Everyone, Everywhere, all the Time

My son and I recently took a trip to New York. We popped into a tiny neighborhood pizza shop in the East Village and after we finished our meal, asked the woman sitting next to us for a bar recommendation. “Oh, there is a great sake bar up the street,” she said, “it’s one of my favorite spots”. So we decided to check it out.

The approach to the bar was classic New York: we went down a steep, narrow stairway right off the sidewalk, walked through a little door with a high threshold and into a small, dark, low ceilinged space. Graffiti covered every surface. It was a very hip and very crowded bar. The space could fit maybe 50-60 people max., and it was full.  Sitting at a small table cramped next to our neighbors, we had a few cocktails and late-night snacks. This was a great bar!

Our immediate reaction was, “you couldn’t build and open this bar today. There are too many code issues”. There was no ADA access, the doors were too narrow, the floors uneven, the aisles too tight. If there was a fire down here it would be mayhem!

I’m not suggesting that we abandon life safety concerns or accessibility for the sake of atmosphere or just to open an underground speakeasy style bar. But, by providing equal access for everyone to everything, we do lose those one of a kind “joints, dive bars, hole in the wall ‘finds” that offer a special experience.

There are “grandfathered” spaces (how has that term survived?) and historic exemptions, which means that at some level, we understand that not all spaces can be accessible to everyone.

At what point is it OK to say, “Sorry, but I can’t reasonably make this space work for everyone, all the time. Try the bar down the street?”