Hickey's is gone

For some reason, I found myself near Herald Square Friday evening. Enough to make anyone want to drink. Hickey's! Of course!



So I made my way over to 33rd Street near Seventh Avenue ... to the well-worn 40-year-old bar that I'll drink in any chance that I have...



Ahhhhh!. I have no idea when this happened. Another one lost. Of course, this closure has been rumored for years.

A few doors to the east, that suburbany-looking place called Stoudt NYC was MOBBED. So I went into the OK-at-the-right-time Blarney Stone next door. This was NOT the right time: Pre-Knicks game crowd. So I found a slot near the front door. An array of half-finished drinks sat there on a table next to me. A woman wondered in. I'm pretty sure she was carrying a glass of red wine in with her. She put down her wine. She started wolfing down the different drinks. Two half-empty bottles of Magners. And something that might have been a screwdriver. She asked if that was my bottle of beer. Yes it was. She nodded, picked up her wine and walked back out the door.

I felt a little better about Hickey's for a moment.

Read more about Hickey's at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York .... At A Guy Walks into 365 Bars, our friend Marty Wombacher wrote: "Hickey's is one of the last great dive bars in Manhattan. Stop by for a drink or four and let's keep this joint in existence!" You can read his recap here.

[Top photo via Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]

New Port Authority plan could wipe out a dozen Midtown properties (including two good bars)

From the Post:

An $8.75 billion plan to build another train tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan may wipe out a dozen Manhattan properties that can be seized through eminent domain, the Port Authority said.

And what could be lost?

That means Sunglass Hut, Payless Shoes, Duane Reade, Foot Action and several other businesses -- including 40-year-old neighborhood favorites Blarney Rock pub and Hickey's bar -- are in the way.

PA Executive Director Chris Ward added that the agency is hoping to work with the businesses to relocate them and is "in fact going beyond" in negotiations with shop owners.

But Blarney Rock owner Tom Dwyer -- who has been in his 33rd Street location since he and his immigrant dad opened the pub in 1969 -- is worried he will not find an alternate location he can afford close to Madison Square Garden.

"This is devastating," said Dwyer, who hopes to pass on the business to his daughter. "We worked hard all these years, just to have our place turned into a fan plant. It doesn't seem right."

Jeremiah wrote about Hickey's (and Peep World!) last January.