, timbered walls. A huge fireplace at one side held a leaping blaze, and its flickering light joined the reddish glow of torches in wall-sockets to illuminate the room. There were long tables down the center. Grouped around the longest table, with their wine-cups standing unheeded upon it now, were the most motley group of men possible to imagine. A tall Roman in bronze sat beside a man in super-modern zipper garments, a grave, bearded man in Elizabethan ruff and hose beside a withered, ancient Chinese, a merry fellow in the gaudy clothes of 16th Century France beside a stout, sober man in the drab brown of an American Colonial. At the far end of the table, silent and brooding, sat a man wrapped in dark robe and cowl-like hood, a man with a pale, young-old face. [. . .] Merrill learned that the handsome Zyskyn was a great scientist of the 31st Century Antarctican civilization. The old Chinese was Lao-tse of the 6th Century B.C. and the swarthy, slender man beside him was the Dutch philosopher Spinoza. Stout, pawky Benjamin Franklin sat beside the great Buddhist emperor Asoka. Next to them was John Loring, a famous space-explorer of the 25th Century, and across from them the merry face of Francois Rabelais.

Unlike some of those other timeless taverns, this one is pretty exclusive. The main character explains the set-up to the aide whom he accidentally brought through the portal with him:

"But listen. This world, in its other space-time frame, is always close to Earth, contiguous. Held there—what did Zyskyn say?—by inter-dimensional gravitation. Meshed forever with Earth, yet forever invisible and untouchable to Earthmen. [. . .] This world, and the way into it, have been known for thousands of years. A scientist of ancient Atlantis found the way first. He passed the secret down to a chosen few in each generation. [. . .] A few of the greatest men in each age have been admitted into the secret and have been bequeathed the jeweled Signs which are the key to entrance here. [. . .] And all the members of our secret brotherhood, the greatest men of every age of Earth in past and future, come often into this world and gather at our meeting-place."

There have been a lot of stories on that theme, but I believe the granddaddy of them all is Edmond Hamilton's 1945 Weird Tale "The Inn Outside the World", available at the Internet Archive (click here for download options).

Merrill stood and stared. Most of the inn was a big common-room, stone-flagged, with heavy, timbered walls. A huge fireplace at one side held a leaping blaze, and its flickering light joined the reddish glow of torches in wall-sockets to illuminate the room. There were long tables down the center. Grouped around the longest table, with their wine-cups standing unheeded upon it now, were the most motley group of men possible to imagine. A tall Roman in bronze sat beside a man in super-modern zipper garments, a grave, bearded man in Elizabethan ruff and hose beside a withered, ancient Chinese, a merry fellow in the gaudy clothes of 16th Century France beside a stout, sober man in the drab brown of an American Colonial. At the far end of the table, silent and brooding, sat a man wrapped in dark robe and cowl-like hood, a man with a pale, young-old face. [. . .] Merrill learned that the handsome Zyskyn was a great scientist of the 31st Century Antarctican civilization. The old Chinese was Lao-tse of the 6th Century B.C. and the swarthy, slender man beside him was the Dutch philosopher Spinoza. Stout, pawky Benjamin Franklin sat beside the great Buddhist emperor Asoka. Next to them was John Loring, a famous space-explorer of the 25th Century, and across from them the merry face of Francois Rabelais.

Unlike some of those other timeless taverns, this one is pretty exclusive. The main character explains the set-up to the aide whom he accidentally brought through the portal with him:

"But listen. This world, in its other space-time frame, is always close to Earth, contiguous. Held there—what did Zyskyn say?—by inter-dimensional gravitation. Meshed forever with Earth, yet forever invisible and untouchable to Earthmen. [. . .] This world, and the way into it, have been known for thousands of years. A scientist of ancient Atlantis found the way first. He passed the secret down to a chosen few in each generation. [. . .] A few of the greatest men in each age have been admitted into the secret and have been bequeathed the jeweled Signs which are the key to entrance here. [. . .] And all the members of our secret brotherhood, the greatest men of every age of Earth in past and future, come often into this world and gather at our meeting-place."

The story has appeared in various anthologies and collections over the years, such as My Best Science Fiction Story and What's It Like Out There? and Science Fact/Fiction and Lost Stars 2.

There have been a lot of stories on that theme, but I believe the granddaddy of them all is Edmond Hamilton's 1945 Weird Tale "The Inn Outside the World", available at the Internet Archive (click here for download options).

Merrill stood and stared. Most of the inn was a big common-room, stone-flagged, with heavy, timbered walls. A huge fireplace at one side held a leaping blaze, and its flickering light joined the reddish glow of torches in wall-sockets to illuminate the room. There were long tables down the center. Grouped around the longest table, with their wine-cups standing unheeded upon it now, were the most motley group of men possible to imagine. A tall Roman in bronze sat beside a man in super-modern zipper garments, a grave, bearded man in Elizabethan ruff and hose beside a withered, ancient Chinese, a merry fellow in the gaudy clothes of 16th Century France beside a stout, sober man in the drab brown of an American Colonial. At the far end of the table, silent and brooding, sat a man wrapped in dark robe and cowl-like hood, a man with a pale, young-old face. [. . .] Merrill learned that the handsome Zyskyn was a great scientist of the 31st Century Antarctican civilization. The old Chinese was Lao-tse of the 6th Century B.C. and the swarthy, slender man beside him was the Dutch philosopher Spinoza. Stout, pawky Benjamin Franklin sat beside the great Buddhist emperor Asoka. Next to them was John Loring, a famous space-explorer of the 25th Century, and across from them the merry face of Francois Rabelais.

Unlike some of those other timeless taverns, this one is pretty exclusive. The main character explains the set-up to the aide whom he accidentally brought through the portal with him:

"But listen. This world, in its other space-time frame, is always close to Earth, contiguous. Held there—what did Zyskyn say?—by inter-dimensional gravitation. Meshed forever with Earth, yet forever invisible and untouchable to Earthmen. [. . .] This world, and the way into it, have been known for thousands of years. A scientist of ancient Atlantis found the way first. He passed the secret down to a chosen few in each generation. [. . .] A few of the greatest men in each age have been admitted into the secret and have been bequeathed the jeweled Signs which are the key to entrance here. [. . .] And all the members of our secret brotherhood, the greatest men of every age of Earth in past and future, come often into this world and gather at our meeting-place."

The story has appeared in various anthologies and collections over the years, such as My Best Science Fiction Story and What's It Like Out There? and Science Fact/Fiction and Lost Stars 2.

There have been a lot of stories on that theme, but I believe the granddaddy of them all is Edmond Hamilton's 1945 Weird Tale "The Inn Outside the World":

Merrill stood and stared. Most of the inn was a big common-room, stone-flagged, with heavy, timbered walls. A huge fireplace at one side held a leaping blaze, and its flickering light joined the reddish glow of torches in wall-sockets to illuminate the room. There were long tables down the center. Grouped around the longest table, with their wine-cups standing unheeded upon it now, were the most motley group of men possible to imagine. A tall Roman in bronze sat beside a man in super-modern zipper garments, a grave, bearded man in Elizabethan ruff and hose beside a withered, ancient Chinese, a merry fellow in the gaudy clothes of 16th Century France beside a stout, sober man in the drab brown of an American Colonial. At the far end of the table, silent and brooding, sat a man wrapped in dark robe and cowl-like hood, a man with a pale, young-old face. [. . .] Merrill learned that the handsome Zyskyn was a great scientist of the 31st Century Antarctican civilization. The old Chinese was Lao-tse of the 6th Century B.C. and the swarthy, slender man beside him was the Dutch philosopher Spinoza. Stout, pawky Benjamin Franklin sat beside the great Buddhist emperor Asoka. Next to them was John Loring, a famous space-explorer of the 25th Century, and across from them the merry face of Francois Rabelais.

Unlike some of those other timeless taverns, this one is pretty exclusive. The main character explains the set-up to the aide whom he accidentally brought through the portal with him:

"But listen. This world, in its other space-time frame, is always close to Earth, contiguous. Held there—what did Zyskyn say?—by inter-dimensional gravitation. Meshed forever with Earth, yet forever invisible and untouchable to Earthmen. [. . .] This world, and the way into it, have been known for thousands of years. A scientist of ancient Atlantis found the way first. He passed the secret down to a chosen few in each generation. [. . .] A few of the greatest men in each age have been admitted into the secret and have been bequeathed the jeweled Signs which are the key to entrance here. [. . .] And all the members of our secret brotherhood, the greatest men of every age of Earth in past and future, come often into this world and gather at our meeting-place."

The story has appeared in various anthologies and collections over the years, such as My Best Science Fiction Story and What's It Like Out There? and Science Fact/Fiction and Lost Stars 2.

There have been a lot of stories on that theme, but I believe the granddaddy of them all is Edmond Hamilton's 1945 Weird Tale "The Inn Outside the World", available at the Internet Archive (click here for download options).

Merrill stood and stared. Most of the inn was a big common-room, stone-flagged, with heavy, timbered walls. A huge fireplace at one side held a leaping blaze, and its flickering light joined the reddish glow of torches in wall-sockets to illuminate the room. There were long tables down the center. Grouped around the longest table, with their wine-cups standing unheeded upon it now, were the most motley group of men possible to imagine. A tall Roman in bronze sat beside a man in super-modern zipper garments, a grave, bearded man in Elizabethan ruff and hose beside a withered, ancient Chinese, a merry fellow in the gaudy clothes of 16th Century France beside a stout, sober man in the drab brown of an American Colonial. At the far end of the table, silent and brooding, sat a man wrapped in dark robe and cowl-like hood, a man with a pale, young-old face. [. . .] Merrill learned that the handsome Zyskyn was a great scientist of the 31st Century Antarctican civilization. The old Chinese was Lao-tse of the 6th Century B.C. and the swarthy, slender man beside him was the Dutch philosopher Spinoza. Stout, pawky Benjamin Franklin sat beside the great Buddhist emperor Asoka. Next to them was John Loring, a famous space-explorer of the 25th Century, and across from them the merry face of Francois Rabelais.

Unlike some of those other timeless taverns, this one is pretty exclusive. The main character explains the set-up to the aide whom he accidentally brought through the portal with him:

"But listen. This world, in its other space-time frame, is always close to Earth, contiguous. Held there—what did Zyskyn say?—by inter-dimensional gravitation. Meshed forever with Earth, yet forever invisible and untouchable to Earthmen. [. . .] This world, and the way into it, have been known for thousands of years. A scientist of ancient Atlantis found the way first. He passed the secret down to a chosen few in each generation. [. . .] A few of the greatest men in each age have been admitted into the secret and have been bequeathed the jeweled Signs which are the key to entrance here. [. . .] And all the members of our secret brotherhood, the greatest men of every age of Earth in past and future, come often into this world and gather at our meeting-place."

The story has appeared in various anthologies and collections over the years, such as My Best Science Fiction Story and What's It Like Out There? and Science Fact/Fiction and Lost Stars 2.