Terminal Bar, Bar venue near Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, United States
Terminal Bar was a street-level bar in the Times Square neighborhood of Manhattan, on the northeast corner of 8th Avenue and 41st Street. It occupied a compact storefront space marked by neon signage, typical of the working bars found in that part of the city at the time.
The bar opened in 1958 and closed in 1982, operating for about two decades in a neighborhood that changed considerably over that time. Times Square went through a difficult period during those years, and the bar's story followed that of the area around it.
The bar drew people from very different walks of life, making it a place where strangers regularly sat side by side. This mix was something photographers and writers of the time noticed and recorded.
The building that once housed the bar no longer stands, and the site is now occupied by the New York Times Building at the same corner of 8th Avenue. The location is easy to find on foot, and archived photographs of the bar are available online for anyone curious about what once stood there.
Sheldon Nadelman, a bartender who worked there, photographed patrons with a simple camera between 1972 and 1982, leaving behind thousands of black-and-white portraits. That collection was later exhibited and published, and it stands today as one of the few direct records of everyday life in that corner of Manhattan before Times Square changed completely.
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