Neir's Tavern
87-48 78th Street | Woodhaven | built 1930
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1829
A tavern opens near the Union Course racetrack and draws many of the track's patrons
Neir's Tavern traces its founding to 1829, near the Union Course racetrack, which operated from 1821 to 1888 and sent many of its patrons to the bar. Over the years it traded under names including the Blue Pump Room, the Old Abbey, Neir's Social Hall and the Union Course Tavern, and at various times it offered a ballroom, hotel rooms and a bowling alley.
“The bar was founded near the Union Course racetrack (extant 1821–1888) and hosted many track patrons during the track's existence.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1898
The Neir family takes over the bar and owns it for nearly seven decades
The Neir family owned the establishment from 1898 until 1967. The current owner says the bar kept operating through Prohibition, and local historians say it became a speakeasy in those years. After the family's ownership ended in 1967 the tavern went into decline, and by 2009 it was ready to close.
“The establishment was owned by the Neir family from 1898 to 1967, after which it went into decline…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2010
Music-industry partners restore the run-down tavern and reopen it as a stage for new bands
David Eng, a music producer who had bought the building in the late 1980s for his Bayside Sound recording studio, took over the run-down bar in 2009 with Loycent Gordon and Alex Ewen, later joined by drummer Andy Bigan. The partners restored the roughly 150-year-old mahogany bar, added a kitchen, and reopened in 2010 with a focus on new musical talent. Gordon, an FDNY lieutenant, now owns the bar.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2017
Anthony Bourdain visits the Goodfellas bar for his show Parts Unknown
Scenes from Goodfellas and Tower Heist were filmed inside Neir's, deals Eng helped arrange, and local legend holds that the real gangsters behind Goodfellas drank here too. The film connection draws tourists, and in 2017 Anthony Bourdain stopped in and put the tavern on his television series Parts Unknown.
“Anthony Bourdain visited Neir's in 2017 and featured Neir's on his show Parts Unknown.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2020
City Hall steps in days before Neir's Tavern is set to close over a rent hike
Early in 2020 it was announced that the bar would shut on January 12 because the new landlord's rent was too high; the building had been sold in December 2018. Gordon phoned Mayor Bill de Blasio's radio show, and three days before the closing date the mayor and the Queens Chamber of Commerce brokered a deal letting Neir's stay. The city added a $90,000 grant.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Neir's TavernWikipedia
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