Last call to Subway Inn.
The family-owned, iconic Midtown East watering hole continued to flow beer for 87 years at three different locations, but ultimately couldn't survive the changing times in the Big Apple.
The faucet will be empty on December 28th.
“This is still pretty new, but this hurts a lot,” second-generation owner Stephen Salinas told the Post. “This bar was built exactly to what we wanted. Dad would have been happy. Mum is very happy with the way the place is. But it's not sustainable.
“It's devastating to give her the news of the closure. We have to worry about our workers and their livelihoods,” he said. “Manhattan is not the place to be. As opposed to Queens or Brooklyn, Manhattan has a lot of obstacles to get through. Nobody hangs out in Manhattan anymore.”
Salinas once had his liquor license tied up for eight months, arguing that the pandemic, changing neighborhoods, rising crime and bureaucracy were leaving small businesses drowning in bureaucracy.
“The city has a system to support small business owners, and as long as they follow the rules, it seems like those who follow the rules are the ones who get caught the most,” he says.
“We did everything the city asked us to do, but then we had to wait eight months. For eight months, I was unemployed. For eight months, the workers were unemployed. I was having a hard time finding it.”
Salinas made a sad announcement Last week's Facebook news.
The Subway Inn opened in 1937 at 143 East 60th Street and quickly became a popular nightspot for drinks with Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, and later hosted the likes of Julia Roberts and Willie Nelson. Village Voice stated in a 2014 report:.
In 2014, legendary crooner Tony Bennett also stopped by.
Salinas' father, Marcello, once worked as a bar porter, but was eventually given the keys and took over the business, passing it on to his son after his death in 2016.
After 77 years at its original location, Subway Inn moved two blocks away to 1140 Second Ave. in 2014 to make way for new real estate development.
Early last year, the business moved to its current and apparently final location.
Salinas said the site will still have a bar and will be occupied by a pub chain. But for local residents, losing a famous Manhattan restaurant leaves a bad taste in their mouths.
Tyler Hollinger, owner of Festival Bar across the street and local resident:
“This neighborhood is falling apart,” Tyler Hollinger, a neighbor and fellow bartender who owns Festival Bar, told the Post. “This whole area used to be buildings, but now it's a huge construction site. It's had a huge impact on all these places. We've been here for five years now.
“It's very difficult. It's very challenging and it's very discouraging,” Hollinger said.
Resident Stephanie Hochman said the move is sad news for the entire neighborhood.
“It's just a nice place to meet after work,” she said. “The chicken wings are good and the drinks are straight forward. No exaggeration. It's a good place. They've moved, so I wasn't expecting that. You know, this is also a sign of the city's decline. .I'm not happy.
“Cities are always in flux, things open and close sometimes, but it's always upsetting when a facility leaves a city,” Hochman said. “There was a difference in what appeared.”
Salinas, for her part, is grieving, but points out that the loss of her family's legacy is a sign of the times.
“We have quality beer, we clean our lines, we do everything right, we get an ‘A’ every time, and we had nothing,” he said. “No one's coming out. No one's drinking anymore. Everyone wants to stay home and save money. You can't change that. Everyone has to survive.
“But if things don't change, CVS, even though they're struggling, there's going to be nothing left for these big companies to take over. If you don't own the building, you can't survive in Manhattan. ”
