13 August 2013

Jackie's Fifth Amendment, Classic Brooklyn Dive, to Close



Mars Bar. Holiday Cocktail Lounge. Blarney Cove. O'Connor's. Now Jackie's Fifth Amendment.

Another timeless, irreplaceable dive bar has found the new New York inhospitable to its kind. Jackie's, located on Fifth Avenue and 7th Street and armed with one of the best bar names in the history of mankind, is one of tony, stroller-ridden Park Slope's last regular, old man bars. I will pour its last bottle (it doesn't serve any beer on draft) on Sept. 14.

The bar has been in the same family since the 1950s. "The owner's health is deteriorating," a bartender told Gothamist. "It's going to be taken over by the pharmacy next door." He added, quite correctly, "It's a shame to see these kind of bars leave the area, because once they're gone they're gone forever."

The bar was called Costello's in the 1960s. Why it changed its name (but remained in the same family), I do not know. If Jackie's had a signature, it was the cheap buckets of ponies. It served no food, not even pretzels, but a spacious room in the back hinted that there might have been hot lunches in the past. Last time I was there, they still had a rotary phone and an 8-track tape. (Photo courtesy of Eater.)

2 comments:

Eric Hancock said...

Sad. At least a chain isn't moving in.

Nicole said...

I remember going here a while back - so sad that it's closing! Thanks for posting this.