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Bar Matchless, a Greenpoint venue so iconic that Hannah Hovath threw her 25th birthday party there on Girls, is closing tonight. The bar made the surprise announcement on Facebook today.
“We’re devastated to announce that tonight will be our last night at Bar Matchless. Please come by and celebrate the good times one last time,” reads the farewell message. “We could also use some help breaking down the bar tomorrow and Wednesday so if you’re around and can pitch in we’d love to have you.”
The bar went on to thank customers for “15 great years.”
The message didn’t give a reason for the closure and we’ve been unable to reach the owners. Greenpointers reported last week, when the bar’s closing date was uncertain, that its building had been sold and it had been asked to vacate.
A year ago this week, we wrote about the bar’s efforts to revamp itself. Matchless had started hosting events like beer pong and karaoke, and Jack Drury, co-founder of Motorcycle Film Festival, was brought on to start booking bands regularly and again make the place “a refuge for Greenpointers,” as NY Mag once described it. On its website, the venue said it was “proud to be one of the last small, independent venues in Williamsburg/Greenpoint.” Indeed, its closure follows those of venues like Black Bear Bar, Cameo, Palisades, Aviv, Acheron, Grand Victory, 285 Kent, Goodbye Blue Monday, and Glasslands, among others.
Up until the end, Matchless remained an “after-school program for late-night comedians,” as Nimesh Patel, host of the popular Broken Comedy weekly, described it to us.