By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
INWOOD — The times they are a-changin' in Upper Manhattan, and one bar on Dyckman Street is doing its best to not get left behind.
A few weeks ago, owners of Patrick’s Bar at 221 Dyckman St., closed their doors, put up a wooden construction shed and got to work renovating the 90-year-old bar.
"We’re making it more up-to-date," said Inwood native and resident Joe Irizarry, the bar’s managing partner, adding he hoped the new-look space would attract new customers.
Irizarry said the renovation was spurred after watching Dyckman Street grow and change during the past few years.
What used to be a sleepy, primarily residential block is now a thriving stretch of restaurants and bars in Inwood, which, depending on who you ask, is seen as either a positive or negative development for the neighborhood.
According to Irizarry, that change has been reflected in the bar’s dwindling clientele.
"The face of our neighborhood isn’t what it used to be," he said of the Irish bar, which first opened under different management — the Patrick family — in the 1920s. "Our customers have literally been dying off."
He said the new bar, which will open in mid-May under the name Dyckman Bar, will have the same laid back feeling as Patrick’s, but with a more refined modern look, new sound proofing and ADA accessibility.
"It’ll still be the same core place," he said, "just cleaned up."
