FAIR LAWN, New Jersey (WABC) — If you pay attention along Plaza Road in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, you can see change happening before your eyes. There is a shuttered sushi restaurant, a closed hair salon…a dry cleaner and jewelry store.
Each location moved on to make way for a sprawling apartment complex that is about to take its place – then there is the lone holdout at the end of the plaza…The Railyard Tavern.
The Railyard Tavern was bursting with life on Friday night as hamburgers and fries flew out of the kitchen. Cold beer was pouring from the tap as tears were flowing from owner Bob Piccoli’s face.
“They will be gone. We will remember the, We’ll still have fun, we’ll connect, we’ll stay in contact with a lot of them,” said Piccoli.
After a five-year public battle to evict the railyard tavern, Piccoli says it’s time. This weekend will be last call.
“We agreed to a settlement and it’s come time. The developer has got his permits to build, and they want to build and they’re pulling the trigger so to speak,” adds Piccoli.
When Piccoli opened the place 13 years ago, he built more than a tavern, he built a community.
“I love this place. It’s like family,” said Kathy Algozzini.
“It feels cozy, it feels warm,” said Phil Campana.
“After her communion, we had her party in that back room. We had my mother’s 65th birthday here,” added Diana Cristini.
Staff at the Railyard Tavern says it doesn’t feel real.
“Hasn’t hit me yet. Honestly it hasn’t hit me yet,” said Antonio Nikolados.
Piccoli did all this after 30 years working as an executive in the corporate world. Opening a bar was on his bucket list, so when he retired, that is what he did. It became his life.
“The restaurant world is hard. He comes home late at night – I get up to go to work, he’s sleeping. He comes home from work, I’m sleeping,” said his wife, Cheryl Piccoli.
Now, he is about to retire again – and this time he is actually going to relax. He and his wife Cheryl met when they were 14-years-old, so this will be the first time in their lives they get to really spend time together.
Awaiting them is the Bahamas on their boat – named The Last Call.
“I’m looking forward to sailing into the horizon and just kicking back now and spending time with my honey here,” she says, “He’s taking me on that journey – I’m going. I’m going. He’s not leaving port without me.”
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