Hegarty's closing TONIGHT?!

[muPARTY]

friend of mine forwarded this to me,
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114754391891902&index=1#!/profile.php?id=100000430866765&v=wall

not sure if it's real since i thought they were closing their doors in June (not April).  if it's true it's a real shame, last good bar on the campus

[muPARTY]

just called and asked... IT'S TRUE.

marquette is kicking them out at noon tomorrow.  if you're in Milwaukee GO TO HEGARTY'S!!!

[muPARTY]

i posted it in the superbar, but since this get's more traffic...

called and it's true, Jim Hegarty's Irish Pub CLOSES TONIGHT FOREVER!  marquette is giving them the boot now, so if you can stop by the last great campus bar

[SqueallyDRyan]

what is going in its place?

[muPARTY]

what is going in its place?

???  dorms? offices? just tearing it all down?

they bought the entire building because the apartments surrounding it have been empty for like a year i've been told

[jficke13]

I heard dental clinic once, but that doesn't really make any sense at all.

[MedicineHatSpanker]

Unjust and unnecessary! A cultural icon slips beneath the waves without so much as a by your leave. So much for my donation to MU this year!

[State Street Warrior]

Truely a sad day, I stopped by in December and I thought it was going to be open til August which I was excited to know I'd be back one more time.  Now, unfourtently not.  It wasn't my favorite bar all the time but still a great place and a place like Heg's is needed right by campus.

[Lennys Tap]

First Lenny's, then the Lance, now Hegarty's. Signs of the Apocalypse?

[tower912]

An entire semester of closing Hegs on Sunday nights.    Ahhhh, the Fun Bunch.   

[bs4173]

Unjust and unnecessary! A cultural icon slips beneath the waves without so much as a by your leave. So much for my donation to MU this year!

Hegarty's hasn't been making money for a longggg time now. It isn't MU's job to float a business that can't make a profit. The whole building's coming down; Fr. Wild and the senior administration have said in multiple public settings that they intended to renovate it and such, but it's way too unstable and unsafe. Rumors are that it'll either be greenspace or a new building, but the latter wouldn't be done for a while.

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

Marquette has become incredibly sanitized, to borrow a word from a fellow poster. Two (three if you include blows) legitimate bars for a campus of 7,500 undergraduate students? Seriously? Lawrence University (up in Appleton, where I am from) has probably 20 bars within one mile of campus. Of course, the situations aren't completely, or even very, comparable but the difference just astonishes me.

[g0lden3agle]

Marquette has become incredibly sanitized, to borrow a word from a fellow poster. Two (three if you include blows) legitimate bars for a campus of 7,500 undergraduate students? Seriously? Lawrence University (up in Appleton, where I am from) has probably 20 bars within one mile of campus. Of course, the situations aren't completely, or even very, comparable but the difference just astonishes me.

There's been a rumor going around that Marquette is looking to get all campus bars closed when their respective leases go up.  All completely hearsay, but it's still a scary thought...

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

There's been a rumor going around that Marquette is looking to get all campus bars closed when their respective leases go up.  All completely hearsay, but it's still a scary thought...

Marquette doesn't own the Ardmore building, so there's no way they'll be able to get Caffrey's closed.  And I would imagine that Murphy's lease is a nice cash cow for the university as well.  Unlike Hegarty's, though, they pay their bills. 

[jficke13]

If a mile is your benchmark, Water St. is within a mile of campus and 3rd St. is even closer.

MU has been engaged in a mission to only allow establishments it favors operate and on terms they agree with. MU is more or less in the corner of Cafs/Murphs (same company owns the two) but wasn't with Hegs. Ergo, no more Hegs.

[MUBurrow]

MU has been engaged in a mission to only allow establishments it favors operate and on terms they agree with. MU is more or less in the corner of Cafs/Murphs (same company owns the two) but wasn't with Hegs. Ergo, no more Hegs.

+1

[Brewtown Andy]

Unjust and unnecessary! A cultural icon slips beneath the waves without so much as a by your leave. So much for my donation to MU this year!

Unjust?  Really?

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

It's over a mile.

[bma725]

It's over a mile.

Water Street yes, Old World third no.

[GGGG]

Unjust and unnecessary! A cultural icon slips beneath the waves without so much as a by your leave. So much for my donation to MU this year!

Please tell me you're kidding.

[reinko]

It's over a mile.

Nothing like playing map dork...but from 13th & Wells, it's exactly one mile to the corner of Kilbourn & Water.   

[jficke13]

I enjoyed my time at Hegs a couple years ago, but for almost all of '08 and '09 the place was a ghost bar except for Wednesday's when they had the double your dough deal. Almost nobody even went to Hegs anymore.

[foreverwarriors]

Stop blaming Marquette for Heg's closing...they don't even own the building yet...had nothing to do with it.

Yes, they are an MKE institution, but if they wanted to stay open longer, they should have MADE MONEY...incredible how easily people forget thats what having a successful business means.

Ridiculous that Marquette had to put out a statement, but since everyone was blaming them for it:

http://www.marquette.edu/omc/newscenter/recent.php?subaction=showfull&id=1272550713&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&

[State Street Warrior]

Jsonline is running with the story.  Wish I could have been there last night, or this morning.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/92405674.html

[MU B2002]

Stop blaming Marquette for Heg's closing...they don't even own the building yet...had nothing to do with it.

Yes, they are an MKE institution, but if they wanted to stay open longer, they should have MADE MONEY...incredible how easily people forget thats what having a successful business means.

Ridiculous that Marquette had to put out a statement, but since everyone was blaming them for it:

http://www.marquette.edu/omc/newscenter/recent.php?subaction=showfull&id=1272550713&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&

Hey, you can just go ahead and keep the facts out of this.  Bankruptcy smankruptcy, this is just another example of "the man" knocking out another mom and pop business.

[reinko]

Why do I have the feeling that it will be open again soon, could be a marketing ploy to get some last minute cash...

[State Street Warrior]

Why do I have the feeling that it will be open again soon, could be a marketing ploy to get some last minute cash...

I hope that is the case, but I doubt it.  They had announced this was their last semester a while back.  If you look at the picture on the JSonline article it looks like the walls are cleaned off, and apparently they are out of everything on tap and only have a few bottles left according to a friend of mine who's there.

[bma725]

Why do I have the feeling that it will be open again soon, could be a marketing ploy to get some last minute cash...

Because they did that exact thing 10 years ago, and very few people remember it.  I remember the grand reopening party after they had been closed for awhile, seemed like the entire campus showed up, and then months later no one was going to Hegarty's anymore because the guy running it was a jerk.

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

People are blaming Marquette?

If so, that's unfortunate.

The knee-jerk defense of MU is kind of hilarious, though. Lighten up.

[g0lden3agle]

People are blaming Marquette?

If so, that's unfortunate.

The knee-jerk defense of MU is kind of hilarious, though. Lighten up.

I know I had heard Marquette had a role in the fact that Hegarty's lease wasn't being renewed... I'm pretty sure anything that has to do with limiting the availability of booze on campus comes back to Marquette somehow in the eyes of the students.

[Gabriel P. Slade M.D.]

I'm not surprised about the bankruptcy. I've been an occassional patron over the past six years, stopping in for lunch or a post surgery beer. There hasn't been much of a "regular" clientele in years. This is probably a product of a series of absentee owners and a lack of a consistently welcoming culture. I'm sure the place was still full from 12-2 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but those kids were drinking $1 taps and jello shots, adding next to nothing to the bottom line.

When we were in school, you could walk in there at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday and find the seats at the bar 3/4 full with regulars.... Fuzz, Dave Latusch, the mailman, some degenerate attorneys, Mike Deane, an off-duty dop, a couple PhD candidates, Wayne the drunken carpenter and his buddy, Rudy the Indian, etc. Vestiges of now almost extinct Milwaukee culture where drinking your ass off in the middle of the day was a perfectly acceptable part of business.

It was on the backs of these liquor pigs that Paul Quinn rose to the ranks of the lower middle class... Their consistent and regular patronage allowed Paul to make the rent for his two bedroom apartment in newbridge almost every month, pay the note on his 10 year-old Astrovan, buy a new sweat suit once in a while and every now and again score a half and half from one of the many crack-addicted hookers within walking distance from the bar.

Alas, times have changed. Drinking mass quantities of scotch and vomiting during "business" hours is frowned upon these days... as obsolete as treating a stomach full of ulcers with a couple alka seltzers dropped in a tumbler full of room temperature gin and sweet vermouth. And for all the right reasons... thats no way to live. There are not enough people willing to subject themselves to the life a barfly to keep places like Hegarty's afloat. Perhaps we've gotten soft as a culture, but who can blame a peson for not having the fortitude to take on a a life of loneliness, the cruel mix of impotence and rampant venerial disease, serial unemployment, the above mentioned ulcers, etc. just to keep an institution like Hegarty's open.

Tragic on one hand to see it go, but a perfectly reasonable market response when you think about it.

[MUEng92]

Wow, I went from laughing out loud at the nose picking defense photo to being sad reading that post.  That's too big of an emotional swing.

[GGGG]

Gabriel...yours was the best post on any topic that I have read in awhile.  However, head to Cudahy, West Allis, etc. and the mid-day drinking tradition you will see is far from "almost extinct."

[foreverwarriors]

Journal Sentinel article has been updated to include more bankruptcy proceeding info regarding Heg's owner and the company that leased the building:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/92405674.html

[Ari Gold]

I've never heard someone wax poetic so elequently about such a crappy bar

[ZiggysFryBoy]

was more of a murph's guy myself (daily) and didn't go to heg's much (too far to walk from 16th st.) but heg's was a fantastic day-drinking bar.

[MUBurrow]

Ridiculous that Marquette had to put out a statement, but since everyone was blaming them for it:

It might be unfortunate that a lot of people (myself included) jumped on the blame MU bandwagon a little quickly.  As for myself, I'm not aware of the facts enough to know how little or how much of a hand they might have played in all of this, but you're right that I should have pointed that out from the beginning.

As for it being ridiculous that MU had to put out a statement, I couldn't disagree more.  When your campus is only about 8 blocks by 5 blocks, you are absolutely a part of the things that go on within that space.  This holds particularly true when one of the businesses in that space holds a special place in the heart and memories of both current students and alums.  When you add to that the fact that MU has been buying out similarly situated establishments lately (Ziggy's comes immediately to mind) and that for being in such a bar heavy town, MU has surprisingly few on campus, they absolutely owe it to their alums and the community to to keep the public abreast of their (non) involvement.

[Pepperoni_Cannoli]

Because they did that exact thing 10 years ago, and very few people remember it.  I remember the grand reopening party after they had been closed for awhile, seemed like the entire campus showed up, and then months later no one was going to Hegarty's anymore because the guy running it was a jerk.

Exactly.  I was already at "Hegarty's Last Night."  You'd think all the people on this board proclaiming it's iconic status would remember that.

[Gwaki]

Why do I have the feeling that it will be open again soon, could be a marketing ploy to get some last minute cash...

Because I was there today and I watched them empty out the kitchen and take everything with them.

[🏀]

Great time last night.

[ATL MU Warrior]

was more of a murph's guy myself (daily) and didn't go to heg's much (too far to walk from 16th st.) but heg's was a fantastic day-drinking bar.

Just out of curiousity what made it a good day-drinking bar?  My criteria for that are pretty basic:

1) The bar is open

2) They have booze

3) It's light outside when you go in

4) It's dark when you come out (if you can remember coming out)

[bma725]

Because I was there today and I watched them empty out the kitchen and take everything with them.

They did that last time as well.  Held a closing party, got rid of or sold the stuff that was in there.  MU was working out a deal to buy it, but before it was finalized someone else put in a better offer and the place reopened a few months later.  Given that MU hasn't yet finalized the deal this time, it wouldn't exactly be a shock to see Hegarty's holding their second Grand Re-Opening party when first semester rolls around.

[Sir Lawrence]

Just out of curiousity what made it a good day-drinking bar?  My criteria for that are pretty basic:

1) The bar is open

2) They have booze

3) It's light outside when you go in

4) It's dark when you come out (if you can remember coming out)

5) No hostess taking you to your table

6) There is no no-smoking section

7)  The only food available is microwavable or the pizza oven the frozen pizza guy set the bar up with.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Just out of curiousity what made it a good day-drinking bar?  My criteria for that are pretty basic:

1) The bar is open

2) They have booze

3) It's light outside when you go in

4) It's dark when you come out (if you can remember coming out)

good sandwiches, the drunk mailmen, no idea what time it is due to the layout, golden tee.  plus the obvious being open and having beer flowing.

(for the record, playing golden tee at any bar during a night out is a mandatory "no action" night in the ladies department.  doesn't matter if you go to a different bar, somehow the ladies know that you played golden tee that night.  rule doesn't apply if you play golden tee during day drinking.)

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I'm not surprised about the bankruptcy. I've been an occassional patron over the past six years, stopping in for lunch or a post surgery beer. There hasn't been much of a "regular" clientele in years. This is probably a product of a series of absentee owners and a lack of a consistently welcoming culture. I'm sure the place was still full from 12-2 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but those kids were drinking $1 taps and jello shots, adding next to nothing to the bottom line.

When we were in school, you could walk in there at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday and find the seats at the bar 3/4 full with regulars.... Fuzz, Dave Latusch, the mailman, some degenerate attorneys, Mike Deane, an off-duty dop, a couple PhD candidates, Wayne the drunken carpenter and his buddy, Rudy the Indian, etc. Vestiges of now almost extinct Milwaukee culture where drinking your ass off in the middle of the day was a perfectly acceptable part of business.

It was on the backs of these liquor pigs that Paul Quinn rose to the ranks of the lower middle class... Their consistent and regular patronage allowed Paul to make the rent for his two bedroom apartment in newbridge almost every month, pay the note on his 10 year-old Astrovan, buy a new sweat suit once in a while and every now and again score a half and half from one of the many crack-addicted hookers within walking distance from the bar.

Alas, times have changed. Drinking mass quantities of scotch and vomiting during "business" hours is frowned upon these days... as obsolete as treating a stomach full of ulcers with a couple alka seltzers dropped in a tumbler full of room temperature gin and sweet vermouth. And for all the right reasons... thats no way to live. There are not enough people willing to subject themselves to the life a barfly to keep places like Hegarty's afloat. Perhaps we've gotten soft as a culture, but who can blame a peson for not having the fortitude to take on a a life of loneliness, the cruel mix of impotence and rampant venerial disease, serial unemployment, the above mentioned ulcers, etc. just to keep an institution like Hegarty's open.

Tragic on one hand to see it go, but a perfectly reasonable market response when you think about it.

Everybody in Milwaukee should be exactly like Gabriel P. Slade, M.D. and only go to bars for a "post surgery" beer."

[GGGG]

It might be unfortunate that a lot of people (myself included) jumped on the blame MU bandwagon a little quickly.  As for myself, I'm not aware of the facts enough to know how little or how much of a hand they might have played in all of this, but you're right that I should have pointed that out from the beginning.

As for it being ridiculous that MU had to put out a statement, I couldn't disagree more.  When your campus is only about 8 blocks by 5 blocks, you are absolutely a part of the things that go on within that space.  This holds particularly true when one of the businesses in that space holds a special place in the heart and memories of both current students and alums.  When you add to that the fact that MU has been buying out similarly situated establishments lately (Ziggy's comes immediately to mind) and that for being in such a bar heavy town, MU has surprisingly few on campus, they absolutely owe it to their alums and the community to to keep the public abreast of their (non) involvement.

It's not ridiculous that they actually put out a statement.  It is ridiculous that they were put in a sitaution where they had to.  MU shouldn't need to comment on closings of campus area bars.  They should completely stay out of that kind of stuff.  (And remember that this is what I do for a living.)

[reinko]

It's not ridiculous that they actually put out a statement.  It is ridiculous that they were put in a sitaution where they had to.  MU shouldn't need to comment on closings of campus area bars.  They should completely stay out of that kind of stuff.  (And remember that this is what I do for a living.)

You close campus bars for a living?  You sir are a jagoff.   

[LON]

good sandwiches, the drunk mailmen, no idea what time it is due to the layout, golden tee.  plus the obvious being open and having beer flowing.

(for the record, playing golden tee at any bar during a night out is a mandatory "no action" night in the ladies department.  doesn't matter if you go to a different bar, somehow the ladies know that you played golden tee that night.  rule doesn't apply if you play golden tee during day drinking.)

But they LOVE IT when you play Bag Toss...

[GGGG]

You close campus bars for a living?  You sir are a jagoff.   

I haven't closed a campus bar since 1991.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

But they LOVE IT when you play Bag Toss...

chicks like bags alot more than golden tee (no puns intended )

[77ncaachamps]

Everybody in Milwaukee should be exactly like Gabriel P. Slade, M.D. and only go to bars for a "post surgery" beer."

HEAR HEAR!!!

[wyzgy]

long live good ole felz houston-remeber the grafitti in the big boys room-it was there before paul remodeled the joint and then re-appeared after in the new bathroom-FELZ HOUSTON ATE HIS HANDS

what a classic

[Ari Gold]

Hegs was never my favorite bar (see other posts) but the option of that bar no longer existing sucks. There's pretty much only 2 bars on campus. I hope MU "allows" a 3rd+. It's always good to have more options than just a bar. though Caffs having trivia and murphs having karaoke and Pat McCurdy makes it better but I'll give hegs a hat tip for some great specials.

I believe the bathroom graffiti at Hegs also declared that [warrior07] was a sexy beast. I always laughed reading that.