By Just one of many stories Lee Seinfeld has to tell about his four Upper West Side Bars, captures the neighborhood/family environment that attracts patrons month after month and year after year. Chatting while driving with his wife, Mary Ellen, he described an incident recalled by Nick, his son and business partner, that reflected on the atmosphere at Broadway Dive at 2662 Broadway. Once when Nick, who wears many hats in this business, walked in, he found the bar crowded with regulars. There wasn’t a seat in the bar. But, it was all silent. “What’s going on?” he asked the bartender. The response was “Dave is on a conference call,” Everyone was quiet and respectful of the importance of a fellow patron’s business call. “The many, many locals who come here care about each other,” Lee said. This caring was apparent in recent years during the trauma of 9/11 and the multiple superstorms that hit NYC. “They would come in to ask about people they knew from the bar – did anyone know how they were, and had anyone seen them.”
The first of the Dive Bars opened in 1989 on Amsterdam and 96th Street. Broadway Dive Bar opened in 1992 in a location that housed various other bars. The neon “Tavern” sign still at that place goes way back.
Dive 75? This bar was opened by Lee and a longtime friend and business partner, Jim Petersen, who owned a dive shop at that location. After the dive shop moved to Times Square, the business evolved into a bar that kept the “Dive” name. Broadway Dive Bar opened in 1992. Dive 75 opened in 1999, and Dive 106 launched about five years ago.
The name “Dive” is a bit tongue-in-cheek as the selection of beers and handcrafted drinks is in no way ordinary. Nick does the buying and leans heavily toward supporting NY state breweries and cideries. He also trains bartenders in making handcrafted cocktails. Want a great burger or bowl of soup? The menus at Dive 96 and Dive 106 are more extensive than at the other two bars. It is not fancy, but is very high quality and very good,” Mary Ellen said. Patrons are very enthusiastic about the huge varieties of tap beer to go. “People like our prices and selection,” Lee said. All the Dive Bars have their signature “really cool” large fish tanks with tropical fish.
Love happens in connection with Seinfeld Dive Bars. Lee and his friend Jim were working as bartenders at the Abbey, a one-time bar on 105th Street and Broadway. The tale is now a family “legend,” which is much like a movie scenario. When Lee saw Mary Ellen for the first time, she had walked in as a patron. Lee turned to Jim and said, “I’m marrying her.” The rest is history. The family moved to Connecticut when their three children were young. Mary Ellen had worked in corporate personnel. She manages the administrative parts of the business.
Another love story involved a shy guy who was smitten with a bartender. He asked Lee what he could do to get her to pay attention. Lee told the man to go and get a bouquet of flowers to bring with him to the bar. “I told him to drink your Bud Light, and when she asks who they are for? You say ‘for you.’” It worked. The two became a couple and have already been together for about five years.
Mary Ellen talked about her husband’s generosity, which engages him in supporting important community activities like the LGBT baseball league that plays throughout the city. When they’re not working, the couple loves to travel. Lee is also an artist. His woodblock prints are posted on Instagram. Although his business has taken him away from making art as much as he would like. Also, he’s collected woodblock prints from around the world, and some are framed and displayed in the Dive Bars.
Though Lee and his family have lived for years in Connecticut, his business has always been centered on the Upper West Side, and he’s proud of his NYC roots. His father, grandfather, and uncle were sewing machinists. Initially working in the garment district, they later set up sewing machine businesses in the Bronx.
Does he love the Upper West Side? Yes, but he also has had some issues; specifically the scaffolding installed around the Broadway Dive that was up for five years and only removed a month ago. In celebration of that event and as a birthday celebration for three regulars, he hosted a New Orleans Style band on a Saturday night in early May. Music in general, is scheduled three nights a week. Come and enjoy; you may find yourself joining the Dive Bar family.