Yet another collegetown bar bites the dust

Sadness.
[cornellsun.com]

Not gonna miss the bathrooms though.....

I had no idea Dunbar's had only been open for 2 years when I first stumbled in there in 1981. I assumed it had been there since the 60s.

It is comforting, however, to know it looked like a shithole right from the beginning.



Farewell, youth.

And there goes the one of the last reasons to go to Collegetown. How long does Rulloff's have left?

Trotsky
I had no idea Dunbar's had only been open for 2 years when I first stumbled in there in 1981. I assumed it had been there since the 60s.

It is comforting, however, to know it looked like a shithole right from the beginning.



Farewell, youth.

I too arrived in 1981, and likewise had assumed Dunbars had been around for years. It may have always looked like a shithole, but it was our shithole.

scoop85

Trotsky
I had no idea Dunbar's had only been open for 2 years when I first stumbled in there in 1981. I assumed it had been there since the 60s.

It is comforting, however, to know it looked like a shithole right from the beginning.



Farewell, youth.

I too arrived in 1981, and likewise had assumed Dunbars had been around for years. It may have always looked like a shithole, but it was our shithole.

Hopefully the very last song on the very last night was "American Pie," split awkwardly across two recordings.

The bar was on the site for a while before Pep bought it and renamed it Dunbar's. When I arrived on campus it was called The Gin Mill. Before that it was called Maury's.

Pep and Lee bought it in '79 and changed the name to Dunbar's in 1980. It was named after Pep's dog. That's the date the article refers to.

It breaks my heart. I loved that place.

Rulloffs closed in late 2014, and then reopened in 2015.
[dining.14850.com]

Ben Rocky '04
Rulloffs closed in late 2014, and then reopened in 2015.
[dining.14850.com]

Food writers should be stabbed in the face.

Were there any significant changes to Rulloff's structurally?

Trotsky

Ben Rocky '04
Rulloffs closed in late 2014, and then reopened in 2015.
[dining.14850.com]

Food writers should be stabbed in the face.

Were there any significant changes to Rulloff's structurally?

Please check the byline on that article and report back, Greg.

ugarte

Trotsky

Ben Rocky '04
Rulloffs closed in late 2014, and then reopened in 2015.
[dining.14850.com]

Food writers should be stabbed in the face.

Were there any significant changes to Rulloff's structurally?

Please check the byline on that article and report back, Greg.

Well, food writers except for Mark should be stabbed in the face...

RIP Dunbars. I knew ye well.

Trotsky
Were there any significant changes to Rulloff's structurally?

I stopped in shortly after the re-open last winter, and while I didn't go to the downstairs seating area, it sure looked the same to me. A little cleaned up and polished, too.

I posted a list in another thread, and present it, updated as best as I know:

Current Collegetown spots with a bar:
Collegetown Bagels
Resurrected Rulloff's
The Nines
Level B
Jack's Grill
Loco Cantina


RIP:
Palms
Dino's
Johnny's
Johnny O's
The Chariot
The Connection/Bear Den (College Ave)
Little Joe's
Pixel
Stella's
Chapter House*
Dunbar's

*Shall Rise Again from the ashes.

RichH
*Shall Rise Again from the ashes.

Some part of me hopes that the closing of Dunbar's will speed this process along a bit.

(Never much of a Dunbar's guy, but I did have the worst shot of my life there… so that's something.)

Scersk '97

RichH
*Shall Rise Again from the ashes.

Some part of me hopes that the closing of Dunbar's will speed this process along a bit.

(Never much of a Dunbar's guy, but I did have the worst shot of my life there… so that's something.)

Worst shot of my life was at The Connection. Best popcorn I've ever had was there, too.

Scersk '97

RichH
*Shall Rise Again from the ashes.

Some part of me hopes that the closing of Dunbar's will speed this process along a bit.

(Never much of a Dunbar's guy, but I did have the worst shot of my life there… so that's something.)

What was the name of that shot? Salsa by any chance?

toddlose

Scersk '97

RichH
*Shall Rise Again from the ashes.

Some part of me hopes that the closing of Dunbar's will speed this process along a bit.

(Never much of a Dunbar's guy, but I did have the worst shot of my life there… so that's something.)

What was the name of that shot? Salsa by any chance?

I'll give you an acronym: FLDA. The D was Worcestershire sauce, I believe. Casting about the internets for a recipe, I'm pretty sure the ringleader of this foolish shot drinking business just added that in for good measure.

Trotsky

Scersk '97

RichH
*Shall Rise Again from the ashes.

Some part of me hopes that the closing of Dunbar's will speed this process along a bit.

(Never much of a Dunbar's guy, but I did have the worst shot of my life there… so that's something.)

Worst shot of my life was at The Connection. Best popcorn I've ever had was there, too.

Ah, The Connection! Which was open, strangely, once my senior year, that I'm aware of. Seeing those lights on was like sighting the Flying Dutchman.

Scersk '97

toddlose

Scersk '97

RichH
*Shall Rise Again from the ashes.

Some part of me hopes that the closing of Dunbar's will speed this process along a bit.

(Never much of a Dunbar's guy, but I did have the worst shot of my life there… so that's something.)

What was the name of that shot? Salsa by any chance?

I'll give you an acronym: FLDA. The D was Worcestershire sauce, I believe. Casting about the internets for a recipe, I'm pretty sure the ringleader of this foolish shot drinking business just added that in for good measure.

The bartender sent me across the street to the Universal Deli to buy Worcestershire sauce specifically for this terrible idea.

RichH

Scersk '97

toddlose

Scersk '97

RichH
*Shall Rise Again from the ashes.

Some part of me hopes that the closing of Dunbar's will speed this process along a bit.

(Never much of a Dunbar's guy, but I did have the worst shot of my life there… so that's something.)

What was the name of that shot? Salsa by any chance?

I'll give you an acronym: FLDA. The D was Worcestershire sauce, I believe. Casting about the internets for a recipe, I'm pretty sure the ringleader of this foolish shot drinking business just added that in for good measure.

The bartender sent me across the street to the Universal Deli to buy Worcestershire sauce specifically for this terrible idea.

Not the shot that I got accustomed too. The shot I'm thinking of is bacardi 151, tequila and tobacco sauce. Just thinking about the taste (and smell) turns my stomach to this day.

toddlose

RichH

Scersk '97

toddlose

Scersk '97

RichH
*Shall Rise Again from the ashes.

Some part of me hopes that the closing of Dunbar's will speed this process along a bit.

(Never much of a Dunbar's guy, but I did have the worst shot of my life there… so that's something.)

What was the name of that shot? Salsa by any chance?

I'll give you an acronym: FLDA. The D was Worcestershire sauce, I believe. Casting about the internets for a recipe, I'm pretty sure the ringleader of this foolish shot drinking business just added that in for good measure.

The bartender sent me across the street to the Universal Deli to buy Worcestershire sauce specifically for this terrible idea.

Not the shot that I got accustomed too. The shot I'm thinking of is bacardi 151, tequila and tobacco sauce. Just thinking about the taste (and smell) turns my stomach to this day.

Tobacco sauce? That really sounds awful!

Guess I should have checked my reply before posting. Haha. For the record, it was tobasco sauce. It was bad.

I stopped in at Dunbar's after lunch in C-town this afternoon. Lee was there doing a little bit of shutdown work,

There's not a lot left. A few ceiling tiles, the bar and the booths along the north wall, and a couple of cheap beer signs nailed to the walls. He mentioned they have a couple of signed hockey sweaters (one from Mike Richter) that they're willing to sell, but pretty much everything worth having is gone.

Lee told me that it came down to a landlord who made things difficult for them (he actually had some choice words to describe her). It just became too stressful for Pep to keep the place open. It started affecting his health (he's in Florida R&R-ing for the next couple months). And given what they're building in place of the Palms - another 6 story apartment block - it wouldn't surprise me if the whole goal was to shut them down so she could build something big and gaudy in it's place.

Damn shame.

Too many prairie fires at Dunbar's.....tequila and Tabasco sauce. The boys used to buy them for me and dare me to drink them. I usually did. I think my stomach still has a lining but I'm not sure.

Cornell Sun reports that a new bar, Hideaway, will open in Dunbar's old location "before the fall semester." They're writing the name using Greek letters that look like Roman letters, starting with a capital eta for the "H". I remember the location as home of Morrie's.

David Harding
Cornell Sun reports that a new bar, Hideaway, will open in Dunbar's old location "before the fall semester." They're writing the name using Greek letters that look like Roman letters, starting with a capital eta for the "H". I remember the location as home of Morrie's.

Regarding that old Sun article, that's quite the waggish caption to a photo with violent undertones.

David Harding
Cornell Sun reports that a new bar, Hideaway, will open in Dunbar's old location "before the fall semester." They're writing the name using Greek letters that look like Roman letters, starting with a capital eta for the "H". I remember the location as home of Morrie's.

When I arrived on Campus (1978) it had already changed to The Gin Mill. Pep and Lee bought it in late '79 or early '80 and changed the name to Dunbar's in the fall of '80.

It's not Collegetown and it's not closing, but Rogo is up for sale in an attempt to attract a new chef by offering part ownership. [ithacavoice.com]

Not in Collegetown and not a bar, but this is a reasonable place to mention Hal's Deli closing.

David Harding
Not in Collegetown and not a bar, but this is a reasonable place to mention Hal's Deli closing.

I certainly remember Hal's Deli and of course Hal, who was a fixture at Cornell basketball games in Barton Hall. His son, Mike who's pictured, was a ballboy for Sam MacNeil's team.

George64

David Harding
Not in Collegetown and not a bar, but this is a reasonable place to mention Hal's Deli closing.

I certainly remember Hal's Deli and of course Hal, who was a fixture at Cornell basketball games in Barton Hall. His son, Mike who's pictured, was a ballboy for Sam MacNeil's team.

My friends and I agreed Hal's had the fastest delivery. They once got us our food in 7 minutes, and we lived a couple miles away.

Which bars still exist in collegetown?

CU2007
Which bars still exist in collegetown?

From this very thread, which to the best of my knowledge is accurate. (Added Dunbar's replacement, Hideaway):

Current Collegetown spots with a bar:
Collegetown Bagels
Resurrected Rulloff's
The Nines
Level B
Jack's Grill
Loco Cantina
Hideaway


RIP:
Palms
Dino's
Johnny's
Johnny O's
The Chariot
The Connection/Bear Den (College Ave)
Little Joe's
Pixel
Stella's
Chapter House*
Dunbar's

Well clearly kids have stopped drinking...

David Harding
Not in Collegetown and not a bar, but this is a reasonable place to mention Hal's Deli closing.

Sad to see Hal's close. But ... Our fraternity at reunion three years ago (or was it eight?) went there Sunday morning for brunch. The place was a little dimmer and grayer than we remembered from undergrad years. One spouse used the ladies room and said that'd be the last time she did that. Once, Hal's was about the only place to get a good bagel. Hal's did not adapt to the rising competition or quickly branch to meet customer interests such as coffees beyond regular and decaf. Recalls the line from Inherit the Wind: Sometimes you can change by standing still. I feel disloyal saying that. If you haven't gone back, just hang on to your memories from the 80s.

Trotsky
Well clearly kids have stopped drinking...

Nah. Just no difference between drinking at home vs. a bar when you're just staring into your phone either way.

Robb

Trotsky
Well clearly kids have stopped drinking...

Nah. Just no difference between drinking at home vs. a bar when you're just staring into your phone either way.

Maybe the phone in public is a way to look busy not alone, the way you could fiddle with a cigarette a generation ago.

Image credit to Corey Ryan Earle '07

George64
Image credit to Corey Ryan Earle '07

I was going to say "What, the Chariot doesn't make the list?" but I then I remembered it's been closed for over a decade.

jtwcornell91

George64
Image credit to Corey Ryan Earle '07

I was going to say "What, the Chariot doesn't make the list?" but I then I remembered it's been closed for over a decade.

That was the beginning of the deep rot.

[www.msn.com] Clickbait, "The 51 Best College Bars in America." Cornell not among the winners. Apparently no other Ivy schools either. Checked by googling the story title and each school name one at a time. Otherwise you click through fifty-some screens.

Actually clicking through 50+ screens didn't take long and yielded better results: 21 Harvard, 32 Dartmouth and 41 Brown. Links provided for non-retirees who should be working.

And while the Dutch Goose is a nice place to grab burgers and beer and watch Stanford beat USC at The Coliseum, it's not really a bar in the classic sense (more of a bar and grill) and it's more of a local place that college students happen to go to occasionally rather than a student place.

French Rage
And while the Dutch Goose is a nice place to grab burgers and beer and watch Stanford beat USC at The Coliseum, it's not really a bar in the classic sense (more of a bar and grill) and it's more of a local place that college students happen to go to occasionally rather than a student place.

The Dutch Goose is clearly deserving, if only because of the deviled eggs...

Is the Nines the next to go? I saw links on Ithaca Voice about a project to replace the building with a 6 story apt. building..

upprdeck
Is the Nines the next to go? I saw links on Ithaca Voice about a project to replace the building with a 6 story apt. building..

Story here: [ithacavoice.com]

Rather than management retirement, poor business, or a fire, this is just out-and-out landlord greed and thirst to milk the "luxury highrise" market dry. Nevermind the views of the surrounding hills, soon you'll barely be able to get daylight on College Ave or Dryden Rd with the canyon that's slowly being pieced together.

one would wonder if the nines would come back to life in another location of the many places in college town that are long gone. its has a loyal following.

upprdeck
one would wonder if the nines would come back to life in another location of the many places in college town that are long gone. its has a loyal following.

Nines is running out of competitors to be loyal to.

RichH

upprdeck
Is the Nines the next to go? I saw links on Ithaca Voice about a project to replace the building with a 6 story apt. building..

Story here: [ithacavoice.com]

Rather than management retirement, poor business, or a fire, this is just out-and-out landlord greed and thirst to milk the "luxury highrise" market dry. Nevermind the views of the surrounding hills, soon you'll barely be able to get daylight on College Ave or Dryden Rd with the canyon that's slowly being pieced together.

Frankly, that was a similar reason to Dunbar's closing, too. The landlord just made life unbearable because she wanted to do something else with the space.

Jeff Hopkins '82

RichH

upprdeck
Is the Nines the next to go? I saw links on Ithaca Voice about a project to replace the building with a 6 story apt. building..

Story here: [ithacavoice.com]

Rather than management retirement, poor business, or a fire, this is just out-and-out landlord greed and thirst to milk the "luxury highrise" market dry. Nevermind the views of the surrounding hills, soon you'll barely be able to get daylight on College Ave or Dryden Rd with the canyon that's slowly being pieced together.

Frankly, that was a similar reason to Dunbar's closing, too. The landlord just made life unbearable because she wanted to do something else with the space.

Something else, like another bar?? My memory (2nd hand) is that Pep just wanted to move south and he gave several years notice that he was looking for a buyer.

RichH

Jeff Hopkins '82

RichH

upprdeck
Is the Nines the next to go? I saw links on Ithaca Voice about a project to replace the building with a 6 story apt. building..

Story here: [ithacavoice.com]

Rather than management retirement, poor business, or a fire, this is just out-and-out landlord greed and thirst to milk the "luxury highrise" market dry. Nevermind the views of the surrounding hills, soon you'll barely be able to get daylight on College Ave or Dryden Rd with the canyon that's slowly being pieced together.

Frankly, that was a similar reason to Dunbar's closing, too. The landlord just made life unbearable because she wanted to do something else with the space.

Something else, like another bar?? My memory (2nd hand) is that Pep just wanted to move south and he gave several years notice that he was looking for a buyer.

According to Lee, Pep wanted to get out mainly because running the bar became too stressful thanks to demands from the landlord. They felt she was trying to force them out. What those demands were, he wasn't specific about. But it was clear to me that he felt they would have kept the bar open if not for the landlord.

billhoward

upprdeck
one would wonder if the nines would come back to life in another location of the many places in college town that are long gone. its has a loyal following.

Nines is running out of competitors to be loyal to.

Ithaca Voice reports on latest news about The Nines.

wonder if the owner sells out or stay the course for awhile..

Not a bar, but a pending replacement in Collegetown has taken a step forward. [ithacavoice.com]

David Harding

billhoward

upprdeck
one would wonder if the nines would come back to life in another location of the many places in college town that are long gone. its has a loyal following.

Nines is running out of competitors to be loyal to.

Ithaca Voice reports on latest news about The Nines.

Another concept in the Nines replacement story.

David Harding

David Harding

billhoward

upprdeck
one would wonder if the nines would come back to life in another location of the many places in college town that are long gone. its has a loyal following.

Nines is running out of competitors to be loyal to.

Ithaca Voice reports on latest news about The Nines.

Another concept in the Nines replacement story.

I see nothing in that article about corn nuggets.

VP Market Development
Our goal is to approach redevelopment of 311 College with sensitivity to its context.

<gag> The context is Collegetown used to be a dump housing poor students en route to a comfortable life. Now the comfortable life starts sophomore year. If you can afford $2,000 for a one-bedroom in a new building.

David Harding

David Harding

billhoward

upprdeck
one would wonder if the nines would come back to life in another location of the many places in college town that are long gone. its has a loyal following.

Nines is running out of competitors to be loyal to.

Ithaca Voice reports on latest news about The Nines.

Another concept in the Nines replacement story.

Still another installment in the Nines building saga from [ithacavoice.com].

David Harding

David Harding

David Harding

billhoward

upprdeck
one would wonder if the nines would come back to life in another location of the many places in college town that are long gone. its has a loyal following.

Nines is running out of competitors to be loyal to.

Ithaca Voice reports on latest news about The Nines.

Another concept in the Nines replacement story.

Still another installment in the Nines building saga from [ithacavoice.com].

The end is nigh. Ithaca.com: Farewell concert at The Nines features local bands
Event poster