Coogan’s Bar & Restaurant, on Broadway & West 169th Street, opened for business on Halloween 1985. During its 35 years, Coogan’s was a beloved neighborhood institution and one of the mainstays of life in Washington Heights. Coogan’s represented the best of what New York aspires to be: inclusive, diverse, and egalitarian. It was a bulwark against tribalism and prejudice. Over the decades, Coogan’s turned countless strangers into lifelong friends. 

The warm atmosphere at Coogan’s built trust where there had once been suspicion. It offered an under-resourced neighborhood a venue for all of life’s celebrations and it was also where you could go if you needed a quiet drink by yourself at the end of a difficult day. In the challenging years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Washington Heights suffered the city’s highest crime rates, Coogan’s was a refuge where those who were trying to improve life in the neighborhood could gather and collaborate. Police officers, public officials, community board members, neighborhood groups and activists all frequented Coogan’s. During the civil unrest that shook the neighborhood in July 1992, Coogan’s stayed open 24 hours offering a place of rest and respite.

Coogan’s supported numerous organizations and events throughout the years. They sponsored the Police Officer Michael J. Buczek Little League where police officers coached local children and built ties between law enforcement and the community. Coogan’s supported Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation’s annual Brides March, a demonstration against domestic violence; the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance Uptown Arts Stroll, a month-long performing and visual arts showcase; Dave Crenshaw’s Uptown Dreamers program for neighborhood schoolchildren; Incarnation Children’s Center for H.I.V. positive orphans; the annual Hike the Heights event, which promoted the use and care of neighborhood parks. And, in 1999, Coogan’s established its own signature event: the annual Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5K Race, which brought thousands of runners from around the region to the neighborhood and turned the streets of Washington Heights into a carnival.

Coogan’s was not only a community hub; it was a successful small business that over the years employed hundreds of local residents, supporting neighborhood families with living wages. For many young people in Washington Heights, a job at Coogan’s was the first line on their resume. Peter Walsh, Dave Hunt and Tess O’Connor McDade watched with pride as their former busboys, bartenders, and waitresses went on to careers in every imaginable field: law enforcement, business, education, politics, firefighting, theater, medicine, and the culinary arts. 

Coogan’s helped connect Washington Heights to the wider world. Nobel Prize-wining scientists and distinguished scholars from Columbia University and renowned physicians from New York-Presbyterian Hospital dined there. The long association between Coogan’s and the Washington Heights Armory made it the world’s number one runners’ bar. At celebrations following the Millrose Games and the Fifth Avenue Mile, Olympic-caliber athletes would sing karaoke at Coogan’s. Collegiate runners from all over the country filled the dining room every week during the indoor track season.

From its earliest years, Coogan’s fostered the arts in Washington Heights. The restaurant’s Gallery Room showcased the work of local artists. There were poetry readings, book signings, theatrical performances, and music of all kinds, from doo-wop to jazz to gospel and rock ‘n’ roll. “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda celebrated birthdays at Coogan’s, freestyling with friends and family at his table.

The walls of Coogan’s became a repository for the neighborhood’s history, a living, evolving photo album of the community it served. When, in 2018, the owners of Coogan’s faced a rent increase that would have put them out of business, the community rallied to save the restaurant. Dave, Tess, and Peter, responded with the following message printed on a banner above the restaurant’s entrance: 

SAVED BY A NEIGHBORHOOD

NURTURED BY A COMMUNITY

OPEN TO THE WORLD

WE ARE HUMBLED

AND FULL OF YOUR LOVE.

Coogan’s may be gone, but its spirit remains and its legacy endures. Let all who pass through the crossroads at Broadway and 169th Street be reminded of the daily grace and glory that transpired there. Let that spirit be a guide as the city recovers and builds anew. (From Coogan’s biography by author Jon Michaud)