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.)

Dive Bar Death Watch

These are bad days for New York's dive bars. City Hall and developers do not see their charms. So they are on their way out. And in December, they've been falling like barflies. Let's count them down, shall we?

• The Rum House. One of the last surviving dives in Times Square, exited in late September.
• Ruby's Bar and Grill. Coney Island legend. Not quite out (it keeps stubbornly opening even though it's supposed to shutter), but definitely down, and probably a goner.
• Mars Bar. The East Village ur-dive. Due to close for two years in 2011 to make way for a highrise. The owner says it will reopen and be bigger than ever. Whether it will be better, or ever the same, is highly in doubt.
• Max Fish. LES mainstay. Victim of a rent hike. Owners says they will relocate. But where, at a reasonable rent, in today's pricey Lower East Side?
• The Stoned Crow. Beloved Village dump, calling it quits on New Year's Eve.
• Hickey's. The latest victim. Dead on 33rd Street after 40 years.

Station Cafe, Holland Bar, Holiday Cocktail Lounge, Subway Inn, Rudy's Bar and Grill and all the rest—watch your back.