Reopenings

Famous West Village Bar Chumley’s Should Be Reopening Any Month Now

Just a couple more months now ...
Just a couple more months now … Photo: Mike Rogers

Maybe you heard the story growing up: Legendary West Village bar Chumley’s collapsed into a pile of rubble and old Sound and the Fury paperbacks back in April of 2007, but several construction delays and scores of neighborhood activists — who say a low-key restaurant with a rich literary and culturally significant backstory has no place on one of the toniest blocks of the West Village — have been holding it back. The latest bright spot, however, is that Manhattan Judge Barbara Jaffe has dismissed a major lawsuit filed by Chumley’s quietude-loving opponents.

“In the modern world, some degree of noise, tension and discomfort is the inevitable concomitant of ­urban life,” she wrote, removing one major obstacle to James Miller’s liquor license renewal. If we’re being totally honest, it’s unclear whether the ruling means that things are moving along at the 92-year-old bar. It’s a fair bet that the ghosts of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald are probably really psyched that the fireplace may once again soon be roaring, so that’s a start.

West Village Bar Chumley’s Given NIMBY Death Row Pardon By Judge [Gothamist]
Related: West Village Bar Chumley’s Got Its Famous Door Back

Famous West Village Bar Chumley’s Should Be Reopening Any Month Now