Mason Dixon Done with 133 Essex Street
Friday afternoon, Graham Rayman over at Runnin’ Scared penned a piece about the recent 7th Precinct crackdown. The focus was on the plight of neighborhood institution Max Fish, and how the court held hostage both the bar and its artwork for a week (reopened Friday). But buried in the article is some other news. No more Lower East Side mechanical bull.
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Mason Dixon is reportedly throwing in the towel. The Essex Street honkytonk fell prey to the NYPD earlier this year, and hasn’t recovered. Mike Ireland, the former manager of the bar, says the recent crackdown was the impetus behind beefed-up security efforts and ID-checking. But the compliance was so costly that it killed their bottom line, and was ultimately the driving force behind the closure.
“We had to close down for good because we were losing so much money on extra security, tickets, lost revenue, fines, court fees, lawyers,” he [Ireland] says. “The thing is we met every single stipulation they asked for, we did everything right, but they kept ticketing us.”
Which explains why 133 Essex Street, Mason Dixon’s mailing address, is on the agenda at tonight’s CB3 SLA meeting for a license transfer.
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