Reidysistance!

Now here's a tale that warms the cockles o' me heart!

Remember that kid's book we all read at some point in our childhood?  The one about a house that "lives" in the country and then the city grows up around it?  I was thinking about that when I came across this story.  I did a search with a vague rememberance of the book.  I typed in: "book about a little house that city grows around."  Sure enough, the book popped right up.  And naturally it's called The Little House.

I was noodling around the web, thinking about ideas for a blog that didn't involve perceived/imagined IP appropriation; and thought I'd do another one about Reidys.  I've done two or three in the last couple of years and I think they're kind of fun.  I just do random searches for people with the surname "Reidy" (and sometimes it's a first name) and when a Reidy catches my eye (or eyebrow; it seems to be the definitive connecting principle of people with the name).  So, on one of these quests, it brought me to "Reidy's Pub" in midtown Manhattan.  On 54th street, no less: thoroughfare of that famed and fantasized nightclub of yore: Studio 54!
Apparently, Reidy's pub was the little pub that could.  My understanding is that the pub was originally in a brownstone and when developers wanted to put up a highrise, Reidy's stood steadfast; held out; and the builders had no choice to work around them; as you can see in the top photo.  I guess it was Reidy's Pub until about 2016 when the last Reidy retired.  Apparently it's now a French bistro called Papillon:

Here is the only "back in the day" photo of it I could find.  I think it says Reidy's on the awning. The highrise doesn't look finished yet!  It's dated: April 1982.

I can't tell you how thrilling I find this.  Well, I can.  I'm telling you now.  And I'm a little sad that I can't go to Reidy's Pub. And I'm also gladdened that I can go to Papillon.  That the space still exists. I mean, come on.  How freakin' cool is that?  It's really the little storybook come to life.  And it was a Reidy establishment.  And it was on the street of Studio 54.  When I was a kid I was fascinated by Studio 54.  I'm not kidding.  I WANTED TO GO!  I was eleven when it opened.  That these places are on the same street is kind of amazing to me.  It's like some strange fantasy came true for me in some alternate Universe.  I mean, in some way, I'd have to be related to those Reidys, right?  The New Yorker magazine had an article about Reidy's.  By Calvin Trillin, no less.  A Sagittarius and a "Journalist and humorist."  This just keeps getting better and better.  Calvin and my dad are basically the same age.  My dad was born in April, so he was 46 when that picture of Reidy's was taken.  So he was like 13 years younger then than I am now.  Wow, the time-space continuum really starts to get, like, super spacey as you get older.  It seems to simultaneously speed up and slow down.  Weird! 
Calvin and Christopher, are, of course, names beginning with the letter "C." Speaking of names that begin with the letter "C": Conan.  As in "Conan O'Brien."  Mr. O'Brien is again entagled in my, oh, what to call it?  Information stream?  I like that.  Conan's in my stream.  I mean, take a look at this:

Like why?  What do you even call that box?  Why is Conan in my stream?  I mean, if Conan likes my stream, he's welcome to hang out in it.  I understand he needs friends.  I mean, if he can just drop everything and go gallivanting off to Spain with Javier Bardem, how many friends does he really need?  And speaking of Javier Bardem...I'd like to hang out in his stream...if you catch my drift...here's Sr. Bardem in a really roiling stream:

Conan's middle name is "Christopher."  I wonder if, like me, back in the day he had trouble finding those personalized mini-liscense plates that were in every gift shop on the planet in the 70's.  No, wait.  I know he did.  If I had trouble finding "CHRISTOPHER," which was never; or "CHRIS", which was sometimes; but always with a "K"; then there was no way in nine-hundred hells he ever found "CONAN."  

​There is a gentleman traversing this Earth named "Conan Reidy."  He popped up once in one of my searches.  For Reidys.  Not Conans.

WHO IS THIS MYSTERIOUS MR. CONAN REIDY?!!?
Well, do a search and you can find out lots about him.  He's also a MASSHOLE.  From Medford.  He's one of them, there corporate type fellows.  Here he is in action:

Wow!  Dude is thick!  And check out the size of those paws!  He is giving off some Conasty-Reidyumminess!  Okay, I'll stop.  
But seriously, Conan.  Ah, O'Brien.  If you really do need friends; I think the next time we're both in the Greater Boston area, we should totes meet for lunch with Mr. Reidy.  Ah, Conan.  Reidy.  Errr...that would be the three of us.  Me, Christopher Reidy.  You, Conan O'Brien.  And Mr. Conan Reidy.  We could speak of not speaking to corporate development.  Or community theater.  Or, oh, I don't know...how about Javier Bardem.  Let's invite him and we could all go to say...oh, I don't know...how about Kowloon's in Saugus?  

And Conan, if you're concerned that Kowloon's isn't quite fabulous enough for a celeb of your status; not to worry.  Kowloon's has had it's fair share of A-listers, I can assure you (NODS HEAD KNOWINGLY):

I was wondering Conan, if our paths ever crossed in ole' Beantown.  I was a frosh at B.U. when you were a senior at Harvard.  It's possible.  I knew this dude from Harvard around that time.  He was really tall and had curly, curly hair and wore glasses.  He was also super-slender.  And one of his points of pride was that he had directed a theatrical production of  Peer Gynt in a swimming pool.  Wouldn't that be wild if you knew him?!!?
So, I'll leave you all with some more info about Mr. Trillin and a link to Kowloon's "Celeb Gallery."  
Ciao for now!
All my love,
​Chris

​www.kowloonrestaurant.com/gallery

CFR   4/11/25