A number of years back, I said that I was probably going to stop talking about the events of September 11th, 2001 here as, essentially, everything I needed to say on the subject had been said. This particular post isn't so much about the events of that day or even of the fallout of that day, but more a statement about where this city is now.
I've spoken about my friend Mike Armstrong here before, most notably here on this post from 2006. As stated, Mike and I had gone to high school together. After we all graduated, Mike attended Fordham University with a few of our other friends, but Mike served as something of a lynchpin for our entire class. It largely fell on him to reach out to everyone come reunion time. Beyond that capacity, Mike was always ready to socialize, and tirelessly extended invitations to that effect. The shot at the top of this post dates back to 1997, when Mike was moonlighting for kicks at a bar in midtown (that's him at the register). His day job, meanwhile, would later be at Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center, and that's where he died on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001.
Shortly afterwards, Mike's friends from the bar he was moonlighting in decided to open a new bar and name it after their fallen comrade. M.J. Armstrong's -- the first bar dedicated to a victim of that fateful day -- opened on the corner of East 19th Street and First Avenue in December of 2001. Virtually the entirety of our high school class dutifully showed up in force. In short order, the spacious bar became both a significant spot for my friends and classmates as well as a beloved neighborhood mainstay.
Warms your heart, right?
Well, don't bother looking for that bar now. M.J. Armstrong's had to close its doors in 2011, after a shockingly brief decade in business, purportedly stymied by "a weak economy and increased competition," according to the New York Post. I remember having a hard time -- and still having a hard time -- fathoming how that could be, but close it did.
I mean, I get it. Times changes, fortunes fluctuate, priorities shift, and the city adapts. Change is the only constant. But I really believed that this was a place that deserved to stay put.
Too early to pick up my kids from school, I found myself on that very corner yesterday afternoon, and barely recognized it.
What's there now? Well, seemingly in keeping with this city's priorities, the spot where M.J. Armstrong's once stood is now a T.D. Bank.
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