Commerce Street, a secret, twisting couple of blocks in the West Village, is so quiet you can hear your footsteps echo on the pavement. But the white building that has stood at the corner of Commerce and Barrow Streets for nearly a century has had anything but a quiet past. During Prohibition, it was a speakeasy. For 50 years it was the Blue Mill Tavern, and then for over a decade, Grange Hall, a much-beloved Village hangout serving blue-plate specials such as succotash and broiled steak.  read more »

Last November, The Observer's Chris Shott reported that one of Hemingway's favorite Greenwich Village watering holes, Chumley's, might re-open as early as spring, less than a year after a brick wall collapsed and forced the former speakeasy to close.

The maligned landlord of Chumley's Margaret Streiker Porres was finally ordered to pay a $200,000 dollar fine last fall and the Buildings Department amped up the pressure to renovate the crumbling, Prohibition-era landmark. But some foodies in the blogosphere were dubious about proprietor Steve Shlopack's optimistic projected re-opening dates, including March and April.  read more »

Eater today takes a look inside Chumley's—er, more specifically, the seemingly eternal construction site once known as Chumley's.

Last month, The Observer checked in with longtime proprietor Steve Shlopak, whose optimistic forecasts for reopening the crumbled Greenwich Village watering hole keep getting pushed back.  read more »

City inches toward approving wrecked Village watering hole’s restoration.  read more »