Hank’s Saloon: The Movie
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Back by Popular Demand!
In the wake of two sold-out World Premiere shows last month, our friends at Nitehawk Cinema Prospect Park are bringing back my feature documentary “Hank’s Saloon” for one more night:
Wednesday, March 4 at 7pm
GET TICKETS
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Our January 26th World Premiere Party at Nitehawk was an overwhelming success, and served as an unofficial Hank’s staff reunion.
What’s Next?
Starting in the spring of 2026, we will be hosting a series of secret screenings in various smaller venues around New York City, and beyond.
Bars, art galleries, garages, bodegas… If you’ve got a space with a screen and a willing audience, we’ll show our movie there!
These events will NOT be advertised on social media.
To find out about them, you must sign up for our exclusive e-mail list, using the form on this page.
If you have a space and are interested in hosting a screening, please sign up here
THE STORY
In 2018, I was invited to film Hank’s Saloon in the final months before it closed down forever.
Built in 1850, this rickety little building existed as a bar, under various names and owners, since 1904. Prior to becoming Hank’s, it was known as the Doray Tavern, a nondescript hole-in-the-wall that—depending who you ask—was either the quintessential “creepy old man bar”, or an oasis of safety and camaraderie in what could otherwise be a troublesome neighborhood.
In 2000, under the ownership of local biker Dave Sheeran, it took on the name Hank’s Saloon—along with a new, hot-rod-flame paint job. The bar soon became a favorite hangout of local punk, rock, jazz, soul, and honky-tonk musicians. With the demise of legendary Manhattan music clubs such as CBGBs—and the rent-driven migration of performers and artists to Brooklyn in general—the bar’s reputation as an anything-goes hub of local music and culture only intensified.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the property changed hands several times. Due to a dizzying series of defaults and escrows—fueled by an explosion of real-estate development in the neighborhood—rumors of the bar’s impending demise could be heard as early as 2006.
Despite this, Hank’s Saloon’s newfound reputation as a must-see music venue and icon of “authentic New York” only grew. But it remained, at its core, the kind of smelly beer-and-whiskey dive where anyone—and I mean anyone—who knew how to tip a bartender and stay out of a fight was welcome.
Hank’s officially closed at the end of 2018.
As of 2026, the original building is still standing, and still empty.