Friday, January 16, 2009

Jim McMullen’s and Kensington Brooklyn

Jim McMullen’s Bar was a pretty hot spot back in 70’s on the Upper East Side. The place always seemed to attract models, movie stars and professional athletes.

“Mr. McMullen is best known as the convivial owner of Jim McMullen's, a steakhouse that had one of the Upper East Side's archetypal swinging singles bars in the 1970's. Back when Reggie Jackson was beginning his evenings being showered with candy bars at Yankee Stadium, he was ending them with his pals at Jim McMullen's.”

Now I never knew Jim McMullen Jr. myself because he was older than the rest of us, but sometimes we’d get a glimpse of his Red Corvette that he drove up the block and parked in by his parent’s house.

The girls would always seem to giggle when he drove by, and some of them would run up to his car to get a better look of him and his pretty blonde hair.

You see mister McMullen’s son Jim was a professional model and did all kinds of TV commercials back when we were growing up. He may have even been in a movie or TV show too, but we never really knew or even seemed to care that much. Because when you’re a “guy” and the girls that you have crushes on run away from you to see Jim McMullen Jr., well, you just kind of resent him that’s all.

But not his dad mister McMullen, because mister McMullen was a sweet old man that worked for the buildings department and drove a city car. No, the girls weren’t running after his Dodge Dart with a NYC Department of Buildings logo on the side. No, we could deal with that. And if I remember correctly Peter and Nuzio Competiello used to walk the McMullen's dog Sam all the time, and Sam was kind of overweight for a Beagle and the girls never giggled when he walked by or made poop in the street.

Oh, Ok, Ok, maybe we were all a little jealous back then of pretty Jim with his blonde hair and his fancy red Corvette, while we were riding ten speeds and had pimples. But come on, how would you like it if a girl ran off while you were in mid-sentence to chase a guy?
Not a real confidence booster huh?

Well time has passed and it’s all pretty funny now, and from what I hear McMullen’s closed a long time ago and is no longer there.

But you know what, just as that place exists in the memories of all those celebrities, models and professional athletes who used to go there back in the 70's. I bet you there's a guy named Jim McMullen who maybe still remembers the Brooklyn of his youth, and a street he grew up on. A street that he may remember, that was called
East Fourth.

Ron Lopez

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15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where the hell did you come up with a freakin' word like "convivial"?

And, no offense, but I don't remember any cute girls hanging around you OR me who went running to see McMullen....I guess it's poetic license...

Ron Lopez said...

I don't know what "convival" means, I copied that from a New York Times article. Thats why the " " are there!

Ron

Unknown said...

I loved Jim McMullens - the best apple pie, lamb chops and soft shell crabs. The atmosphere was thrilling. Is he still in the business? I saw that Annie's had closed - I never got there.

Unknown said...

I was in jim mcmullens math class at Bklyn tech. I remember him taking off mid semester to travel around the world and our teacher, mr. Wood, read a post card sent by him.

Anonymous said...

Word around town was Jim was the boyfriend of ,,,,wait for it,,,,yep,,,Princess Grace of Monaco. True

Unknown said...

Not that it's totally impossible, but re anon.'s post that Jim dated Grace Kelly, note that she was born in 1929, making her almost 20 years his senior and when exactly would they have dated? She married Prince Ranier in 1956 and I don't recall ever reading about either she nor her prince straying. (Something which definitely would have made juicy tabloid fodder) ..

Anonymous said...

What ever happened to McMullen?

Anonymous said...

What's Jim doing today?

Unknown said...

Wow I use to go Jim McMullens all the times in the 80’s I even dated him so funny to find this story

Anonymous said...

Went there a lot in the 70’s for lunch or after work. Jim had that winning smile and he was friendly and welcoming to everyone. Met Reggie there too and a few times at some events I attended.

Shawn McMullen said...

Does anyone actually know what happened to him? If anyone on this thread sees this message, I would love to hear any stories. I just found out that he was my dad's cousin. I don't think he could still be alive--born in 1916--but would love to hear any and all stories.

Anonymous said...

Jim McMullen is alive and well. He’s not in the restaurant business anymore...hasn’t been for a long time.
He’s a country gentleman, living on a farm in Nj .

Anonymous said...

Yes, I remember seeing photo of Jimmy McM.Jr.in magazine w-Princess Grace Kelly long ago. He was a childhood friend, not sure if he passed away��‍♀️

Anonymous said...

I saw Princess Grace in Jim's restaurant around '80 or '81. Jim was a friend of a friend and I went McMullen's several times in those days. I never heard the boyfriend/paramour rumor, but I'd say it's plausible.

Former McMullen's employee. said...

Princess Grace was in town for Night of 100 Stars in 1980. An old friend of Jim's, she came by the restaurant on two different occasions that week.