Marietta, N.Y. — For the past 60-plus years, the Amber Inn was one of very few bars to grab a beer near Otisco Lake.
Dairy farmers would stop in for a belt or two before the afternoon milking. Shift workers would sip a few 10-ounce drafts and read the paper before heading home for breakfast. Couples planned their Friday night around the live music and prime rib dinner.
The Amber Inn, located across the lake at 2424 Otisco Valley Road, will permanently close this Friday night after last call. Richard “Kipper” Kipp, the owner since 2006, blames the coronavirus and the state-mandated restrictions on bars that limit capacity and hours they can serve.
“This whole year ... it was a struggle. It was a struggle for everyone, and people are afraid to go out,” Kipper said. “We tried to hang in there, but in the end, Covid just killed us.”
On Saturday night, a handful of longtime customers said their goodbyes to the Amber Inn. Kristin Meaker Heath and a few friends put on their face masks and grabbed a bar seat between two pieces of Plexiglas to shield them from patrons nearby. It was Heath’s first trip to a bar since quarantining became common.
Kipper was behind the bar as usual, and he bought them a drink to thank them for their loyalty.
Richard 'Kipper' Kipp buys a round on his last Saturday night in business. The Amber Inn, a neighborhood bar along Otisco Lake since the 1950s, is closing for good because of Covid.Kristin Meaker Heath
“Such a great place,” she said via Facebook Messenger. “The Amber Inn is just a good country bar that has been enjoyed by so many. Many memories made here.”
Jim Gambell has more memories than most of the Amber regulars. He’ll be 84 soon, and he’s been walking through the side entrance since 1954, when it was Bondy’s, a basic beer joint. That was back when the guys at the bar ordered Schaefer, Congress and Black Label beer.
It became the Amber Inn when the Coe family bought it in 1960 and turned it into a restaurant. It also had some apartments on the second floor.
“It was a great place to go for a beer,” he said, “but then it became a restaurant, a restaurant with good food. It became a place you’d bring your wife.”
Bill Kronen, who turned 70 on Sunday, lives up the road. He’d walk to the Inn more than he’d drive. Years ago, he would let himself in each morning, where he’d clean up the bar and haul away the empty cans and bottles. He’d then return after his shift at the phone company.
The Amber Inn, a neighborhood bar along Otisco Lake since the 1950s, is closing for good because of Covid.Kristin Meaker Heath
“Let me tell you,” he said, “Walter (Coe) made the best prime rib in the area. That and his fish. But the prime rib; he had a recipe like none other. That was THE place to be on Friday nights.”
Saturday mornings too. Guys would leave their house in the morning to go shopping. They’d place a cooler in the back seat, knowing they’d visit the Amber Inn on their way home from the grocery, Kronen said. All the meat and dairy would go into the cooler so it would stay fresh while they went inside to catch up with their friends.
“Those were the days when you’d mail a letter for 8 cents, and if you didn’t have a stamp, you’d leave 8 cents on the letter and the postman would put a stamp on it for you,” Kronen said Saturday afternoon. “Very different these days.”
Kronen now spends his winters in Venice, Florida. Upon his annual return to Central New York, he’d visit Kipper at the Inn.
It was different this past spring, though. Bars and restaurants had just been relegated to takeout-only because of state restrictions in place to quell the virus.
That was when the business suffered. It didn’t help that Kipper had a hard time getting a full-time cook.
Even when the bar and dining room reopened this summer, Kipper couldn’t have live music like he did on normal weekends. The tavern that could seat 83 customers in the bar area and 49 in the dining room before the pandemic could only seat half that and close no later than 10 p.m.
Tom Barnes (right) and Dan Horst place the Amber Inn in 2015. Barnes played this bar regularly for the past 20 years.Kristin Meaker Heath
Tom Barnes, a local singer/songwriter from nearby Marcellus, created the soundtrack for many of the memories made at the Amber Inn. He played the Inn at least once a month for the past 20 years, sometimes with a full band, though oftentimes just an acoustic set with his guitar.
It was one of his favorite bars to play because the crowd was friendly, and it was one of few places that the owner encouraged him to play his original music. He didn’t have to be a cover act: “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Roadhouse Blues” (“I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer! Ugh.”).
“The Amber Inn is legendary,” Barnes said Saturday. “(Kipper) was a great bar owner. He brought the band drinks. He served good food. He made sure people had a great time in his bar.
“If this were normal times, I’d be playing there this Friday for last call.”
But the times are not normal, at least not yet.
Kipper doesn’t own the building; the Coe family does.
“Hopefully someone can come in, and somehow, breathe some life into it,” he said.
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Charlie Miller finds the best in food, drink and fun across Central New York. Contact him at 315-382-1984, or by email at cmiller@syracuse.com. You can also find him on Twitter @HoosierCuse.
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