A few images by which to remember the great dive, which shuttered on Saturday, Jan. 28, after 47 years of capably serving drunkards, film mavens, hipsters, visiting Ukrainians, journalists, bartenders, Beatniks and W.H. Auden.
Forty-seven years, past the death of the owner, is not a bad run. But I'm treasuring my visits to the few remaining dives in this city more.
One thing the Mars Bar closing did is that it convinced me that the pre-Bloomberg, or pre-Giuliani (depending on who your main villian is in this process) era isn't coming back. Too many of the locales of the 70s, 80s, and early 90s era are gone, though at least thanks to the landmarks law alot of the look of the city has survived. At some point the hyper-gentrification era will end, all eras do, but whatever version of New York comes after that will still be completely different from earlier versions.
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It's actually hard to believe it survived as long as it did
ReplyDeleteForty-seven years, past the death of the owner, is not a bad run. But I'm treasuring my visits to the few remaining dives in this city more.
ReplyDeleteOne thing the Mars Bar closing did is that it convinced me that the pre-Bloomberg, or pre-Giuliani (depending on who your main villian is in this process) era isn't coming back. Too many of the locales of the 70s, 80s, and early 90s era are gone, though at least thanks to the landmarks law alot of the look of the city has survived. At some point the hyper-gentrification era will end, all eras do, but whatever version of New York comes after that will still be completely different from earlier versions.
Dive bars seem to be an endangered species just about everywhere. It's not just a New York thing.
ReplyDelete