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Union Square has changed quite a bit since the ’90s, but one very familiar piece of its old-school skyline is about to make a comeback.
The enormous neon Coffee Shop sign that once towered over the corner of Union Square West and East 16th Street is set to light up again, this time above Bernie and Herb’s, a new neighborhood bar that opened July 31 in part of the former restaurant’s space.
If you were hanging around Union Square a decade ago, Coffee Shop needs little introduction. The Brazilian-influenced restaurant opened in 1990 and became a downtown institution that was known for its model waitstaff, all-day breakfast, late-night hours and appearances on Sex and the City. Its most recognizable feature, however, was arguably the giant vertical neon sign, which actually predated the restaurant: Coffee Shop took over an actual coffee shop and kept its wonderfully generic signage. When Coffee Shop closed after nearly three decades in 2018, the sign disappeared along with it—but it turns out, it never went very far.
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According to Eater NY, Bernie and Herb’s co-owner David Goldberg is a childhood friend of the building’s landlord, who had saved the sign but found it slightly too large to hang at home. (Understandable.) He offered it to the new bar, along with permission to reinstall it on the building. (Right now, scaffolding is in the way, but once that comes down, the sign will be erected and illuminated again, with Bernie and Herb’s added at the top.)
The new bar, located at 28 East 16th Street in Coffee Shop’s former VIP room, comes from Goldberg, former 169 Bar bartender and manager Dakota Pollock and fellow 169 alum Jose Beltre. It takes plenty of cues from that legendary Lower East Side dive, including a jukebox stocked with 45s, illuminated palm trees and, perhaps most importantly, the prices.
Most drinks cost less than $11: well drinks are $9, draft beers start at $8 and a beer-and-shot combo is $9. Happy hour, which runs until 7 pm, knocks well drinks, drafts and the beer-and-shot deal down to $7. Food is similarly wallet-friendly, with plain hot dogs for $3, loaded versions starting at $6 and a pulled pork sandwich for $10.
For now, Bernie and Herb’s is open from 2pm to midnight, though Pollock hopes to eventually extend hours until 2am.
The bar itself may be brand-new, but once that neon flickers back on over East 16th Street, one corner of Union Square is going to look reassuringly familiar again.