WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — A popular burger joint — one of the first to open in the now booming Fort Tryon and Broadway strip — is growing and adding an adjacent storefront to its current location, the owner said.
Locksmith Bar, which currently takes up about 600 square feet, will incorporate a former check-cashing business into its space, adding 900 square feet and increasing its capacity from 38 to 58 people, owner Oscar Napa said Wednesday at Community Board 12's licensing meeting.
This isn’t the first change the bar, located at 4463 Broadway near West 192nd Street, has made to its business since opening in 2009. It previously completed a kitchen renovation and switched up its menu last year to include more food and drink options, something Napa said was done to "reinvent" itself in order to maintain its customer base.
"I remember when Locksmith first opened close to a decade ago," said local Claudio E. Cabrera, who said he used to frequent the bar and recently visited again last month to watch a boxing match. "To see them go from a small space that everyone loved to an even bigger one now is great. The fact that it's a business owner who was born and raised in the neighborhood and is Latino is actually the coolest part of it all."
Napa appeared before the board with a few letters from regulars and neighbors, including the bar’s current upstairs neighbor, Katherine Perez, who submitted a letter to the board in support of expansion’s application to the board.
Napa said the expected reveal of the expansion is November 2017.
