Weekend events in Long Island City: McReilly’s; LIC Boathouse; PS1
1) Tomorrow, Saturday, August 16 at 7pm, there will be a gathering at McReilly’s to show support and discuss a possible fund raising effort. The Daily News will be writing a story and a staff photographer will be there. There are also some people interested in organizing a fund raiser to assist with whatever their next move will be. The talk at the moment is they want to “just get through this month” and then regroup to focus on finding a new space. All are invited.
2) HALLETS COVE WALK-UP PADDLES, LIC Boathouse. Sunday, August 18th, 1PM-5PM. A comfortable introduction to kayaking for all ages in the relatively protected waters of Hallets Cove. The views of Blackwell Lighthouse and Manhattan are wonderful, the company on the little beach is great, and it’s always cooler on the water! Help us clean the beach if the community spirit moves you, which we certainly hope it will. Dress to get wet, and feel free to bring a beach blanket.
3) PS1 Warm Up Party Environ hosts: Kelley Polar, Metro Area, Tony Conrad. On Warm Up Saturdays, from 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., the admission fee to P.S.1 and Warm Up is $10.00. Included in this price is access to all exhibitions and to Warm Up. L.I.C. residents recieve complementary admission plus one guest. Must bring government issued I.D. or mail with proof of L.I.C. residency.
PS1 Warm Up Party, July 2008, Long Island City
If you know about other LIC events this weekend, please post them in the comments. In the future, if you have a community event that you’d like to promote, email it to info [at] liQcity [dot] com. We’ll post it!
For the McReilly’s gathering, the reporter is Brendan Brosh - brendanbrosh@gmail.com.
Email him your phone # and he will interview you for the story. He leaves for vacation tomorrow so please do this as soon as possible. He is a lovely, highly intelligent reporter who would like to approach this story differently… due to Noreen and Pat’s request the story will be more nostalgic and antidotal.
Yesterday a few of us met with Brendan Brosh at Mcreilly’s to discuss a story concerning their situation. Brendan is sending a photographer…Saturday night at 7:00 to photograph the place. This is an invite for you to participate in setting the tone for the photo, and get together for dinner and discuss a possible fund raiser. This was Tim Koelle’s idea and I think a fantastic one.
I spoke with Norren yesterday to get a handle on how SHE wants to proceed. She hasn’t given up the ghost as much as thrown in the towel on this place, which considering the steroid thug who delivered the notice…is probably a good idea. At the request of Pat and Noreen the story will avoid comments on the landlord, and take on a “say good by to the CHEERS of LIC” aspect. Some of us are speculating that the landlord wants to take over and launder money since he insists on cash from his tenants. So no fight for them….just looking to close the place and then start looking for a new one. Noreen got an $800,000.00 bid to redo a place and that has stuck in her mind. She feels vulnerable to contractor’s (and should quite frankly….) so I think it would be important to let her know, whom of you are out their that are willing to help rebuild….and at point out to her that the place doesn’t have to be a place. That nice things can be done , out of the box for pennies. (Think Vine Wine) For any of you out there that remember Oznots…there’s another example.
So join us Saturday for dinner or just a drink and a photo op…and let McReill’ys know we are thinking of them. And maybe we can help form strategies for the new incarnation.
Cheers!
No. 2 sounds like he/she had a few too many.
Nope, just a concerned community member who knows how many people are affected by the closing of McReilly’s and who care. Why this sight gets vile is such a disappointment. Unless that was a joke?
4, it was just a light-hearted joke. I love McReilly’s.
for those looking to check out something different tonight.
there is a “car rally” departing to Montreal tonight from the Water Taxi Beach …
Gumball type of insanity :)
More info here:
http://www.rentalcarrally.com/index.html
PS1 starts at 3pm, not 2pm.
Good note #7. The PS1 website still says 2pm.
C’mon folks, a fundraiser for a business??? Are there not more needy causes out there (like the senior center) to be raising funds for??
No. 9, Agreed. The notion of a fund drive for a successful (but maybe not canny) business seems bizarre to me and misguided. I like McReilly’s but it’s ultimately up to them to get their acts together and figure out how to make it in the new LIC. They have many loyal customers to draw on to make their new bar a success, and I wish them luck.
#9 & #10 It’s great that you have your opinion, and I disagree entirely. Some of us have been going to McReilly’s for years and want to help and support our neighbors. What better cause is there than that? Why compare causes? Don’t go if you don’t care. But for some of us, I’m glad to know this info. Thanks liqcity for posting it. I’m glad at least this blog doesn’t reflect only one side of LIC. Because clearly we’ve got ALL TYPES around here.
I agree with #9 and #10 too. Its not that I don’t support McReilly’s. As an 11 year resident, it was the only place we had, so I support it whole heartedly - by eating and drinking there. If they reopen somewhere else in the nabe, I’ll support them again by giving them my business. The owners, nice as they may be, had 2 years to figure out an option.
9, 10, 12 The fund raiser is not McReilly’s idea. Saturday at 7 is not a fund raiser. It’s a photo op with the News. The fund raiser idea others came up among some folks as a way to help a neighbor with the sudden situation or if and when they decide to get going again. So some folks will be chatting about that. Others will be having Fish n chips, burgers n beers, etc.
I think that Noreen and Pat would be embarassed by the fact that someone (even though they meant no harm) even suggested a “fund raiser” in this thread. It is certainly sending out the wrong message and has already been misconstrued by people reading this post. Noreen and Pat need our moral support and continued patronage as they move on to the next frontier. The most helpful thing we can do is to help them find a new location in the nabe, and then to volunteer with hands on physical work when they land a suitable spot. I will miss that location terribly- It was the first bar I ever entered here when I moved to LIC 16 years ago - and I have remained a loyal customer ever since. My great grandmother, Henrietta Casey from Tipperary always looks down from above and lands me in the vicinity of an Irish Pub where a gal can enter without fear!
So how did it go?
You have got to be kidding…, a fund raiser for an establishment that can’t recognize how filfthy its floors, tables, awning, windows, and eating utensils are!!!
I had lunch there once and got sick.
I am glad to see that eye sore go. Maybe this time they’ll be forced to offer a clean place. It’s up to them to show thier customers that they care about them, not the other way around!!!!!
Wow 16, you might want to question why your opinion differs from the huge following that McReilly’s has had for 20 years. I would seriously estimate that I have had somewhere close to 1000 meals there. Maybe twice have I had to complain that something didn’t taste right. I certainly never got sick. And I’m not someone with a cast iron stomach. Cleanliness has never been an issue. They have had one of the best cooks in the area for years.
Without mentioning other names, McReilly’s has 2 violation points (not unusual for any food service) but a newer (i.e. not around as long) hipper popular competitor has 16 points. An even newer and much more upscale place (only opened in the past year) has 26 violation points! And another upscale pricey place has 33 violation points!! And perhaps the most upscale location south of 44th drive has 25 violation points.
So let’s get real, ok?
Who is this #16? Did he just blow in this way from queens crap or curbed? That ridiculous post goes way beyond the pale. I seriously doubt that he ever visited the place. The frontage has always had an inviting appearance with beaufiful plantings in Spring and Summer - small but always clean windows, glass tops on tables that are always clean, a polished and dust free bar, clean floors, clean restrooms, not a bug in sight, top quality meat, an awning as clean as an awning can be on a traffic laden blvd., and a friendly clean and well groomed staff. Just what is this jerk talking about? He must have suffered from a case of mistaken identity here - he is surely not talking about McReillys.
Yes 17, why don’t we get real, I agree that violations should be posted for all to see.
My opinion differs because I am not afraid to have an opinion that doesn’t conform to those of others.
However, what you see at this establishment is no where near appetizing nor
appealing to the eye and again, if an establishement has any concern for thier
customers and for their “Name” in the community, it would demonstrate pride in their appearance.
The non-repair of a filthy awning, lack of attention to dead plants outside their window, only demonstrates disconcern. How can anyone patronize a restaruant that doesn’t make the effort to clean up their store front. I am sorry, but that only makes me think twice about eating there. Which I did that day for lunch and regreted my decision.
After 20 years, they should be ashamed to accept any fund raising on their behalf, after all they are in business for profit. And from what I can see, not much was used for maintenance. They apparently take their customers for granted.
Anything else?
19, get over yourself. McReilly’s is a no-nonsense neighborhood bar, not some frilly yuppie boite (I hate the term but couldn’t resist). I suppose the pile of design magazines on your West Elms coffee table is artfully arranged and you use those silly blue tablets in your toilet tank. For the rest of us who don’t might a couple of dead houseplants and a slightly worn-out but comfortable sofa, we like McReilly’s just the way it is.
Sorry, no West Elm Coffee table, or blue tablets.
Simply cleanliness and respect for your customers is all I want from a so called “restaurant”.
This dialogue is about how ridiculous the idea of a fund raiser is for a business that
demonstrated a total lack of interest in its growing community or for where it was conducting business. I certainly would not want them as a tenant.
Begging for money to accomodate a move … there are no words to justify this.
I agree with #12, 9, and 10.
21, you apparently read too fast. The fund raiser idea came from people in the community. It is not at all something endorsed by McReilly’s. As someone pointed out these humble people would be embarrassed.
As for your other comments, you may have had a bad experience but it also sounds like you are a fusspot who wants everything your perfect upscale way. Simple fact is that there are several hundred who strongly disagree with you. There are local businesses and the fire department who regularly are either catered by McR or have events there. There have been thousands and thousands of meals served in 20 years and people keep coming. I guess we yokels are just stoopid.
All I can say is do what I did. Go online and check out the health violations of all YOUR local favorite places. You will be stunned to find how many violation points there are for totally new upscale places compared to virtually none for this two decade institution.
Oh my dear 21, I never knew that wanting a clean appearance at a restuarant equated to “fuss pot or Upscale”, what kind of home did you grow up in?
As for my comment on the fund raiser idea, I am very well aware that it was a “local community” idea . Read again.
It is unbelieavable that know one has notice the broken down awning and dead plants at McReilley’s. You gotta be pretty juiced up to not see it.
Oh and by the way, who is getting paid off at the health department?
As I said before, I am glad to see this eye sore leave, and all the rest of you can go wth them.
23, you made your point. You don’t like bars with tears in their awnings — check. Now you’re sounding like a nutjob.
#23 must be the greedy landlord trying to kick them out. I think the restaurant owners were willing to invest money to fix things (including the awning) but wanted a lease extension first.
WOW, this is so silly. I’m sure Pat and Noreen are terribly embarassed by all this.
Dear 23 awe you need to relax yourself A LITTLE BIT!!!!!!!!!!!
NO I mean A LOT!!!! Mc Reillys is WELCOMING, HOMELY, TASTY, CLEAN & VERY GENEROUS WITH THE AMOUNT OF FOOD YOU GET. DID YOU NOT SEE THE PRICES Dont know what is wrongs with you
McReilly’s in the Daily News:
http://tinyurl.com/5arogs
Listen everyone, you guys can have your opinion on how dirty and undeliteful McReillys has been but think about it, if it was sooo bad how did it last in business for 20 years. In the past 20 years there have been new people visiting this establishment as well as the constant crowd. Pat and Noreen and all the girls and cooks at McReillys have been a part of peoples lives for generations. I was there for their last night on August 29th, and to be able to take part in the closing of a LIC icon was unbelievable. As Pat told us all in his speach” You are going to miss us but not as much as we’ll miss you” . The amount of people that showed up from all over Brooklyn and Queens was amazing. It was something that no one there wanted to end, including the staff. We were all partying together, strangers and friends alike. All being part of this bigger thing. It was an amazing experience. I know that if possible, Pat and Noreen will find another place claim. Of course, it will not be McReilly’s because there never will be another one, but it will be as crowded as this one was. Those of you who can’t deal with the atmosphere, do us all a favor and stay home. We don’t need your negativity. McReilly’s will be missed by all who loved it as I did.
29, Amen. I could not have said it better. This is one of the last places where people mattered more than making a buck. It truly marks the transition of Hunters Point from what we know (and others don’t) to be the last remnants of the good old days. Transition to what, I’m not sure? Hope at least the vibe remains.
Any word if Pat and Noreen have any leads yet?
No leads yet. I know they have been looking at a couple of places but nothing has worked yet. I was told by Pat that he will but a full page at in the Daily News when they reopen. The hardest part is finding a good place that is affordable and will work for them.
Affordable and the new LIC don’t go together. But I wish them the best of luck.
Their best bet in the long run, might be to buy something which is falling apart, demolish, and build to suit their needs (with consideration for future needs) and build in extra space to rent.
Charlie.
Charlie,
You assume they have the funds to do that. If they do, great. If not, well, let’s hope someone in the LIC real estate community can give them some good leads. Any broker that can help them would become legendary. And get lots of future referrals.
Yea, it’s been mentioned a few times that they were looking to buy. I don’t know what kind of funds are available to them, but if the opportunity to pick up a lot (developed or not, or condemned) becomes available, and the money can be had, then I think they should go for it.
I agree with your sentiment, concerning any broker who might help to solve their problem.
Charlie.
A farewell tribute on Queenscrap today submitted by \The Happyhourguys\. Perhaps someone can import it over here?
Thank you LIQCity for posting the info about McReilly’s.