Old Reliable Theatre Tavern Explained

The Old Reliable Theatre Tavern (or The O.R.) was a theater and bar located at 213 E. 3rd Street in the Alphabet City neighborhood of New York City's East Village,[1] and played a vital part of the early Off-Off-Broadway scene. The Old Reliable presented plays by Guy Gauthier, Ilsa Gilbert,[2] William M. Hoffman, Michael McGrinder,[2] Stanley Nelson,[3] Jeannine O'Reilly,[3] Robert Patrick, Joseph Renard, Donald Kvares[4] and Thomas Terefenko.[5]

The Old Reliable was initially a working-class Polish bar, until late 1963 when the owner sought to turn it into a "Village bar", with the advice of a passing hipster.[6] The neighborhood around the Old Reliable was dangerous during its heyday; popular actor/director Neil Flanagan quipped, "It's easy to find. Just turn left at the burning automobile." Playwright Jeannine O'Reilly said, "It's no wonder we get such good audiences. Everyone's afraid to come here alone."[7] Robert Patrick described the neighborhood as "downtown Lebanon".[8] There was for a period of time a Second Avenue bar called Downtown Beirut.[9]

References

40.7225°N -73.9823°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 1970-02-05. Off-Off B'way. The Village Voice. 23. Google News. 10 January 2015.
  2. Web site: Martin Washburn. 1970-01-01. Theatre: Singles And Doubles. The Village Voice. Google News. 10 January 2015.
  3. Web site: Martin Washburn. 1971-11-25. Sifting suggest of neurotica. The Village Voice. Google News. 10 January 2015.
  4. Web site: David De Porte. 1969-09-16. Theatre: O'Reilly, Terefenko, Kvares. The Village Voice. Google News. 10 January 2015.
  5. Book: Albert Poland. Bruce Mailman. The off, off Broadway book: the plays, people, theatre. 1972. Bobbs-Merrill. 9780672517532 .
  6. Web site: Sally Kempton. 1964-09-10. Baby Beatniks Spark Bar Boom on East Side. The Village Voice. Google News. 10 January 2015.
  7. Web site: Bonnie Rosenstock . 2006-05-10 . Celebrating Off-Off Broadway in a Peculiar Works Way . The Villager . 2014-05-25 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140526021547/http://thevillager.com/villager_158/celebratingoffoffbroadway.html . 2014-05-26.
  8. Book: Stephen James Bottoms. Playing Underground: A Critical History of the 1960s Off-off-Broadway Movement. 2004. University of Michigan Press. 0-472-11400-X. 292.
  9. News: Rosie Schaap. 10 October 2012. Manhattan's Most-Mourned Bars. The New York Times. 10 January 2015.

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