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Back in September, 77-year-old Charlie Campbell learned that The Emerald Inn—the beloved Columbus Avenue dive bar that's been in his family since the '30s—was finally doomed when he saw the location advertised for lease on a website. At the time, the landlord was demanding more than double the $15,700 monthly rent. Fast-forward to 2009, and suddenly Campbell has been allowed to stay on because, as the property manager puts it, "of the kind of people the Campbells are." Oh, and also the economy. One Emerald regular speaks for all of us when she tells the Times, "Columbus Avenue has been turning into a strip mall, with chain stores and restaurants. Maybe the recession will help the mom-and-pops stay in business." But has the meltdown come too late to save indispensable St. Mark's Place dive Holiday Cocktail Lounge?
Emerald Inn, Upper West Side Dive, To Shine On After All
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Yay! This just made my day. Maybe there's hope for this city after all.
the recession is seriously helping keep some new york in new york.
sickened by these murray hill and williamsburg transplants ruining it all.
the owner of the holiday cocktail lounge is really old and sick. He owns the whole building so Im pretty sure he doesnt worry about rent.
LAndlords are disgusting scum of the earth pieces of shit. They bled the city dry of it's identity during the "boom" saddling us with Chipotle, Duane Reade, Best Buy, and bank after bank. Kicking out healthy businesses to get higher rents, in some cases leaving their stores vacant for months if not years rather than have a tenant at a lower rate. The ones guilty of this should have their properties seized.
I get so frustrated when I see the vacant storefronts, which was created by landlords kicking out longstanding stores. It makes the neighborhood so much worse to have a vacant space...and now they are multiplying.
It's horrible isn't it? To think of the jobs lost, people who worked their asses off to run a business, all to have it shut down, and now for nothing. A landlord should be required to rent out a space for whatever they can get, and not be allowed to hold out for some greed fueled pie in the sky amount.
I had missed that news about the Holiday CL. Thanks for the heads up. Back when the NY Press was worthwhile reading, I believe they named it "Best Bar to Watch Old Men Drink Themselves to Death," and that was an apt description, more or less.
It's almost poetic to see New York scavenge its own soul the way its demimonde has scavenged the souls of so many of its inhabitants--scraping them bare for a few extra bucks. I don't think we should worry too much. New York will always change and always be the same.
Jen,
Your comment describes the UWS in a nutshell. The funny thing is that even chain stores like Express have closed to make room for...Duane Reade.
So true and yet, somebody is shopping at thopse Duane Reades and contributing to their rapacious spread...
This is good news, but it doesn't make up for the loss of Cafe la Fortuna, All State, Cafe Mozart, etc. etc. etc.