Photo: Lauren Klein Carton
Rose’s Turn, the Grove Street piano bar that’s been a West Village institution for seventeen years, will close Sunday after a last round of drinks and show tunes. Henry Pham, who owns the bar — his mother’s name is Rose — told Daily Intel that his family sold the building for $3.5 million. (The Observer’s the Real Estate blog reported the bar’s imminent demise yesterday.) “It’s time to move on,” he said. “There just isn’t much demand for this type of establishment anymore,” which would come as news to anyone who’s seen how packed it and its neighbors, like Marie’s Crisis next door, can be on a Saturday night. Renovation begins next week, he said; rumor is it will become a real-estate office.
“This is the end of an era,” said Terry White, the beloved longtime Rose’s bartender who is known as Mama Rose. “Young performers dreaming of Broadway” — Barbra Streisand and Woody Allen are some of the legends who performed there early in their careers, back when it was the original site of the Duplex, since relocated around the corner — “have always come here for a chance to hone their skills.” White said she was told the unexpected news last Saturday — only one week’s notice after fourteen years of employment. Regulars see it as emblematic of larger changes in the West Village. “Greenwich Village is obviously turning into a greatly different place,” said Casey McClellan, CEO of a Wall Street data firm and a regular. “Another place for rich people to spend their money.” —Sam Gustin
