Joe Daly has an important question to answer: How do you take over one of the state’s oldest gay bars, beloved by regulars, and preserve its decades of history while adding a modern touch that keeps it going strong? Beginning Wednesday, Daly has taken over as the new manager of 168 York Street Cafe, a gay bar and cafe known as “the gay Cheers” that had been run by Joey Goodwin for 35 years. Goodwin sold the York Street brownstone to Yale University in 2020 for $2.85 million but continued to manage the business before handing it off to Daly. On Tuesday, Daly was preparing for a soft re-opening on Wednesday, where the cafe won’t sell food but will still invite both new and longtime patrons back to the bar. Customers will be able to buy food again beginning on Thursday. A contractor was finishing up the addition of a small stage in the ground-floor dining area, for regular drag performances as well as weekly karaoke nights, planned for Thursdays. Daly would be visiting Restaurant Depot later in the afternoon to get the kitchen ready, and he was also awaiting a delivery of flowers and planters. He said he has been de-weeding outside and will just need to do a final cleaning before inviting customers back in. “I want everything that makes this place unique,” Daly said, sitting at the large bar that greets customers when they walk in. “I want to preserve its history, but I want to modernize it in the sensible way.” He sees those changes as small updates that he hopes will help the cafe thrive a little longer, he said. While Goodwin ran 168 York for around 35 years, the business is around 75 years old. The building itself dates back more than a century, according to the city assessor’s database. Daly moved to New York from Dublin, Ireland, in 2009 when he was 25 years old. Now 42, he has spent the last 17 years working in gay bars across the country — in New York City as well as in Seattle and Chicago. His husband, whom he met “old school” while smoking a cigarette outside of a bar in New York, is from Cheshire. The two of them visited Connecticut to get away from the city, and Daly always had the feeling they would make the move. Daly and his husband, Ryan, were living in Chicago when they ultimately decided to move to Branford, where Ryan’s family had moved, in 2021. Daly spent some time working at Partners Cafe, another gay bar on Crown Street, and said he frequented 168 York, which was how he met Goodwin. Daly outside the upper floor at 168 York Street. Daly and Goodwin had been in talks for the last six months about Daly taking over the business, Daly said. “Right place, right time, and I jumped on that opportunity,” he said. It’s his first time owning a bar. The cafe’s ground floor consists of the full bar, tables, kitchen, and now a small stage. There’s also a patio open to guests, which is where the flowers will go (“I want purples, yellows, reds,” he said). While the upper floor used to be for private events, Daly plans to open it up to all guests. There’s another bar and more tables up there, and a large outdoor space that oversees the patio. He’s bringing on new staff, as many longtime employees left alongside Goodwin, and a cook who will be in charge of a weekly changing menu. (Bar food, like burgers, chicken tenders, fries, and sandwiches will always be available.) “I’m so excited about this place,” he said, walking through the cafe that is now his to run. “It felt like home.” Daly also wants to introduce more consistent events, in addition to weekly karaoke on Thursdays. He met some young drag queens who perform at Chez Est in Hartford, an LGBTQ+ bar and drag cabaret, and he’s giving them a regular slot at 168 York, with the first performance scheduled for July 11. “I was really impressed with these guys,” he said. “These kids are very creative, they’re very funny.” Daly also wants to start hosting Sunday “tea dances,” which are early evening outdoor dance parties popular among queer communities in Provincetown, Mass., and Fire Island in New York. Daly wants 168 York to be a place for everyone. He wants to preserve the bar space so that patrons who don’t want to be outside or in the midst of the action in the dining and stage area have a place to go. For Daly, establishments like 168 York are important for the city’s LGBTQ+ community. “I think it’s great that people can come and they don’t have to feel the need to conform or pretend to be anything they’re not, because whether we like it or not, homophobia exists, and it can be a little repressive,” he said. “So I think we, as gay people, we kind of hold that weight on our shoulders, but here you can just be whoever you want, in a non-judgmental, comfortable atmosphere.” Lou Perno, a local nonprofit services consultant, first visited 168 York Street Cafe decades ago. He still goes often; he and a group of friends have been going every Thursday for around two years. They’re going to be keeping the tradition going. “It’s really like a Cheers bar,” Perno told the Independent. “It’s that local bar where community people frequent often.” Perno appreciated that, over the years, Goodwin ensured that 168 York opened its doors to local nonprofits like A Place to Nourish your Health (APNH, formerly known as AIDS Project New Haven) and Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven, and hosted fundraisers for groups like the Gay Men’s Chorus. He recalled that for many years, around Christmas, Goodwin hosted events where attendees were required to bring donations for local food pantries, which Goodwin loaded into a trailer to deliver. “I’ve always been really impressed with him,” Perno said. On Sunday, Perno attended an event honoring Goodwin’s decades of work and welcoming Daly’s new leadership. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro presented Goodwin with a Congressional Record Statement in a plaque. “For decades, Joey Goodwin provided a safe space in the community through one of the oldest LGBTQ+ bars in the state,” DeLauro told the Independent in an email statement. “168 York Street has a rich history — one that has overcome obstacles and changes throughout the decades. Yet, through it all, this pillar in New Haven has continued to be a place of gathering, community, and celebration.” “I’ve always had a warm feeling about the restaurant and bar and feel very comfortable,” Perno said about 168 York. “I’m always encouraging people moving into the area to check it out. I can’t say enough positive stuff about it.” 168 York’s patio. Inside the upper floor of 168 York, getting ready for Wednesday’s opening. The post 168 York Changes Leadership appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less