Harry Jaffe: Jack saves the Rooster
By: Harry Jaffe
Examiner Columnist
November 1, 2009
Here's a sweet story with a happy ending for your leaf-raking Sunday:
Jack Evans was at home in Georgetown three Sundays ago when he read my column in The Examiner about the imminent closing of the Black Rooster pub on L Street, in downtown D.C.
Too bad, he thought. Another great saloon bites the dust, like Nathan's in Georgetown and the Childe Harold in Dupont Circle.
"Wish I could save it," he thought.
The Rooster was about to be slaughtered on the real estate chopping block. Its lease with the General Services Administration had expired, and the landlord signed a deal to rent the space to the building's big tenant, the Peace Corps. The little brick storefront watering hole was about to become a conference room.
Jody Taylor had been running the Black Rooster for more than a quarter century. He had created a warm place in the heart of D.C.'s cold downtown. It was a genuine pub where rugby teams pounded down pints and office workers jammed the long bar for weekday happy hours. Taylor had hoped to pass the Rooster down to his son, Jake. But on the Sunday my column announced the Rooster's impending demise, Taylor was planning to shut down.
Jack Evans set out on his morning jog through Georgetown, part of the ward he has represented on the D.C. Council for decades.
"That's when I do my best thinking," he says.
Midway through his run, the light bulb lit up. Evans was close with Bob Peck, a longtime Washingtonian who now manages GSA's leasing operations nationwide, including all of D.C.
That night Evans called Peck and explained that one of his buildings was about to gobble up the Black Rooster.
"Anything you can do?" Evans asked.
"Let me check," Peck said.
Evans spent the next two weeks playing broker and deal maker.
Peck called back and said the Peace Corps would be willing to step aside and let the Black Rooster stay, but someone had to work out the details with the landlord.
The Rooster's landlord was Richie Cohen, son of one of Washington's original real estate moguls. Evans knew Cohen. He called him.
"I would love to help," Cohen told him, "but I have this lease with GSA."
It took dozens of calls for Evans to make sure the feds and the landlord would let the Black Rooster live.
"It's an example of how the government and business should work together," says Taylor's lawyer, Stephanie Lipinski Galland. "Kudos all around."
Jody Taylor is waiting to sign the papers and is prepared to reopen in a week or two. He can see the day when he passes the Rooster to Jake. "It's something I've always wanted to do."
Says Evans: "In a world where you don't often have a sense of accomplishment, to keep a bar open in this environment feels good. There are a lot of local heroes in this story."
Maybe Taylor can name a drink after Evans. "Gimme a Jack Evans" has a nice ring to it.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at hjaffe@washingtonexaminer.com.
More from Harry Jaffe
- Harry Jaffe: MPD still moving to fire cop cleared in federal court
- Harry Jaffe: Big brother big foots in D.C. appeals court
- Harry Jaffe: Rays of hope and joy for D.C. public school kids
- Harry Jaffe: Violent crime is up -- number of cops heading down
- Harry Jaffe: Should sniper John Allen Muhammad die on Tuesday?
