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Anyone been there ? I’m assuming the changing demographic of the are has doomed them in.
People don t go to their favorite dive to avoid wives no more. The castrated men now go straight home after work via remote controlled monitoring devices.
Or are people drinking less and there are less married people out there. Or has quality of life gone up that people drink no more ?
As an Irish American from the area, I knew the owners of this place and frequented it often in the late 90s/early 2000s. Like many other Irish "dive" bars in Queens, it's closing due to the following:
- The Irish immigrant. Very few left in this area of Queens compared to 30 years ago. So that hurts it.
- The Irish American, like myself. The bars of Maspeth were often filled with local Irish Americans of the boomer and genx generations. We're all but gone. Moved away. So, basically, no Irish American millennial or genz's around. The days of the Irish American cop or fireman hitting Maspeth for a drink after work is done.
- Bands. These places used to have live bands on the weekends that brought in crowds galore. The bands that play rock music and covers are also all gone in this part of Queens.
- And yes, the changing demos of Maspeth and Queens in general no longer cater to dive bars of the Irish sort.
The one outlier Irish bar that has managed to still do business is Sean Og's in Woodside. They smartly pivoted to the large Fillipino community moving in, which was also very young and love to party like the Irish. Drive by on a weekend night and the place is packed going strong to 4am and then some. However most Irish or Irish American owners would prefer to shutdow or just sell the business rather than have to adapt to the newcomers.
Tell us more about what’s going on between you and your wife lately……are things still bearable for you at home? Bar is not a part of my growing up and social scenes and couldn’t share the desperation you feel towards closing bars. I do notice that there is a high turnover rate of restaurants in Flushing in the past few years. I eat out less frequently for various reasons. Things probably have been especially tough for hospitality business lately.
Things at home are great. I’ll even share a story involving a dive.
Sometime in July, we drop off kids and take the convertible out east. I’m thinking 25A to Port Jeff and back. Our usual road, the only road on LI worth a drive All was going well until our beloved German threw a belt and we could no longer drive. I should have been more suspicious of the smell I thought might have been a bag on the exhaust. Turned out the idler pulley seized and the belt was chewing it out all along the drive.
No big deal, this is a second tow in 20 years of cruising. Tow truck was a challenge it being a Sunday and 3 day weekend. We were told 2 hour wait. 2 more hours to ourselves I told myself, great, let’s make it fun. I parked the car, closed the top and off we went looking for a cool place to hide in since it was 90 outside. In a dingy part of town two blocks away we find a local Irish pub and so we walk in.
Bar is a 80s type dive as it gets, locals who come in at 11am, pool table, cigarette machine from 70s, $2 burgers and so on. We got friendly with the owner, the locals and spent 2.5 hours pounding drinks like it was our last day before prison. Had a great time, great talks and overall great experience considering the situation .
Tow truck finally arrived and $360 later we were home with the car in our drive way. Next day the car was fixed for another $200 and that was it.
Bar tab? $60. I mean I was sure it would be close to 250-300. All sorts if people came and went. Bikers looking like hells angles came and left. I felt like we were in a Hunter S Thompson book for gods sake.
As we were leaving, parents with balloons were coming in to setup for a kids B day party.
So a small hiccup turned into an adventure. And that’s how we always do it.
I suppose every little town has its small sweet bar in every part of this beautiful country and most folks there are welcoming and kind. If you get lucky, a good bar will have interesting characters inside. Manhattan doesn’t have those sadly or maybe I don’t frequent bars in the city like I used to.
Had it not been for that break down, we would never go in there , we would never even think about finding such a little gem. But sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you can either cry about it or make the best of it.
This little adventure was one of the most memorable this summer.
So to answer your question. The desperation I feel is probably for the bars we used to frequent or maybe the old establishments I particularly appreciate, the history and people of it or maybe it’s the youth that has passed us by suddenly.
Last edited by Dave 92 LSC; 11-02-2022 at 04:01 AM..
Things at home are great. I’ll even share a story involving a dive.
Sometime in July, we drop off kids and take the convertible out east. I’m thinking 25A to Port Jeff and back. Our usual road, the only road on LI worth a drive All was going well until our beloved German threw a belt and we could no longer drive. I should have been more suspicious of the smell I thought might have been a bag on the exhaust. Turned out the idler pulley seized and the belt was chewing it out all along the drive.
No big deal, this is a second tow in 20 years of cruising. Tow truck was a challenge it being a Sunday and 3 day weekend. We were told 2 hour wait. 2 more hours to ourselves I told myself, great, let’s make it fun. I parked the car, closed the top and off we went looking for a cool place to hide in since it was 90 outside. In a dingy part of town two blocks away we find a local Irish pub and so we walk in.
Bar is a 80s type dive as it gets, locals who come in at 11am, pool table, cigarette machine from 70s, $2 burgers and so on. We got friendly with the owner, the locals and spent 2.5 hours pounding drinks like it was our last day before prison. Had a great time, great talks and overall great experience considering the situation .
Tow truck finally arrived and $360 later we were home with the car in our drive way. Next day the car was fixed for another $200 and that was it.
Bar tab? $60. I mean I was sure it would be close to 250-300. All sorts if people came and went. Bikers looking like hells angles came and left. I felt like we were in a Hunter S Thompson book for gods sake.
As we were leaving, parents with balloons were coming in to setup for a kids B day party.
So a small hiccup turned into an adventure. And that’s how we always do it.
I suppose every little town has its small sweet bar in every part of this beautiful country and most folks there are welcoming and kind. If you get lucky, a good bar will have interesting characters inside. Manhattan doesn’t have those sadly or maybe I don’t frequent bars in the city like I used to.
Had it not been for that break down, we would never go in there , we would never even think about finding such a little gem. But sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you can either cry about it or make the best of it.
This little adventure was one of the most memorable this summer.
So to answer your question. The desperation I feel is probably for the bars we used to frequent or maybe the old establishments I particularly appreciate, the history and people of it or maybe it’s the youth that has passed us by suddenly.
To be fair to leoliu, you started off the topic specifically by talking about dives as places for men to avoid their wives, so his comment doesn't seem to be coming from that far left field.
I've never been to the bar you mentioned, but it is sad when a business closes. One of my favorite dives went down a few years ago, though I live in an area where there are multiple bars and it's interesting to see which ones the various regulars of the old bar ended up filtering out to. One old bar that seemingly has weathered massive demographic changes in the neighborhood is Soccer Tavern in Sunset Park, and the few times I've been there seemed to have a really funny mix of clientele.
Not changing demographic. It's become quite pricey to eat out given how inflation is now out of control. Do you order take out? If you actually want to eat and be full, be prepared to spend $40 - 60 on quality grub. Eating out with some quality beer and food at my usual spots was $60 BEFORE inflation. No idea what it is now. I get beer at Whole Foods or specialty beer shops and drink at home and even that isn't cheap, but cheaper than going to a bar. For example a four pack of Chimay Blue is ~$30.00 at Whole Foods. Getting those out, one of my local spots doesn't even carry the blue one anymore. They charge $16.00 for ONE Chimay Red, which is nuts.
Another example... One of my lunch spots now charges $15-16 for a sandwich. Before it was $11-12... Fine, but the quality is not what it used to be, so there's that as well.
It is true that many/most bars in NYC have now basically priced themselves out and barely holding on due to lack of business. However, there are a handful of bars that are still reasonably priced ($3 - $5) domestic beers and have some food items on their menu that will fill you up for less than $12-$13. There is another thread on here from a few months back that lists several of these dive bars. It does seem that the handful of bars that are keeping prices reasonable are indeed making out better and making a lot more business. I am always baffled why one bar charges so much, whereas another bar around the corner is 50% cheaper in SAME neighborhood. I cant imagine rent to vary that much in the same area.
It is true that many/most bars in NYC have now basically priced themselves out and barely holding on due to lack of business. However, there are a handful of bars that are still reasonably priced ($3 - $5) domestic beers and have some food items on their menu that will fill you up for less than $12-$13. There is another thread on here from a few months back that lists several of these dive bars. It does seem that the handful of bars that are keeping prices reasonable are indeed making out better and making a lot more business. I am always baffled why one bar charges so much, whereas another bar around the corner is 50% cheaper in SAME neighborhood. I cant imagine rent to vary that much in the same area.
Explanation I got is that the owner owns the building and the bar is paid off long ago. Hence the low prices.
I would say it also depends on the clientele you want. Do you want a crowd that can only afford 5 dollar Buds and cheap pitchers. Or do you want a clientele that is willing to 7 or 8 bucks for that Bud and 16 dollar cocktails.
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