This place has been closed for as long as I can remember. It’s located on the bottom floor of a recently renovated apartment building in Hamra. One of the construction workers told me it was once a bar but no one has been inside for 30 years. The font on the signs and window shapes do look very disco.
Jack’s Hideaway is right across the street from the Commodore Hotel on the corner of Yafet Nehme and Baalbeck street:
Was it really a bar? If so, it was probably frequented by the foreign correspondents that lived at Commodore during the war in the 1980s, which was reportedly run by the PLO at the time. But it also looks a bit like a clothing or jewelry store.
Anyone remember this place or know anything about it?
UPDATE: 2/16/15
Thanks to the comment below by Andy, we have some more background on Jack’s Hideaway. Apparently it was a sort of bar or night club, even throughout the war, as an Associated Press reporter notes in 1982:
The title of the March 21, 1982 article is “Chic war rages in Beirut.” Jack’s may be gone, but the exotified reporting continues!
Another comment by Ray suggests the bar dates back to the 1970s and was owned by a Seikaly family. Do comment below if you know more.
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I stayed in the apartment building next door for a few months in 2010 and never saw any life then either.
Looks like it made it into a few “Beirutis party while the world burns” articles in the 80s though: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19820321&id=H8odAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SqYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5096,4644803
Thanks Andy, great find!
I remember visiting it as a kid with my parents and their friends back in the 70’s. I believe it was owned by the Seikaly family? The good old days.
Interesting Ray, do you remember what years? What was it like inside? I wonder if the interior is still intact…
It’s mentioned in the book Beruit by Samir Kassir.
https://books.google.co.ma/books?id=opfhL882MucC&pg=PA390&lpg=PA390&dq=jack%27s+hideaway+hamra&source=bl&ots=xerTQwhzke&sig=QO-ODCOaPxgaiF6cTe6Tu7wAdLk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3bDhVMKQBpfVavDAgOAP&redir_esc=y
Thank you Sarah! Encouragement for me to finish the book.
“Chic war rages in Beirut.”
Right.
Doesn’t Lebanon bring out the best in journalism. That and airplane crashes.
1974/75
No recollection what it looked like inside. It was open for lunch and afternoon drinks though.
If I am not mistaken, it was owned by Jack Seikaly (Father of ex-NBA player Ronnie Seikaly). I think at one time they relocated to Broumana during the war.
It was owned by my grandfather until a few years ago. I’m pretty sure my father has some pictures of the interior, i have definitely seen many.
How interesting Jack, thanks for sharing. It would be great if you could send us a few pictures… or memories!
Jack Seikaly is my mother’s brother. My uncle. I have pictures of my parents and family at Jack’s Hideaway when we lived in Beirut in the 1960’s. And maybe some when my Mom was there in early 1980’s.
Wow that is amazing, do you know when it opened? Would love to post some pictures if you could email them to me at habib (dot) battah (at) gmail (dot) com