Neighbors pay homage to The Old Pink following fire, demolition
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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- A lot of teary eyes surrounded the demolition site of The Old Pink, which has been a popular bar in Allentown for over three decades.
The bar was destroyed in a fire early Monday morning, starting around 5:45 a.m. and being mostly put out by 7 a.m.
Hundreds of neighbors gathered there for a candlelight vigil Monday night to cherish and remember the bar.
Neighbors brought with them electric candles, flashlights, flowers and stories to read aloud to the crowd and reminisce on great times, using the time to say goodbye to what they call an “old friend.”
The tears began to fall even earlier in the day when the demolition of The Old Pink began around 2 p.m. after officials confirmed that the building could not be saved and that it was too far gone.
A temporary altar was also made to remember the establishment, which opened its doors in 1990.
Those News 4 spoke with said from living across the street to your first steak sandwich, all were welcome at the old pink:
“I have been going here for a long time,” Andrea Moore, a regular at The Old Pink, said. “I've bartended on this street. It's a really special place for me. Like, I have a picture of it hanging in my house. It's the background on my phone. It's a really important place. I met a lot of people here.”
"My mom came here and she told me, ‘I'm going to buy you your first steak sandwich,’ and when I came to her with one of those mother-son issues, like I need that motherly advice, we went and got my first stake sandwich,” David Saunders said.
"I literally lived right across the street, I could throw a rock at the pink every morning, and it just became a part of our life, like it's a place where it doesn't matter who you are, you fit in," Anthony DiBlasio said.
Other neighbors said 223 Allen St. will never be the same.
To remember the building forever, people also took bricks home as keepsakes.
To help owner Molly Brinkworth and her staff navigate this hardship, the community also started a GoFundMe, which has reached just over $13,000.
The next steps for The Old Pink are not known, but neighbors said they hope it will eventually be rebuilt because as they say, it is a staple of Buffalo.
Dillon Morello is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has been part of the News 4 team since September of 2023. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter.