A Barroom Fight
With cheap drinks and devoted regulars, Jimmy’s Corner is a New York City institution. The late Jimmy Glenn founded the Times Square dive in 1971, and it hasn’t changed much since then. That’s 55 years, bucko. But now it’s facing closure at the hands of the Durst Organization, the giant NYC developer.
We’re losing the charm of the neighborhood to the big boys. These bars are important hangouts. The same photos on the walls, the same bartenders, and the same regulars coming in for years. A pint of beer at Jimmy’s goes for 5 bucks. Are you kidding me? In New York City? The patrons here actually talk to each other. No Wi-Fi. No phones. Just conversation. That’s what we need today, Gin Bottle Garvey. You know what I’m saying?
Jimmy Glenn was a fight fan and a pal of Muhammad Ali. And now his son Adam, who took over the bar after earning a Harvard Law degree, is punching back against the Durst Organization to save the bar. “You don’t lay down because someone is bigger than you and has more money than you,” he says. I’m with you, brother.
All I gotta say is, in unsettling times like these, people need a neighborhood hangout—a place to go, talk things over, and have a few laughs. Keep your dukes up.
If you know someone who’d like these ditties in their inbox every week, have ‘em shoot us an email at darbyo@darbyobrien.com and we’ll add ‘em to the list.