Local 138 Closing?

April 29, 2003 File under "shitty way to start the week"... We're hearing rumors that Ludlow Street stalwart bar Local 138 is facing the end of a too-short five year lease and has only a few weeks worth of life left. Though this info is unconfirmed as of press time, we'll be stopping by this week to dig deeper into this sad tale.

bad math karma for local 138. only room for so many eating/drinking establishments on LES w/numbers-based names. wd-50 was last straw. something had to give.

Posted by: jalbert at April 29, 2003 11:42 AM

Josh is right about numbers: note how 99 Rivington has now become Paul's Boutique?

Posted by: Felix at April 29, 2003 11:46 AM

What's unfortunate about Local 138 going bye bye is that it was the perfect median -- it was a beer bar, and had the comfort/casualness of a dive bar, yet had an aesthetic and a design that elevated it up from the true dives of the world. It had style. More than anything, it also had those great side rooms in the front, an ideal place to drink with 3-4 friends. I hope whomever is next to occupy the space, keeps those rooms intact.

Posted by: MOP at April 29, 2003 11:52 AM

and they played indie rock! will be SORELY missed.

Posted by: catherine at April 29, 2003 01:19 PM

Never made it inside the place for some wierd reason. It looked cool.

Posted by: joe bob billy bob at April 29, 2003 04:38 PM

If true, that's too bad. Nice tile floors. I took a photo I enjoy there.

http://www.slower.net/mig/index.php?pageType=image&currDir=./07_2002/07_21_2002&image=221-2145_IMG.jpg

Posted by: Eliot at April 30, 2003 12:15 AM

inside sources say May 15th is closing day.

Posted by: deanna at April 30, 2003 12:00 PM

Will they let us smoke for the last two weeks? Hooray!

Posted by: cc at April 30, 2003 05:37 PM

Those front rooms are called "snugs".

Posted by: Billy Bremner at May 2, 2003 12:33 PM

so it turns out the landlord's son is taking over the place & not keeping any of the staff. hard to say what he will turn the place into- soon we'll have nothing left in the LES but a long old line in front of pianos

Posted by: heather at May 5, 2003 09:18 AM

crap! I wanted to throw a party in their back room. Does anyone know of another good LES or E. Village bar that has a back room I can reserve?

Posted by: ste at May 5, 2003 11:40 PM

...too small to really enjoy - pre smoking ban at least. Can only hope yet another local closets gone watering hole will open up soon. with a better, more unique name.

Posted by: D at May 8, 2003 11:59 AM

Try Magician on Rivington?

Posted by: Calvin Hobbs at May 8, 2003 04:19 PM

I heard that May 15th is not the last day. I think there are some disagreements between the partners that led up to this. WHO KNOWS??? Maybe they will patch up the differences and stay open.

Posted by: Sam at May 11, 2003 02:04 PM