Historic Bridge Cafe to Reopen Around Valentine's Day

South Street Seaport's historic Bridge Cafe is still struggling to reopen after the damage done by Hurricane Sandy, in part because owner Adam Weprin is trying to preserve as much as he can of the 219-year-old building. That includes the original wooden beams from 1794, the tin ceiling, and the massive oak bar, most of which were "completely saturated" by the nine feet of water that flooded the building. Now Weprin, whose family has owned the bar since 1979, says he hopes to be done by Valentine's Day. But as he tells the New York Times, "It's gotten to the point when I tell people, 'Two more months,' they say, 'That's what you told me two months ago.'"

Until then, do take the time to read the Times' full profile of the city's oldest bar, where Ed Koch was once a regular, right alongside an old gambler named Johnny, who looked like "you put Ed Koch in a clothes dryer, shrunk him down to size, and made him 93 years old."
· At 219-Year-Old Building, a Reopening Takes Time [NYT]
· All Coverage of the Bridge Cafe [~ENY~]
· All Coverage of Post-Sandy NYC [~ENY~]