Another slice of city nostalgia bites the dust when Tycoons closes

Randall Beach, The New Haven Register, Friday, April 4, 2003

It was Wednesday afternoon, "happy hour," and Eddie Malone was in his customary spot at the end of the bar at Tycoons, moving his hands to imitate a nearby dog doing its "row, row, row your boat" paw trick.

Everybody laughed. Don’t we all need that these days?

Ah, but a little bit of fun, personality and pizazz will soon be departing downtown New Haven. Tycoons is closing.

Owner Earl Conti will turn out the lights April 11. Asked about his end-of-the-line plans, he said, "We’re just going to have fun."

Maybe it was inevitable that this restaurant and bar would shut its doors once the Veterans Memorial Coliseum closed.

That hulking shell, directly across the street from Tycoons, sits dark and quiet now. Ever since the Coliseum’s final show last August, Conti said, his business has suffered.

Conti repeatedly told me he isn’t "mad" at anybody. But he did say, "The Coliseum closing really killed us."

He added, "I would’ve preferred that the city closed the Coliseum and told us what they’re going to do. Just to close it doesn’t make sense."

Last week, seven months after that final show, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. unveiled conceptual plans for the site, including a new home for Gateway Community College and a new Long Wharf Theater.

But Tycoons, which opened in August 1999, will be long gone before any such grand plans become real.

"We came here knowing this was potentially a wonderful new area the city would try to help," Conti said, referring to the Ninth Square district. "There was hope."

For at least 10 years, the city, assisted by state funds, has been revitalizing this old industrial section.

Conti said he doesn’t know how to evaluate the results. He said, "Maybe it’s just me," having financial difficulty.

"We’re not doing that badly," he added. "It’s just not worth 100 hours of work a week. Nothing is happening down here quick enough."

Conti, who formerly owned Humphrey’s East on East Street and Poor Penny’s on Whitney Avenue (now Anna Liffey’s), was smart enough to bring in Malone to Tycoons as a "consultant."

Malone, who turned 80 last fall, is 20 years older than Conti, so he doesn’t put in those long hours.

However, he is a presence, a lure for customers who grow misty-eyed talking about Malone’s Three Steins on Grove Street.

Count me among that old gang. I covered the final night there, May 25, 1979. My yellowing Register clipping describes how Malone stood on a stool during the emotional climax of that "wake" and ripped out some of the old wall panels. His dad, James Edward Malone Sr., had opened the place in 1933.

That old corner at Grove and Church streets is the site of an office building now. Meanwhile, Malone is preparing himself for yet another closing.

"I’m taking it day by day," he said. "This was my second home."

"It’s his first home," Conti interjected.

Mike Markiewicz and his sister, Jan Lee, stopped by Malone’s stool (all the stools there have seat belts) to hug and kiss him, as if anticipating the final night.

Customer Mark Rosenberg said characters like Malone and bartender Forbes Smith — who broke his leg while tending bar at Malone’s Three Steins — are what made Tycoons special.

"This is a place for firemen, policemen, attorneys," Rosenberg said, "all the people who have been around New Haven long enough to have a history with Eddie."

"There sits the king of New Haven," Rosenberg said, pointing to Malone.

Where will they all go? Conti said he might open another bar-restaurant, but he doubts it will be in New Haven.

"It was a good, fun run," he said. "Lovely customers, lovely staff. It’s time for another station in life."

Meanwhile, for the next week, customers can ponder the whimsical sign in the Tycoons window: "The restaurant business is like prostitution — you must have little tricks! (Evidently, we don’t know enough of them!)"