When news spread The Black Rooster pub would be forced to close, wails by way of e-mail came from Ireland, Australia, South Korea — and Iraq.
“Soldiers wrote that they had found a home here when they were in town,” Jody Taylor tells me.
He’s owned the place since 1970. “They thanked me. I should be the one thanking them.”
Taylor has bellied up to the bar at his downtown saloon on Friday. The place is packed. Chris, the barmaid with the long tresses, is pulling pints of draft beer and setting out bowls of Brunswick stew, the special of the day, along with fish and chips. It is Friday, after all.
People have been paying special thanks to Jody Taylor ever since word got out that his pub at 1919 L St. NW would be closing. “You run a place this many years,” he says in his raspy voice, “you get to know a few people. Everyone becomes a regular.”
The impending shuttering of The Black Rooster will rip another hunk out of Washington, D.C.’s, hometown heart. Every tavern that closes removes a place for us to gather, make friends, create memories, have our first date, our first kisses. Among the dearly departed of late are: Nathans in Georgetown; Timberlake’s and Childe Harold in Dupont Circle; AV’s on New York Avenue.
“Take away a place like this,” he says, “and the street becomes dead.”
The Black Rooster is a welcoming, redbrick storefront in the concrete office building that houses the Peace Corps. The plaque on the front has the imprint of Washington’s early ethnic real estate barons: Blackie Auger was the Rooster’s first owner, in partnership with Richie Cohen and Dominic Antonelli.
“I worked for Blackie for 37 years, from bouncer to regional manager,” Taylor says. “This was his favorite place.” When Auger died in 2004, his family sold The Rooster to Taylor: “For one dollar,” he says.
Taylor wanted to run the place until he could pass it on to his son, Jake, who’s been learning the trade. But his lease came up for renewal, and the owners offered it to the feds. The General Services Administration made a deal to give the space to the Peace Corps.
“It’s going to be a conference room,” Chris the barmaid tells me, with a toss of her locks.
Not if Jody Taylor has his wish. “I want to take care of my employees who have been with me for more than 25 years,” he says. “I want my regulars to have a home away from home.”
There’s a petition circulating. Taylor is appealing to the owner and to the feds. He’s looking for another spot. Small breweries, led by Flying Dog in Frederick, Md., are hosting a party Monday night to drum up support. Says Taylor: “I’m not going gently into the night.”
If he can’t work a deal, The Black Rooster will serve its last beers — with fish and chips — on Friday.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].
