Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - "It's an end of an era. It's an icon that's gone."
The Old Pink, located at in the City of Buffalo's Allentown neighborhood, is now no more after a fire early Monday morning caused the total destruction of the iconic nightlife bar at the corner of Allen Street and Mariner Street. The fire led to the emergency demolition of the building and an estimated $1.25 million in total damage.
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For several hours after the flames and smoke subsided, several residents in-and-around the neighborhood, as well as longtime patrons of The Old Pink gathered outside the site to say their final goodbyes, and share some fond memories of what was in a staple of Allentown.
"It's a sad day," said resident Frank Weber with WBEN after the fire had been extinguished on Monday. "A lot of people really were connected to this place, people's parents met here. It was comforting to know that you could go out pretty much at any hour, go there, run into people that you know, run into people that you love, and have a good time in there. It was always fun. I never went in there and didn't leave going, 'Wow, that was fun.' And it was really a melting pot, because you had so many different personalities, all walks of life hung out there. You couldn't almost not run into somebody that you didn't know, and end up talking to them or making friends. So it was just sad."
"This was an escape for so many people in the city, including myself and all the workers," said Nick Stilb, co-manager and bartender at The Old Pink for the last six years. "You'd come here on a great day, you'd come here on a bad day, you could sit next to a lawyer, you could sit next to an athlete, you could sit next to a celebrity. And everybody was on the same level, everyone just connected at this place. It was unlike anywhere else in the world."
Local resident Amanda Lopez has lived in Allentown for two years now, right across the street from The Old Pink in an upstairs loft.
"It's an institution that everyone in Buffalo is going to very dearly miss," said Lopez with WBEN just outside The Old Pink on Monday. "I woke up for work, I thought it was a normal day. You hear all the commotion, come outside and you just see something like that, it's so devastating to everyone around here."
Whether it was their famed steak sandwiches, a quick beer during the day, or the good times to be had in the early morning hours when other bars around the city were closing, Lopez says The Old Pink was always open, and always available to the people.
"I know it's going to be tough for a lot of people to deal with," she said. "It's been there for so long, not even just with my generation, but generations before me and all that. It's definitely going to be tough for the community to come back from that, especially that. I'm glad nobody was hurt, but it's still just sad. It hurt our souls."
For some patrons of The Old Pink in the hours after the fire destroyed the business, they chanted for it to be rebuilt and opened once again. However, some like Weber feel there's nothing like The Old Pink that can ever be recreated.
"It's just something that is a loss. It's like something that is going to be in people's hearts, and you sort of have to just move on from it," Weber said. "It's like when somebody passes away, you remember the good times and you hold a place in your heart, and it becomes a place where you tell stories about it. It sort of turns into a legend."
While there may be some mixed memories of The Old Pink and what it was, there's little denying how much the community cherished the business that was owned by Molly Brinkworth for 33 years.
"That's just the spot that people have been going to for years, and I feel like it's what makes Allentown, Allentown," Lopez said. "People head this way because our bars stay open so late, because there's always going to be a crowd over there. You meet up with friends, everyone ends up meeting up there at the end of the night. It's definitely tough. I can't even imagine the older generations too that had been going there for years and stuff to see what it's come to."
In the hours after the fire, some of the residents that had congregated to Allentown ended up honoring the loss of The Old Pink with some drinks, with some people even "pouring one out" for the longtime staple in the streets. Some even took the chance to grab a piece of The Old Pink, whether it was a piece of charred wood or even the bricks that came down after demolition.
"I've seen some people crying, people that really were here all the time. It's funny how that place can elicit the emotion it does in people, but it definitely is kind of gonna suck, for sure," Weber said. "Living here in my 20s and 30s, I really enjoyed coming here. I didn't come here as much in recent years because it turns into a late night, but it was always comforting knowing you had a place to go if you felt like going out. Hanging out in the street, on the patio, warm summer nights, people hanging out, having a good time, and obviously the music in there was great, and it was the place to go."
The Old Pink was also a place where the stories of a number of different famous people having come through the doors will live on over the years. This included the likes of actors Bill Murray and Brian Baumgartner (The Office) as well as musical acts like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and more.
Meanwhile, for Stilb, he was in bed on Monday morning when he woke up to a spew of texts and phone calls about what had happened at The Old Pink. He says he was actually supposed to work Sunday night, but ended up swapping shifts with a co-worker.
"I'm just still in shock right now. I'm still processing it," Stilb said. "I have The Old Pink Instagram on my phone that I run, and it's just exploding with notifications right now. We appreciate all the support and love from everybody in this city. We really do."
There is a GoFundMe page that is now up, established by Brinkworth's daughter, that is geared toward supporting The Old Pink in light of the devastating fire. Stilb says it's about banding together through a time like this.
"We created a family here, we created a really, really tight-knit community down on Allen Street, and everybody is a part of that in the city," he said. "Hopefully there's somewhere else we can all reconvene and share memories together."
Not only was Stilb and the rest of The Old Pink crew overwhelmed by the levels of support from people online, they were just as stunned at the amount of support in-person from the community, as nearly a couple hundred people gathered to not only watch the iconic bar come down, but also gather to share some tears or fond memories of what was.
"Just being on the street for an hour now out here, seeing everybody ride by and that has been a part of this place walk by, it shows there's a lot of people in this neighborhood that care about this building," Stilb said. "I mean, people I've never seen in my life crying over this, and I've worked here for many, many years. That means it hits home for not just us, but a lot of people in this city."
Stilb adds if it was up to him, this fire would not be the end of The Old Pink.
Meanwhile, local business owners along Allen Street were just as shocked as the community to see an iconic business go up in flames.
"I woke up this morning to some phone calls and videos from my landlord and friends from, literally, all over the country about what happened. It's terrible," said Jake Strawser, co-owner of Billy Club right across the street from The Old Pink. "It's a cultural institution. A lot of our friends work there, a lot of our friends have spent time there. One of our employees just walked by and told us their parents met there. It's devastating."
A little further down the road from The Old Pink on Allen Street, Dana Scott, owner of Nietzsche's, decided to open her bar three hours early on Monday as not only a tribute, but also to allow for the community to come together in solidarity.
"The Pink has just been such a center of the community for so many years. People have been going there, hanging out, people have been engaged there. It's just been a center for Allentown, and it will definitely be missed," said Scott in an interview with WBEN.
Scott adds she had woken up Monday morning from a bunch of texts from people in the community talking about what had happened at The Old Pink, and asking if they would open up for the community and those who wanted a place to gather and commiserate.
"It was always a place where it didn't matter who you were, what you were, what you believed in, everyone was accepted and everyone was equal there," Scott said. "We strive to do the same thing here at Nietzsche's, and we're just hoping that people in the community know they still have places where they can gather and feel that camaraderie that they used to."
"There's gonna be a major void on the street, because of the loss of the building," Strawser added. "I've spent probably way too much time there, myself, and it's just really sad. So I just wish everybody the best, because it's a tough day."
Both Strawser and Scott hope there is a chance for The Old Pink to rebuild one day. Regardless, Strawser says the support will be there for those with the business in the days and weeks to come.
"We just want to try to be available for support for our friends on the street, and our friends who worked there, who owned the building and hung out there," he said.
"There is a hospitality nonprofit that I'm a part of. It's called 'Family Meal Hospitality Trust'. So any of the folks who worked at The Pink that I maybe don't know, if they're out of work or need assistance, please reach out to us."
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.