Times Square’s last dive bar fights for life against Durst Organization: ‘We’re still a slice of old New York’

He’s not going to take a dive.

The owner of Jimmy’s Corner — Times Square’s last remaining dive bar — is fighting to keep his father’s boxing-themed watering hole alive against a highly personal attack from its bigwig landlord.

Adam Lee Glenn, 44, sued the Durst Organization last week to prevent the real estate giant from evicting the West 44rd Street bar after more than 50 years in business.

The suit contends Durst officials looking to sell the building want to declare the lease void because the bar’s namesake Jimmy Glenn died in 2020 — arguably a betrayal of the close friendship he shared with the company’s former Seymour Durst.

Jimmy’s Corner is trying to stay open as its landlord pushes to evict. LP Media

“I sort of always knew that one day — and I hoped it was far away — like progress is going to come,” Adam Glenn said. “But I hoped that when it did, it would come in the right way and that they would sort of have the grace and the decency to do this in a way that works for all of us.

“I feel like they’ve taken a position that they don’t need to do that. And so, you know, I took the position that if you’re not going to do the decent thing, then I’m going to fight you.”

The hole-in-the-wall was opened in the early 1970s by Jimmy Glenn, a Hall of Fame boxing trainer who stuffed its narrow walls with memorabilia from the sweet science.

Jimmy Glenn founded the bar in the early 1970s. Chad Rachman/New York Post

He also fought against the “Bad Old Days” seediness of Times Square, then replete with sex shops, prostitutes and gangsters.

“I’m proud that I still get people who come, like, who used to live in the building next door,” Adam Glenn said.

“And they said, ‘I lived in Times Square in the 80s and the only reason I felt safe was because I knew Jimmy was here. The only reason this block felt okay was because your family watched out for us.’”

As Times Square went from tawdry to touristy over the decades, Jimmy’s Corner remained an oasis for locals and travelers alike who are thirsty for $3 beer and a taste of a bygone era.

“Jimmy’s bar is one of the last legs that represent New York,” said Clarence Sessoms III, 36, a bar regular from the Bronx.

“You take Jimmy’s out of New York, you take the foundation from New York.”

The bar draws loyalty from locals and travelers alike. LP Media

Jimmy Glenn worked as a boxing trainer and crossed paths with many greats, including Muhammad Ali. Jonathan Baskin for NY Post

Glenn was friends with Seymour Durst, a real estate titan. Chad Rachman/New York Post

Dan Dion, 55, has been patronizing the bar for 25 years during his frequent visits to the city from Nashville, Tennessee.

“Everybody’s welcome here, everybody feels comfortable here and in the world of Times Square that has changed so much in 25 years, this place hasn’t changed at all,” he said.

“It should have landmark status as far as I’m even concerned.”

Glenn rented from Durst until the real estate magnate’s death in 1995, when his son Douglas Durst — another friend — took over, according to the lawsuit.

Douglas Durst’s bizarre, burping older brother Robert Durst was infamously profiled in the 2015 HBO documentary “The Jinx,” which featured an apparent accidental confession to at least one murder. He was sidelined from his family’s business.

“James Glenn and both Seymour and Douglas Durst spoke, at various times, of their desire that their respective businesses be eventually taken over and operated by their children,” the suit states.

But the lawsuit contends the landlords took advantage of an elderly Glenn and his friendship with the Dursts as they hashed out a 2019 lease with terms they’re now using to kickstart an eviction.

Glenn’s son Adam Glenn vowed to keep the bar alive. LP Media

Jimmy Glenn died from COVID-19 in 2020 and his son Adam stepped in as owner.

In 2023, Adam Glenn ran into trouble with the Durst landlords when they tried to terminate the lease because many bar patrons, who happened to be black men, went outside to smoke — a move the lawsuit alleges was racist.

The kerfuffle passed until this year, when Durst landlords told Glenn they would terminate the lease — arguing it was void after his death and long before its stated end in 2029, according to the lawsuit.

Jimmy Glenn would never have signed a lease modification that would effectively end his family legacy, the lawsuit contends.

A Durst Organization spokesperson said the company tried to keep the bar’s doors open for decades because of the two families’ relationship.

Dan Dion, 55, says “everbody’s welcome” at Jimmy’s Corner. LP Media

Clarence Sessoms says “Jimmy’s bar is one of the last legs that represent New York.” LP Media

When the company ultimately decided to sell the building, it went “above and beyond” the lease obligations out of respect of Jimmy Glenn, the spokesperson contended.

“We told Adam Glenn over a year ago he would have to vacate the building, we offered him $250,000 even though we were not required to do so, and allowed the bar to remain open longer,” the spokesperson said. “These efforts have not been met with good faith. We have done our best to be good neighbors, and we regret it has come to this. This is truly the story of no good deed goes unpunished.”

Adam Glenn said he expected he’d have to move the bar someday, although he’d hope to do so “the right way.”

“There will always be a Jimmy’s Corner in New York and I will find a forever home,” he said. “But in the meantime, I’m not going to stop fighting to be here.”

“We’re still a slice of old New York. People come in and they feel a little touch of, ‘Oh, this is what New York used to be.’ And I like giving people a real New York experience.”