Historic Neir’s Tavern wins $40,000 grant

Historic Neir’s Tavern in Woodhaven will receive a $40,000 grant designed to help culturally significant buildings thrive post-pandemic. AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

By Jacob Kaye

After a tough year, the oldest bar in New York City will receive a much needed cash infusion.

Neir’s Tavern in Woodhaven was one of 25 historic and culturally significant restaurants in the U.S. owned by underrepresented groups to be named as recipients of a $40,000 grant from American Express and the National Trust. 

The money will be used to help the 191-year-old restaurant to make much needed updates to its exterior, including restoring its iconic, custom-made sign and replacing an awning that’s become home to a family of birds.

“We just don’t have that extra cash laying around,” said Loycent Gordon, Neir’s Tavern’s owner. “[The grant is] going to help to update some of the things that need to be fixed properly.”

While the pandemic put a temporary pause on Gordon’s ability to serve his customers a drink, it didn't stop him from serving the community in other ways. 

Gordon created Neir’s 200, a virtually happy hour group that put their heads together to come up with a plan to feed hundreds of Woodhaven residents. The group also spearheaded efforts to bring an antibody testing and cardiovascular screening site to the bar. 

“We’re one of those businesses where everything we’re built on is based on people connecting in-person,” Gordon said. “That is the lifeblood of this business.” 

2020 was a year of deep lows and epic highs for the tavern on 78th Street. 

In January, Gordon’s bar, which served as a filming location for Martin Scorcese’s 1990 crime film GoodFellas, was on the brink of eviction after the building’s landlord, Henry Shi, decided to raise the rent to a price Gordon said he was unable to afford. 

News of the bar’s impending closure prompted heaps of support from residents and elected officials, including Mayor Bill de Blasio. 

Several days later, a handshake agreement was reached between Shi and Gordon and the bar signed onto a five-year lease, cementing its continued reign as the oldest bar in the city.

But then the pandemic hit. For a bar built on certainty and connection, COVID-19 proved a near perfect foe. 

“2020 was obviously wrought with a lot of unpredictability, a roller coaster of emotions and financial instability,” Gordon said. “I don’t think Neir’s Tavern has gone through something like this in its 191 year existence.”

But for Gordon, whose goal is to get the bar to its 200th anniversary, said that while the grant will add needed financial benefit, he’s more excited about what the grant represents. 

“It’s not the money – it’s the recognition that legacy businesses like ours matter to the fabric of U.S. history,” he said. “Everything I’ve done here is based on proving that premise and that’s why I'm still pushing forward.”