Barrymore's, As It Was

One of the first closures I wrote about on this blog, back in 2006, was of Barrymore's, the Theatre District eatery. It was one of four longstanding, affordable bars on W. 45th Street and W. 46th Street that were needlessly and heartlessly torn down to make way for a luxury hotel plan that never happened. (Frankie & Johnnie's Steakhouse was the only survivor of that massacre.)

A reader recently sent me these photos of the lost theatre hangout. They're from 2000. Only 12 years ago, but seems like an age away.

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A Sign From the Past

Lost City has not yet been able to find out what happened to the old neon sign at McHale's, but look was an observant reader turned up for us: the sign to nearby, erstwhile theatrical eatery Barrymore's. Said item is for sale on Old Good Things Webstore. This, even as the old Barrymore's building on W. 45th Street is being torn down as we speak.

Barrymore's went down for the count more than two years ago. It didn't have the rich history McHale's did, but still. The sign is going for $2,500. If I had it, I'd buy it and put the thing in my imagined Museum of Classic New York Neon.

45th Street's Mini-Restaurant Row Finally Coming Down?

It's been more than two years since the tiny, humble restaurants along the north side of W. 45th Street between Broadway and Eighth began folding one by one. Barrymore's, BAM! Sam's, BAM! Puleo's, BAM! And then they just sat there, boarded up, among the din of rumors that they had died that a coming hotel tower might live.

There were signs today that the low-slung building may soon finally bite the dust. The door to Barrymore's was open for the first time since the restaurant shuttered (see above). There were also openings in the shedding leading to the stoops of a couple of the buildings, with rat poison signs pasted on the doors of each—a sure sign of the coming end of a building. There were spray-painted squares on the buildings that I hadn't notice before. A few construction typed milled about, talking on cellphones and eating lunch.

An application to demolish Barrymore's was filed with the DOB back on Feb. 29. Ditto the other structures. Meanwhile, the nearby old-school steakhouse Frankie and Johnny's continues to mysteriously do business, having escaped the ax somehow.

Three-dollar Beers Have No Place in Times Square!

The Midtown Real Estate Barons, incensed that the Theatre District is still sneaking in cheap booze and eats in under their very nose, has forced the closing of the Sam's, the latest in a domino chain of death that has led to the demise of JR's, McHale's and Barrymore's. April 20 was the final night for the place.

All four were one-story, modest bar/eateries that lent aid and comfort to the working rank and file of Broadway, and all four lied within a one block area stretching from the north side of West 45th Street to the north side of W. 46th near Eighth. It's already known that McHale's—currently covered is ugly black masking from tip to toe—will be replaced by one of those condo towers made for Pod People Who Suck. The shadow forces that are buying up the block to the south, however, have not revealed themselves or the nature of Their Sinister Plan. Word on the street, however, is the power behind the many snuffed candles is none other that the Shubert Organization, whose fostering of a healthy theatre environment does not apparently extend to restaurants where theatre professionals can afford to eat. Nice short-sightness, Fat Cats!

Next to close will probably by Frankie and Johnny's, the steakhouse that dates back to the speakeasy era, or Puleo's. Both are neighbors of Sam's. A few more boarded-up storefronts and the area will begin to look like it did in the 1970s.

Barrymore's Nevermore

Looks like Barrymore's, the shabby, but loveable old theatre distict hangout, is going to follow McHale's to the Midtown graveyard. The Times reported Jan. 22 that it will close by the end of the month. It was never the unique place nearby McHale's was, and isn't as deserving of unbridled remorse and regret. Nonetheless, such small-scale, modest (in price and size) dens of theatricality are becoming harder and harder to come by around Broadway, unless you want to trek over to Ninth Avenue (not a bad idea, but there's nothing quite so romantic and exiting a restaurant and then walking right across the street to your show). So, it's the loss of yet another affordable beer, another non-chain joint, another remnant of the former, more charming, low-slung Times Square. All for a new Marriott or new Disney hotel, so the scuttlebut goes. Hasn't the city's populace always considered the first Times Square Marriott—The Marquis—loathsome, hulking and despicable? The Death Star, they called it (maybe still do). So, why build another?

The fate of Barrymore's neighbors—Sam's, Puleo's and Frankie and Johnny's—has not been declared, but seems all but sealed. Gosh, I hope that new Marriott has a really good expensive steak joint in it, maybe one named after a coach that never worked with a New York team. That'd be great.