Lounge 2020: In Memoriam

There will be no Best of Lounge Awards for 2020. Instead, we raise a glass in a somber mood to the memory of some of our favorite New York City haunts & watering holes that permanently closed in 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic. The Lounge remembers:

• Pegu Club
• Lucky Strike
• Daddy-O
• Existing Conditions
• Monkey Bar
• Maloney & Porcelli
• Ward III
• 21 Club
• Donna
• Grand Havana Room
• Grand Central Oyster Bar*
• Nightcap
• Rye House
• Jack the Horse Tavern
• Black Emperor
• Ghost Donkey
• Mermaid Inn
• Bar Veloce (East Village)*
• Saxon & Parole
• Otto Enoteca & Pizzeria
• The Good Fork
• Blue Ribbon (Brooklyn)
• Jules Bistro
• Augustine
• Bar Sardine
• Fedora
• Black & White
• Copacabana
• Porsena
• Blue Quarter
• Honeybee
• Mother of Pearl

* Closed temporarily with no announced return date

Last but certainly not least, we remember Mr. Jimmy Glenn, a true NYC legend who passed from COVID-19 on May 7, 2020. Jimmy was a consummate barman, proprietor of Jimmy's Corner & a veteran prizefighter. He always met you with a welcoming hand, a smile, and a story. Rest easy Jimmy, you are missed.

- The Loungerati

In Memoriam: Brian Paynter

Some words from the Editors

Fredo, Bernard, Brian, and Eff at Monkey Bar, NYC - February 2012

Brian Paynter (April 22, 1954  - October 24, 2012)

This week we lost one of our own.  The venerable Brian Paynter was an iconoclast and true original. When he walked into a room, he exuded charismatic presence, and left a memorable impression on all who met him.  Brian was an old school New Yorker of Dutch and Lithuanian descent who grew up on the Upper East Side during the rough and tumble 1960s and 1970s. He was devoted husband, a loving father, and a church going man. Brian was a straight shooter who carried himself with charm and panache. He was larger than life and like no other person I know. He had a big heart and was a massive influence on me and the vintage/lounge community.

Let me be frank, if it were not for Brian Paynter there would be no Loungerati.  If not for Brian, I would not have a love for cocktails that has become a passion. If not for Brian I would not know houndstooth from glen plaid, pork pie from Homberg, Xavier Cugat from Desi Arnaz, Cohiba from Montecristo, Lost Weekend from The Apartment. To say that he left an impression on me and countless others who live by the lounge creed is an incredible understatement. Brian was our standard bearer. He was first class like Nick Charles. Brian embodied the very foundation of Lounge living and did it without pretense. In Brian's world, loyal phone company working class guys could be as dapper as Humphrey Bogart or Fred Astaire and stroll Fifth Avenue like they owned it.  In Brian's world, putting a little extra effort into how one presented themselves was not an outdated concept but rather a mark of one's character. Brian was my mentor, my template for behavior and sartorial expression.

In the cocktail community, old time bartenders often talk of discerning clients who insisted on classically made cocktails well before the current cocktail Renaissance began ten years ago. They called these die hard aficionados "lone samurai" and credit their insistence on specific ingredients and well made cocktails as inspiration for a career in mixology. Well, Brian was one of those lone samurai.  When I met Brian 15 years ago at a cigar bar called Cigargoyles in Brooklyn Heights, he was drinking a Canadian Club Rye Manhattan in a gray flannel suit and felt fedora. He was suave yet approachable and down to earth. I was impressed and this experience was a game changer. The lone samurai soon had traveling companions - dozens and dozens of finely attired, jazz loving, swing dancing, cigar smoking, cocktail drinking regular folks determined to live life to the fullest.

Brian passed away at 10pm on the evening of October 24th surrounded by family. Brian had been fighting Leukemia for three years and though he put up a valiant fight, he ultimately lost the battle.  I was lucky enough to stop by the hospital last week to say good bye. I found my old friend, alert, in incredibly good spirits, telling jokes, talking about old movies and a recent jazz show he had attended. I had smuggled in a flask of pre-mixed Manhattan and we shared a last drink. He appreciated it. Brian expressed that he had lived an exceptional life and was blessed to have a beautiful super smart daughter and the best wife on earth. Damn straight! I could not muster up the actual words "good bye" so we shook hands and he said, "I'll save you a seat." And he meant it.

Brian, I shall never forget you. I would not be half the man I am today without you in my life and I owe you big time. My heartfelt condolences go out to the Paynter family and Brian's legion of friends during this difficult time. Thank you again old friend. Rest in peace.

A closing note from our Style Editor Eff 

I am indebted to you for the generous gift of your friendship. I learned something new every single time we spoke. You were always the best dressed guy in the room and I wouldn't have had it any other way! You kept me entertained with tales of your New York: volumes of stories which somehow never repeated themselves.

You shared insightful predictions on experiences us guys younger than you have yet to experience.  I look forward to testing their reliability and validity. But already know you were right. Lastly, thanks for the trust you put in me: those times meant the world. And in a little way, let me kid myself that I somehow didn't owe as much a debt to you as I did. But in true Brian Paynter fashion, he slyly stepped away from the table and settled the bill before others could pay their share. I'll try and pick it up sometimes for other fellas...with loving gratitude to you.

In Memoriam: Conker Hill

by Fredo
Conker Hill, our favorite Irish pub in New York City, served their last pints of Guinness last Saturday night. Kieron St. Ledger, the publican, was forced to close the pub due to the terrible economic times that have squeezed small businesses like Conker into the pages of history.

Conker Hill was a relaxed neighborhood bar that featured darts, Big Buck Hunter, bands, comedy night, the Dewar's Repeal Day party, trivia night, and more importantly - a friendly crowd that checked any pretense at the door. It was off the beaten path, on 10th Avenue but worth the trek.It was a place where you ordered a beer, and by the end of the night a shot was sure to come your way.

We had a fantasy baseball league meeting their every March and geeked out while picking MLB players. Kieron would open up early just for the event. Each participant would await their turn, pick an available player, and then would put the name on a big leader board set up in the bar. There were cheesesteaks and plenty of trash talk in the air. To celebrate the opening of the baseball season, the gang would gather for a "meatfest" at the Argentine restaurant Churrascharia Plataforma in Hell's Kitchen. It was a bunch of guys getting together, bonded in friendships formed over pints at Conker Hill, and sealed in a love of baseball.

I will miss Conker Hill but I am glad of the friendships I made and I take them with me in the go cup of life.

Good luck to Kieron and his family. KSL, I hope to see your smiling face behind the stick of a new pub sooner than later. I mean what could possibly go wrong?!

In Memoriam: Elettaria

by Fredo

Elettaria, Aktar Nawab's eclectic one and half year old restaurant and cocktail destination is closing tonight due to lease issues. The restaurant, whose cocktail menu was designed by mixologists Lynette Mararro, Brian Miller. and Joe Swifka, featured many rum and tiki drinks such as the Navy Grog which used the original 1941 recipe. The place was one of a kind, especially on Tiki Mondays. We are very sad to see the Elettaria go.

According to a press release:

Today is the last day of service at Elettaria restaurant in Greenwich Village. Chef/co-owner Akhtar Nawab, co-owner Noel Cruz and their partners have made the difficult decision to close the restaurant due to issues with lease negotiations. A personal project for everyone involved, the team did their best every day to establish and maintain the high standards for which the restaurant is known. Akhtar is proud of his work at Elettaria and looks forward to applying the experience he gained there to his future projects.

(source: New York Magazine)

Go there tonight for a proper send off. I will miss my favorite cocktail from their house classics: The Black Pearl

"The Black Pearl like an old fashioned flying the jolly roger. dark and mysterious, old forester bourdon, cruzan black strap rum, demerara sugar, bitters."

Elettaria
3 West 8th St at MacDougal St
New York, NY 10011
ph 212.677.3833
fax 212.677.4733