Al Pasiechnik’s grandparents opened the bar in 1929. Pasiechnik, the current owner, says that that all those years ago there was a restaurant and catering hall in the back, where many Bayonne couples got married. And the big yard was a popular spot for summer parties and clam bakes.
The business has been a family operation for most of its life.
His grandmother gave out meals during the Depression. “She never let anybody go hungry,” Pasiechnik says. In fact, she was making 300 lunches a day for the many factory workers in the area at the time. There was a different menu every day. Typical fare included Thursday meatloaf and Friday fishcakes.
When the grandparents, Tessie and Alex, died, one of Pasiechnik’s uncles took it over. After that uncle died, Pasiechnik bought the business. That was in 2002, but for various reasons he didn’t reopen the bar until 2013.
Pasiechnik had some experience in the bar business. For a few years he co-owned Fratelli’s in Bayonne. “I liked it. It was definitely fun and challenging,” he says. “It’s a very people-oriented business. I’m that type of person. I have no problem going out socializing.”
Pasiechnik owns The Vic with his girlfriend, Nady Ramos, who teaches physical education at Liberty High School in Jersey City. “She’s an outgoing people person, which is good for business,” he says.
The way the bar got its name may be the most improbable thing about it. Grandpa Alex was from Ukraine and somehow had developed a crush on England’s Queen Victoria. With all due respect to Her Majesty, it’s a little hard to fathom. Anyway, that’s how this Bayonne watering hole became The Vic Tavern. “We never got the full story,” Pasiechnik acknowledges.
He’s made a few changes. The bar area is bigger, he did some varnishing and repainting, and preserved the original tile floor, wood coolers, and tin ceiling. “You don’t see that kind of workmanship or style around anymore,” he says.
Now the bar serves chips and hot dogs but is looking to open a full kitchen in the near future, with standard bar food, such as pizza and burgers, with “a couple of catchy items.” He also plans to rent out the back room for private parties, just like his grandparents did.
Pasiechnik considers The Vic a neighborhood bar. “Folks from the old days come and have a beer or two and tell us stories about what went on and who used to hang here,” he says.
Friday is music night at the bar. A music lover, Pasiechnik does something unusual for a local bar—he goes outside the area looking for talent. He wants to give his patrons something they haven’t heard, whether it’s country, Southern rock, classic rock, or rockabilly. On the night Victor took the pictures on these pages, the band Strange Days was playing.
“It’s really starting to develop,” Pasiechnik says. “People realize they can hear bands they’ve never heard before. It’s geared toward the 30-to-60-year-old crowd. It’s a relaxed atmosphere. Very nostalgic.”
Speaking of nostalgia, Pasiechnik says that when they were renovating the building they found a bathtub on the top floor that he suspects might have been used for making alcohol during Prohibition.—Kate Rounds
The Vic Tavern
107 Hobart Ave.
(201) 339-7900
thevictavern.com