Wash Heights Coogan's Documentary Coming To PBS This Weekend

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — After a successful run through film festivals, "Coogan's Way" will be shown on PBS Channel 13 this weekend and next Thursday.

"Coogan's Way" will air on PBS Sunday at 7 p.m. and again on Oct. 14 at 10 p.m. It will also be on WLIW in November.

The documentary about the iconic Washington Heights bar takes you through a retelling of how Coogan's came to find a home in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood and become a beacon of community for the many different races and creeds of the community.

The film also covers how the neighborhood and city rallied around the bar to fight off impending closure earlier in the 2000s.

The Washington Heights bar and restaurant Coogan's at 4015 Broadway eventually did close its doors in April 2020 after serving customers in the community for over 35 years.

The documentary tells Coogan's story through interviews with the myriad of characters that made the bar such an institution over the decades.

Owners Dave Hunt, Tess O'Connor McDade, and Peter Walsh provide their retelling of the bar's history along with Charlie Rangel, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, Lin Manuel Miranda, his father Luis Miranda, the late New York Times reporter and Coogan's regular Jim Dwyer, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, local youth coach Dave Crenshaw, writer Led Black, former employees, and many more.

"Coogan's Way" had a successful debut on the opening night of the 2021 Harlem International Film Festival in May, where it received the "Audience Award."