PUBLISHED BY MOSHOLU PRESERVATION CORPORATION

After 23 years, Norwood Pub Turns Off the Taps

By JORDAN MOSS

The closing of the Norwood Restaurant two weeks ago means different things to different people. 

To Cynthia Williams, it means the 79-year-old former professional dancer will have to find another place for karaoke. She came to the Norwood Pub, as many called it, every Thursday by taxi from Tracey Towers. On her last night there, she sang along with "I Just Called to Say I Love You." 

William Boyd, who works with computers and lives over on Barker Avenue near White Plans Road, was disappointed to hear the news. He had just discovered the place a few weeks ago and began bringing his friends with him.

Vincent Marengo and Sonia Medina, who regularly occupy neighboring bar stools and became friends after meeting at the bar, will have to find another welcoming place to talk over a Budweiser (Marengo) and a white wine spritzer (Medina). 

It won't be easy. 

The Norwood Pub, affectionately known as the Norwood to many regulars, has been quenching local thirsts and appetites since Tom Reilly opened the joint in 1980. While the Norwood area was once bustling with Irish-oriented bars, there are only a handful left, and only one that serves food. 

Over the last couple of years, Reilly revamped the place in the hopes of appealing to a broader clientele. He recounted that he renovated the entire restaurant, added a steam table/takeout counter in the front, started karaoke night three years ago, and introduced live blues music earlier this year. 

"I don't know what the answer is," said the successful businessman, shaking his head.

Reilly, a veteran merchant and restaurateur who opened his first of many shops, the Bainbridge Deli, in 1970 after he returned from Viet Nam, said business has been down considerably in recent months. He attributed the slowdown to the smoking ban, the absence of construction workers who had been working on the now-complete Children's Hospital at Montefiore and the Medical Arts Pavilion. And fewer and fewer people in the area eat out, he said. 

Reilly, 58, owns the building the restaurant is in, and he said a couple of people have shown interest in buying it. 

The decision to close did not come easy for Reilly, especially because many of his staff had been with him for so long, some for 20 years. "It was a very wrenching thing to do," he said. 

His patrons were no less emotional. "A lot of them are in tears when you tell 'em," he said. But on the last night of Thursday karaoke, before the doors closed for good the next evening, the bar's patrons came in droves to celebrate the long life of a vital neighborhood institution. 

More than one person could be heard saying a version of, "If business was only that good every night!" 

Reilly said he needs to keep busy, so opening another smaller venue somewhere might be in the offing. 

But it will be a while before locals will fill the hole in their routines and in their sense of community. 

Some of the karaoke regulars like Williams, who had something of a fan club at the Norwood, said they might try out the Sandbox on East 204th Street, which also is a popular bar, but is not a restaurant. 

"People told me, 'This was the community.' This is like their living room," Reilly said.

Medina would certainly agree. "The best part is I met him here," she said, pointing to her pal, Marengo. 

And whoever you spoke to on that last night of karaoke, when people with good voices and bad, and everywhere in between, belted out their favorite tune, you would hear a version of the sentiments offered by Joanna Placeras, who works in Montefiore's billing department and showed up regularly on pay day. 

"We're going to miss this place," she said.