Paul Bass Photo
Charlie Moore’s 89-year-old mother needs medical care. So the late lamented Anchor bar’s signature sign, along with its jukebox, are up for sale.
So Moore informed the Independent Wednesday.
He spoke as preservationists planned to urge the Historic District Commission meeting Wednesday night “to pass a resolution in support of preserving the Anchor in its current setting,” with its iconic Art Deco features intact. Meanwhile, city officials are exploring a 90-day stay on permission to remove the Anchor sign that hangs above the storefront at 272 College St. and looking to preserve the other defining features there if possible. (Read about all that here. And click here for a story by the Register’s Mary O’Leary about Moore’s presentation to the commission Wednesday night.)
The storied 75-year-old bar closed the Sunday before last when landlord Yale University Properties ended the lease because of longstanding failure to pay rent. The closing provoked an outpouring of disappointment from Anchor patrons present and long past; Yale has since been “inundated” with people seeking to preserve the institution in some form.
Moore’s family has owned the Anchor since the mid-20th century. With the business closed, he is in charge of disposing of assets.
He said in Wednesday’s conversation that he plans either to sell or auction off the “Anchor” sign above the entrance, the neon “RESTAURANT COCKTAIL LOUNGE” sign in the window, and the Rock-ola jukebox.
“Those are the only assets of any value,” Moore said. “I need to sell these things for my mother’s health care. If a government agency is going to step in and block me from selling something for my mother’s health care — that would be unfortunate. I own the sign. I own the jukebox — and even that shiny cash register.”
The booths will remain for the next tenant to use, if desired. “You can’t get them out” without destroying them, Moore said. “We tried years ago.”
The Anchor sign face, including the sign, is “a very rare example of art moderne design in New Haven … a very short-lived but distinctive period in architectural history,” in the words of the New Haven Preservation Trust’s John Herzan.
The Anchor sign actually doesn’t “have much of the original left” following years of repairs, Moore said. “It’s like an old car; you replace the parts. But we would have the letters replaced so it would look exactly like what was there.”
The Rock-ola jukebox dated from the 1990s, he said.
As for his mother’s health, Moore said, “she’s doing well. But she’s 89.”
David Sepulveda Photo
The crowd outside the Anchor the night it closed.
Hopefully Mr. Moore realizes that the historic pieces are worth more if they are able to be sold, intact and in place, to a new Anchor owner.
The Moore family sounds pretty worn out from all of this, but here's hoping the Anchor survives for years to come.