[edit] Alert daughter informs me there are actually 3 Jake’s Saloons in NYC and two of them are still operating. The one in Hell’s Kitchen about which I have fond memories is gone but maybe Jimmy is at one of the others. Until we meet again, Jimmy; until we meet again. :-)
I just wrapped up a trip to NYC where I was helping my daughter move. You would think moving a kid from one small studio to another would be easy. But no, it was hard. You’d think dad would have just hired a mover but no, it’ll be easy thought dad (besides, I have an excuse for a visit). No, it was hard. Especially those 4 flights of stairs up, at the new place.
To boot, while double parked outside the old apartment my car battery decided to conk out with a car full of stuff. I’m like, what now? Well, aside from the mouth breathing tow truck driver getting in my car and spraying COVID all over it and fondling everything before I could stop him, we managed to get it towed to a shop and get a new battery. Back to work after a 2+ hour delay.
While in transit however, I was excited to drive by Jake’s Saloon where bartender extraordinaire Jimmy served me a complimentary Jack Daniels two nights in a row and remembered my name on the second night. It was like a gut punch to see a big “Space For Rent” sign hanging on the old place. Pissed me off to no end. I had thought about Jimmy and Jake’s at a few points during the pandemic shutdown and hoped they’d make it. They didn’t.
What will end up on that prime corner? Fuck if I know. Probably a CVS pharmacy or Gap store. The little guy is not surviving this mess. The big guy, with his big guy handouts directly from the government as printed by the Fed, will be just fine.
