Maguire’s now just a memory

Ryan Maguire’s Ale House, the popular bar your friends invite you to every weekend, recently burned down and has greatly affected the University community.

The three-alarm blaze started in the basement of the bar as Barman Gavin Doherty was closing up at 2:30 a.m. He was almost overcome by the smoke when he went downstairs to investigate the smell. The resulting fire seemed to have sparked from an electrical outlet in the bar's basement.

Firefighters spent more than two and a half hours battling the blaze. The fire spread to the next two floors above, destroying the interior of the bar. Several residents in apartments above and next to the bar were evacuated due to the heavy smoke. The fire was eventually brought under control at around 4:30 a.m. and three people were treated for minor injuries at the scene. One was transported to New York Downtown Hospital.

One fire official at the scene noted that the damage to the bar as a total loss and another said there was heavy collapse potential in the basement of the 72-year-old building.

"We've been here for 15 years, we had another little business just a block away, but the landlord demolished that building.

 Just, we're out of it right now, so this is all we had," Bar owner Mena Maguire said. Maguire’s had been in her family for 16 years and the damage done was extensive.

Although this is more of a total loss for the owners than it is for University students, the latter have created a ton of memorable evenings at the bar. Every weekend the bar was filled with students and fraternities who would sometimes do a little bit of running the bar.

It is unfortunate that the lasting memories made at Maguire’s have gone up in smoke. The fire may have displaced residents who lived above the bar and neighboring building, but University students are also finding themselves displaced from their favorite bar.

“Having a bar close to our living quarters made going out on a Friday or Saturday easy and safe. It’s a sad thing to see it go,”  junior Bill Marvin said.

“When I walked in the door and saw Gavin behind the bar I felt at home. I feel like a small part of the Pace campus has just been taken away,” junior Lucia Falcone said.

It is a minor setback, but this will not stop students from making their way to the hundreds of other bars New York City has to offer. On any given night where going out to the bar is a possibility anyone could walk in any direction and probably stumble across five or six different bars. This is not to say that Maguire’s was just any bar.

It is been conveniently located just a few steps away from a 24-hour McDonald’s and just down the street from Jubilee. That may not sound like a big deal to the sober mind, but at three o’clock in the morning having food at such a short distance is extremely wonderful as you stumble your way back to bed.

With the damage to Maguire’s putting the bar out of commission, it will temporarily join other gone but not forgotten University bars out there. Places like Amarok—now The Iron Horse— Hooks N Ladders and even the deli only sophomores and up know about. Students will now walk past the boarded up Ale House on their way to another bar reminisce about the good old days of Ryan Maguire’s.