It was June 14, 1994 when Ray Lutz was sitting in Brazicki's Tavern watching the New York Rangers play the Vancouver Canucks in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals.

For the lifelong Rangers fan, the Liberty Avenue bar that's been like a second home to him was the perfect place to watch his team bring home the cup. After the victory, then-owner Tommy Brazicki poured a bottle of champagne over Lutz's head.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Lutz recalled.

It's memories like those hundreds of patrons will keep with them as the bar had a final "last call" last night. Brazicki's Tavern, where everyone felt like family and was a staple in the Heights neighborhood, closed its doors for good after 72 years.

More than 100 people gathered inside, outside, and in the street near the bar for a farewell barbecue yesterday afternoon.

Julie Brazicki, Tommy's wife whose children most recently ran the bar, said it was a sad day, but seeing everyone enjoy themselves left her overjoyed.

"Everyone was family and welcomed," Julie Brazicki said.

Jack Hughes has been going to Brazicki's for more than 50 years, even working at the tavern for five years. St. Patrick's Day, also Tommy Brazicki's birthday, was the best day of the year at the bar.

"It was a zoo, it was a real zoo," Hughes said of the bar on parade day. "But it was like 'Cheers,' everyone knew your name."

The Brazickis live in the apartment upstairs from the tavern, and Julie Brazicki says she's not going anywhere. She plans to turn the bar into her new place to live.

But aside from the feel good memories made inside the family-run bar, the Brazickis are known to many as people who would give anything to anyone.