By Gus Saltonstall
A longtime Upper West Side bar will close permanently this week.
The Emerald Inn at 250 West 72nd Street, between Broadway and West End Avenue, will shutter on Wednesday, the bar confirmed on the phone Tuesday.
The Emerald Inn has operated for 82 years in the neighborhood — first on Columbus Avenue and West 69th Street from 1943 to 2013 — and then in its present day location on West 72nd Street.
“We’ve fallen behind on our bills and rent, and like many small businesses, we’re still recovering from the long-lasting impact of Covid-19. Our business has suffered significant losses,” Charlie Campbell, the fourth-generation of his family to run the bar, wrote in a fundraiser last week in a final attempt to raise money. “For more than 80 years, we’ve been a proud part of the Upper West Side—welcoming neighbors, friends, and families through our doors.”
The bar’s GoFundMe raised $2,700 of its $100,000 goal in six days.
Emerald Inn previously came close to permanently closing in October of 2024, when it was shuttered by the New York City Health Department. Campbell told the Rag at the time that he understood the city agency was doing its job, but contended that the majority of infractions found were in the basement, and despite spending thousands of dollars to fix the problems as quickly as possible, the watering hole ended up being closed for more than three weeks and lost valuable business.
Emerald Inn will be open Tuesday night for anybody that wants to stop in for one last goodbye drink.
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A business starting a GoFund me is a red flag… if the bar is not viable then these donations are just throwing good money after bad.
The UWS Film Center is not listening.
If a business starting a GoFundMe is bad, then what do you say to an entire generation that uses that resource.
An “entire generation” of individuals is not meant to be “profitable”, while an actual business is.
That our country needs a decent health care system?
What’s going to happen to that spectacular Irish harp neon sign?
I could make a bid.
This is the former All State location on West 72nd Street, downstairs.
That’s the Dublin House on 79th Street with the neon harp sign.
You are thinking of Dublin House, which is still going strong
That’s the Dublin House on 79th.
People work from home now and don’t go out and socialize after work and have a drink anymore. If it weren’t for college kids, noone would be out.
Malachy’s on w 72 st just off Columbus is always busy. Gets a great chill neighborhood crowd and serves great burgers!
It is in fact the exact opppsite.
1000% untrue
Disagree. After a day of working from home, it is nice to go out and socialize. Plenty of people doing this at happy hour.
I frequent my local Dive Bar more often now that I WFH. It’s the only place I see people I don’t work with or am related to consistently in real life. Great little gems
Right, construction workers and stage hands work from home. Oh, wait.
Not everything can be done over zoom + not everything can be done with a computer.
Do you deny that a far greater proportion of people work from home now and that this may impact after-work socializing?
SInce the EI is nowhere near an office building, I deny it this particular instance. Your point could and does apply to midtown and downtown eating and drinking establishments.
The internet connection is often better in bars than at home. I’m serious.
Also, as someone pointed out, being stuck at home all day in front of a screen is motivation to go out as soon as you can.
The kids don’t drink barely at all really, and good for them it’s bad for you. And the ones that do drink don’t want to do it there.
Drinking is not bad for you, enough with this crap. Typical american sober obsession nonsense. Just live a little.
Drinking CAN be bad for you/for some people. Sobriety is not “sober obsession nonsense”!!It can be life-saving.
People need a way to relax after work. I respect the new generation showing me what they do to relax at the end of the day…. But I don’t like it when they judge me for having a drink or not knowing what the new trends are.
I like knowing that the people in my life actually exist in the real world… And not just Facebook friends.
Bars are for adults anyway. And the kids you’re referencing in the neighborhood are hooked on SSRIs, adderall and buying drugs at legalized dope stores now.
How did you grow up? Kids today are competing in a global job market and can’t afford to buy a house because of what my generation (and probably yours) created for them.
Of course the kids are on drugs today. Surprised there are any kids alive today. Our generation never let them be kids… And then we took away their ability to grow into adults.
I’m old enough to consider 20-somethings to be ‘kids.’ I moved to that block in 2013 and I nearly had a panic attack when the restaurant downstairs was purchased by Gebhard’s, which is on the same block as The Emerald Inn. Those drunken ‘kids’ are not only inside, but pouring out on to the sidewalk/street, and the noise coming from Gebhard’s was unbearable.
In any case it’s always sad to have a local business close especially when it’s been run by the same family for so many years, and they’ve hit so many rough spots. I’m worried about the laundry and shoemaker on that block going out of business as well.
Too bad.
I am very sorry that you are closing.
I wish you luck in your future.
Lily Goldstein
Vices have changed. Clientele have died out or prefer to stay home, smoke weed, and play computer games. Evolve or die? Maybe the drinking clients want something different? Walk past many crowded bars.
I think “died out” doesn’t get enough credit here as the cause. There’s a reason they call it an old man bar.
We live in a city where everyone has a place they can hang out at…
If the entire city were replaced with luxury condos and Gucci stores .. oh wait… That DID happen.
Sad to hear!! I hate to lose more of the old UWS, but it’s hard to argue the neighborhood hasn’t changed. If anyone has a contact for the owner, I would flag that they could donate the sign to the Sign Museum if they were going to throw it out anyways. It would help preserve the legacy of the bar. The museum can be contacted at 646-450-0621 and nysignmuseum@gmail.com.
Emerald Inn was a great little bar with historic charm and once they moved was never quite the same. Same as the P&G when they moved.
Their old location on Columbus Ave. had a lot more street traffic whereas 72nd between B’way & West End is very quiet at night.
Does anyone remember Bob Moor’s on 80th & Columbus great little pub part of the Orleans Hotel Building in the 60’s
Bars like this that have been around for generations should be considered historical landmarks in NYC. It’s a shame that they aren’t. The Emerald was without a doubt the least pretentious bar in the neighborhood. Which is why the nerds, gentrifiers and elitists are happy to see it go.
Instead now the neighborhood will get another soulless cafeteria, drug store or empty storefront in its place. Progress is a steamroller.
You seem to be inventing some people in your head to be mad at. No one is saying they’re “happy to see it go.”
Hard pass, makes no sense and I don’t think you’ve thought this through – you’d force the owner to continue operating an unprofitable business in perpetuity? NYC is not a museum where old businesses are forever memorialized, things change and evolve
See also: churches.
Cafeteria? I haven’t seen one of those since I was a kid in the 60s! Eating stuffed cabbage rolls with my bubbe in Brooklyn.
What do you think a buffet is?
The Emerald Inn has always remind me of Jonathan Levin’s death back in 1997. He was murdered right above the Inn on Columbus Ave. 🙁
I think of him when I pass the Chase branch on 72nd and Columbus.
I remember that. Defendant would dress like Malcom X for court.
Sad story – didn’t realize that took place above the old Emerald Inn. His Dad was CEO of Time Warner and never was the same after. Jonathan was a beloved teacher.
A tragedy, yes, but what’s that got to do with this?
I wish every one would remember how much an owner puts into his or her business. Most put their entire lives, hearts and souls into it – especially if it is a family business.
Please keep that in mind when you want to make a very cavalier and flippant comment. I am certain that Mr. Campbell is feeling like he has lost his own family member. Let’s all wish him the very best ahead for a new opportunity with much success. I will be rooting for him.
100% agree with Concerned Small Business Owner. Good luck Charlie!
Agree with small business owner. Like teddy Roosevelt said, it’s better to be in the ring fighting the fight then writing snarky comments when someone’s family business has come to an end. (Paraphrased 🙂
In an earlier incarnation, this bar was W.M. Tweed’s, where, on New Year’s Day in 1973, a young single teacher, Roseann Quinn, met John Wayne Wilson. Wilson later killed Quinn in her apartment across the street, which became the basis for the novel and film “Looking for Mr. Goodbar.” Story and pics (including a rare photo of Tweed’s): https://nakedcitystories.com/goodbarmurder.php
Peter,
Nope.
This is the same space as Tweeds and the All State, which had the same owner.
After the All State closed, the space was empty for years.
Then in 2013, the Emerald Inn moved from Columbus.
Why can’t this neighborhood have storefronts that reflect the new UWS– just door dash bike charging spots and Amazon Prime parking spaces- that is where residents put their money. This neighborhoods shops, lives, and complains as if it were a suburb. No one on here ever seems to like anything about urban life. It is so odd.
I think it’s more this comments section, which seems to be stocked with people mad they never made enough money to move to Westchester–
Many commenters here moved to Florida long ago
Sorry to lose this landmark. Hopefully a new buyer will be found and it can be saved
One in six U.S. neighborhood bars closed between 2004 and 2014 with closures at a peak of six per day in 2014. Although there are 334 new bars opening each month, that’s far fewer than the 609 that are closing at the same time. There are now 17% fewer bars, a decline of 10,000.
Anybody remember its previous incarnation in |”Looking for Mr. Goodbar”?
The original name of this pub was W. M. Tweed’s which history’s was connected to the infamous Looking for Mr. Goodbar murder. After the murder the owner changed its name to All State Cafe. Eventually it became the Emerald Inn.
I don’t know if anyone else can confirm that it (All State) was one of the locations where Bruce Willis moonlighted (see what I did there) as a bartender before Diehard exploded onto the screen.
May his days be filled with peace and love.
So sad to hear. I loved it as The AllState, and lived across the street when it was The Emerald Inn. A perfect place to stop on the way home for a drink – and thanks to John, Maura (who always called me Lydia) Charlie, Charlie Jr, and the rest of the staff. Trivia night was the best. I watched it struggle during Covid from my living room window, and reopen to see another day. I moved away in early ’22, but always had a soft spot for it. End of an era.
Fun Fact: The original Columbus Avenue Emerald Inn was used as the location for several prominent bar scenes in the 1960 Best Picture winner “The Apartment”.
The curse of “Looking for Mr. Goodbar.” What a depressing story.
I am 73 years old. I live and have been drinking in midtown since 1970 and yes they’re fewer bars than ever by a long shot. I remember going to these bars to cash my check on Fridays then have a few drinks and talk with the other patrons. Most bars had food too. It was a part of the life. Life was very different.
You can blame this on changing times and after-work patterns that have changed, (not so for London which is busier than ever) but the truth is is that this place looks skanky. Why would you ever want to go in there, let alone even walk past the place?
There is that issue also.
That used to be the Allstate Cafe. My first bartending job in New York City. Also interestingly the same bar my parents got drunk in the night I was conceived
Most of you lamenting here have probably not set foot in that bar in years, so you were part of the problem.
I was in a bar tonight. First I tried Jake’s Dilemma on Amsterdam between 80 and 81, but they were closed for a private event until 10pm. I went across the street to Wolfe. The tables and bar had plenty of customers. The Emerald Inn was closed by the Health Department in October 2024. If a bar/restaurant is struggling financially and is closed for vermin forget it. Yes they clean it and reopen but then the only thing you want to consume there is beer right out of the bottle.
Normal people go to Jake’s?
The problem with this joint is that nearly potential customer living in that neighborhood has become urbane. They’re not going to set foot into some cheesy looking, Irish themed dive bar to get a drink. Not with all of the infinitely more interesting places that are around. They want aesthetic. They want a hint of glamour. They want to feel excitement when they walk in. They want to see people like themslves, and vice versa. They don’t want to be in some ‘old man bar’. Also, all of their customer base has dried up. No more old guys who can come in at 10 am and spend all day nursing beers. No more thirsty construction workers and contractors to come in to eat and drink. No more white collar guys having their ‘3 Martini Lunch’. No more younger people flooding in at night to spend even more money.
“cheesy looking”?
Lots of people, some of whom aren’t old men, go to such bars.
Construction workers and stagehands seek such places out.
There Emerald had other problems not related to Covid or being shut by the Dept of Health for 3 weeks.
I do remember from years back, never buybacks even for consistent customers. And the food not good even for an Irish bar, who pride themselves on their food.