Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) – "The amount of memories are just too long to list, and it's sad there's nowhere for them to be housed anymore."
Just days after a devastating fire destroyed the historic 1897 building that housed Mulligan's Brick Bar in the city's Allentown neighborhood, demolition of the structure began Wednesday morning.
Crews went to work tearing down Mulligan's Brick Bar just after 9:30 a.m. EST, starting toward the rear of the building where the fire had originally started early Sunday morning.
Work continued for a while until issues with equipment on site, including a hydraulic line problem with one of the rigs due to the frigid conditions, put a halt to efforts for a considerable amount of time. After a few hours to work out the issues at hand, crews ended up delaying the rest of demolition for the day.
"The demolition at Mulligan’s Brick Bar started this morning, but was interrupted by mechanical problems with the excavator. The contractor unsuccessfully tried to repair the equipment and has called in a specialty mechanic," said Cathy Amdur, Commissioner for the Department of Permits and Inspections Services in a statement shared with WBEN. "Additionally, they are working on procurement of an alternate excavator if they cannot repair the one on site. Unfortunately issues like this are not unusual when working in very cold temperatures. Demolition has been paused for the remainder of today and is anticipated to resume tomorrow (Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025)."
In the moments leading up to crews beginning demolition efforts, residents of Allentown and others who patroned Brick Bar gathered behind the barriers along Allen Street to say goodbye to a cultural staple of the neighborhood.
"I think it's extremely unfortunate. Even not being Brick Bar, if it was anything else, it's still such a beautiful building, and it's part of our history. It's what makes Allentown, Allentown," said Taylor Escobar, who was watching the demolition with her brother on Wednesday. "When you look around, the colorful buildings, even just looking across the street at Allen Street Hardware, it's what makes it special and different. And not just another area where, I mean, I live in East Amherst, it's a suburb out there. Where here, it's just got a different vibe. And there's just so much history in those walls, it's just so sad that it's going away."
"It reminds me of the scene in Animal House when they confiscated the fraternity house, and Blutarsky is outside going, 'They took the bar!' What are we supposed to do now? This is where we went," added Allentown resident Peter Grine with WBEN. "This is a tourist spot, I met people from all over the world here. This last month, I was talking to guys from Scotland who came in for a Bills game. I just don't know anymore."
The memories made at Brick Bar vary from person-to-person, but for Allentown resident Paul McCarthy, this spot was more meaningful than most.
"For me and my wife, we were bartenders who met here, we had our wedding photos taken here. And the current owner, she's like family to us," said McCarthy in an interview with WBEN. "It's different to every group of people. So many people have connections to this place."
In an effort to help support the employees and staff of Mulligan's Brick Bar that lost their jobs after the fire, McCarthy's wife, Melissa, helped put together a GoFundMe page that has raised just over $5,000 in the last few days.
"We were informed by the owner of the bar that there was already a fake GoFundMe alerted to her. So the urgency was there to get out an official one that would give money to all the employees who are now currently unemployed - all the bartenders, door staff - half of which who worked at the former bar that just burned down, The Old Pink. This is the second time this happened to these people," McCarthy explained. "It was just a matter of urgency, getting it out there, letting people know that was the official GoFundMe, and that all the money, every dollar given was going to go towards these employees."
Once the structure is officially demolished and cleared away, there will be quite a hole left along Allen Street where Mulligan's Brick Bar and The Old Pink once stood. Do residents wish to see something spring up in that location in the future that can, once again, serve as a community gathering place?
"I just really hope they take into account the vibe of the area, and not just another cookie cutter bar or a big apartment building. We don't need any more of those," Escobar said. "It would really just take away the specialness that creates this part of the city. It would be really, really disheartening to come down here and find out another strip mall or [apartment] building, there'd be no point for me to come down here anymore. It would really hurt my heart."
While others like Grine and McCarthy can hope that something can be done with those plots of vacant land, there's still plenty of uncertainty on their minds.
"The sun's out this morning, there's blue sky, the sun is shining on the building. It's just too surreal. It's too surreal. Hopefully we'll come up with something, but just don't know," Grine said.
"Once this is gone, it's losing a piece that's irreplaceable," McCarthy added. "So sure. I like the City of Buffalo, I want something awesome to be everywhere."
Ahead of Wednesday's demolition, city officials and other local preservationists worked to try and salvage parts of the building, including the front façade of the structure. However, the building's owner declined to give the city permission to do an emergency stabilization.
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It was just about seven months prior to the fire at Mulligan's Brick Bar when the Allentown community was shook by the fire that destroyed The Old Pink. That fire was deemed an arson, while the Brick Bar fire was ruled as accidental.