The Ear Inn
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I don’t have the memory
of my childhood that I wish I
had. My wife can remember every small
detail, her 2nd grade teacher’s name, what she got for
Christmas
when she was seven, and so on. That’s
not me. But December 8, 1980 is a date that will never leave
me. That’s the day John Lennon was killed
outside
his home in Manhattan.
I will
never forget, even as a child, how much his death
crushed my mother and her sister. They
were crying for someone they never met, but it was tears of pain and
love. Why were they so moved by this man’s
murder? I knew who he was, but I never
really understood what he meant. From
that moment on my curiosity for John Lennon took over.
A reverence soon grew and it remains
today. He is a major reason why I became
a musician, and 27 years later, even in
adulthood, I look to his music and words as a source of inspiration or
comfort.
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The bar at the Ear
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So when someone told me the EAR INN in Manhattan’s
SoHo
was once a favorite hangout of my
hero, I had to go
there. I had to sit at the bar he sat
and walk on the floor he once stood. I
can’t say I expected to have some epiphany or even experience some
insight into
Lennon’s motivations. I just had to say
I was there.
I’m not sure what I expected to find
when I
reached this
place. My mind was more focused on
seeing what it is Lennon would have liked. I
thought of all the times I saw him with a drink. I’ve
never seen a beer in his hands, so this
must not be a shot and beer joint. Was it
a typical upscale Manhattan
martini
bar? Is this the type of place you
needed to dress well to get in? Some
place where the bouncer only lets the “in” folks through the door?
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Overheard
about the Ear
"Intimate,
charmingly seedy and
evocative of another century."
-
Newsday
Magazine, 1982
"A dump with
dignity…"
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NY Times, 1994
"Last of the
neighborhood
places…"
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George Peck, Downtown Express, 1995
"What a
friendly bar! They even
know their ghost by name."
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Daily News, 1996
"A breeding
ground of urban
myths."
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Kate Sekules, New York Magazine,
1997
"The House
relies on the
kindness of neighbors for structural and spiritual support."
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David Firestone, NY Times,
1998
"The
neighborhood-in-all-but-name's defining institution."
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Doug Cooper, NY Times, 2000
"Garnering the
endearment of
poets and plumbers alike, the crowd at the Ear is eclectic on the verge
of
miscellaneous, yet utterly at ease with its disparities."
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Melissa Robbins, Downtown Express, 2000
"The
antithesis of slick…
seafarers in need of divey relief and homemade grub call it a great
place to
have one more and beg all to lend an ear."
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Zagat Survey, 2001
“...the
ceilings are not too
low for a stunted bow legged seadog ... kept dark to protect the
innocent.”
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NY Sun, 2002
est.
1817 A.D.
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like nearly
everything in New
York, the EAR INN
was full of
surprises. When you
see the pub from a block away, you can tell this is an unusually old
building
for this part of town. From the plaque
outside,
you are told this building is called the James Brown House and that it
was
built in 1817. It also sits on what once
was the Hudson River shore, another fact marked outside, but the river
is now a
couple of blocks away. Surprisingly in
almost 200 years neither the river nor the city’s development seems to
have
scarred it in the least. |
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James Brown was
supposedly an
African-American Revolutionary
War veteran and an aide to George Washington. According
to legend, he is he pictured on the famous
Emanuel Leutze painting of the Delaware
River crossing,
but no one can say for sure. How this
man’s house, a man who has all but slipped out of the history books,
has
survived nearly centuries of development in Manhattan
is a wonder
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WASHINGTON CROSSING
THE DELAWARE by Emanuel Leutz
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When
I walked in every expectation was
crumpled up and
thrown onto Spring Street. It is neither
the chic Manhattan
nightclub, nor a
historically preserved landmark. It’s
just a dark, small, crowded pub that bustles with the same type of
excitement
it probably had when it operated as a favorite hangout for dock workers
or when
it nobly served as a speakeasy.
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Before and throughout
prohibition, and for decades afterward, this spirited pub located in
the
James Brown House had no official name but 'BAR' as its minimalist neon
sign
announced to the world. But it was affectionately known as the 'GREEN
DOOR' by the
cognoscente because of its identifying green entrance. The 'BAR' gained
notoriety around the world thanks to the word spread by
wayfaring sailors whom patronized the place when they were in town.
Illicit
activities
were not unheard of and women were not welcome through the dark green
doors . . . nor would most women probably even want to enter.
Then in 1977, new owners
transformed the 'BAR' into a fun pub for everyone
with a focus on music performance. And they finally gave it a name. The
building
is
a NYC registered landmark and to avoid sign replacement complications
with
the
Landmark Committee, the proprietors simply painted over part of
the
old sign's neon letter, 'B' in the word, 'BAR' to form the pub's
new name; 'THE
EAR.'
The new moniker went well with its growing reputation as a great
place to enjoy some live jazz or a song with your adult libation.
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The
plaque outside was perhaps the only
thing that made us
feel we were in some historic landmark. From
the bar, it is simply a bar. It is totally
devoid of anything resembling cliché
and looks nothing
like a museum or re-creation. But it
seems to represent its history as a speakeasy and dockside retreat by
keeping
that same feeling alive. The ceilings
are low and the light is dim. It is the
perfect place for someone like Lennon to sink out of the spotlight and
blend in
with a crowd that probably has more to think about than him
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Plaque marking the Hudson's filled-in
shoreline where The Ear
now stands.
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Ancient bottles dug out during
a basement excavation.
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Believe it or not, I
never actually verified
if this was
indeed a favorite hangout of John Lennon. The
place was so unassuming and haunting that it didn’t
seem to matter
anymore. The Ear has a character all its
own. It doesn’t need to stand on the
backs of those who loved it to make others love it as well, and it
doesn’t need
to advertise its sorted history to get anyone’s attention.
Its own blend of history, ambience and
uniquely New York
character takes
care of that.
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There is plenty of
history in this bar room and rumors of a ghost or two.
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EAR
INN
326 Spring Street
New York, New York 10013
(212) 226-9060
www.earinn.com
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