A legal fight is brewing over one of downtown Manhattan’s most recognizable dive bars.
According to a new lawsuit, the operators of 169 Bar claim their landlord is attempting to take control of the bar’s well-known name and branding, then reopen a lookalike business in the very same location.
The suit alleges that Maria Kolon, whose family has long controlled the property, secretly moved to register the 169 Bar name and its signature martini logo with the federal government without the knowledge of bar owner Charles Hanson. The filing further claims she intends to use those marks to launch a competing bar at the site.
In the complaint filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the plaintiffs say the defendants “plan to offer bar services to consumers at the same location under the identical 169 BAR marks,” even though they allegedly do not own the branding or have any rights to control its use or quality. The suit also claims the defendants sought federal trademark protection for marks belonging to the bar.
“They’re trying to screw me over,” Hanson said.
Kolon did not respond to a request for comment.
The trademark lawsuit comes while a long-running and contentious eviction suit plays out in the background, where Hanson, 71, says the landlords strung him along over a new lease only to renege at the last minute.
“The trademark thing is like pouring salt on the wound,” Hanson told The Post.
The former bike messenger and DJ bought the bar in 2006 after he was run over by a limousine and got a six-figure payout, and says the only reason the iconic name and logo is valuable is because of how he transformed the bar into a dive hotspot.
The watering hole has attracted celebrities like actors Zoe Kravitz, Cillian Murphy, and Jason Momoa. Comedian Aziz Ansari has also been a patron, and his “Master of None” character, Dev Shah, partied there on the show.
Hanson explained that decades ago, the Podbielska family owned both the building and ran the bar — which was more of an eatery back then.
Jolanta Podbielska, Maria Kolon’s mother, allegedly designed the infamous martini-glass sign — and even tended bar back in the 1950s — but sold it in 1999 for just $30,000.
When Hanson bought the bar using his limo-injury cash, he said it had a blacked-out vibe of a scuzzy social club whose main attraction was oil-wrestling.
But he turned it into a bustling dive, and today enjoys mainstay status as a hyper-popular fixture of ultra-hip Dimes Square.
Hanson’s work is backed up by years of unsolicited media coverage by national and city publications, over many years,” the suit claims, cementing a reputation for cheap beer and drinks, its distinctive “NOLA vibes” and “truly weird and fun” details, like a leopard-print pool table, $5 tarot readings, an aquarium centerpiece and a “youthful regular crowd.”
Hanson actually had a federal trademark registered in 2014, but it lapsed without his knowledge during the height of the pandemic in 2020, when he notes he never missed a single rent payment.
He didn’t realize the mistake when he told Page 6 about his trademark back in March — and just days later, Kolon filed a new trademark application, claiming she and her newly-created LLC have continuously used the sign since 1977 when her mother allegedly created it.
“I think the trademark has value because of the work I put into it,” said Hanson, “because I don’t think it was this value before.”
“I don’t think that they’re compensating me for that,” he said of the sneaky move.
One possible issue for the longtime landlords is despite claiming that they first used the sign in 1977, they haven’t run the bar in nearly 30 years.
And a federal attorney for the trademark office just flagged Kolon’s application for that reason earlier this week, citing “possible non-use of the mark in commerce.”
But Kolon’s daughter, Kristal, has already been telling employees at the beloved dive “that she is the owner of the bar,” the suit alleges.
“They could have just been honest and say, look, our daughter wants to run the bar, and we don’t really want to renew the lease,” Hanson said. “It’s the fact that they lied about it.”
