I paid a visit to Ernie's Café Monday afternoon that I might best describe as bittersweet.

The sweet part was the celebration underway.

Monday brought the end of a three-day party the bar threw for its regulars, marking the end of a 43-year run for the barkeeping Hodges family.

"We're going to go out in style," longtime customer Gerry Lancaster told me as he greeted friends arriving mid-afternoon Monday for the festivities. The music was already cranked up. Many of the metal-legged bar stools were full.

Come back at 10 p.m., Lancaster said, and the place would be filled shoulder to shoulder, as it was much of the weekend.

Lancaster, who for the occasion was wearing his 1970 yellow and gold jacket from New London High School, called Ernie's a "landmark that will be terribly missed."

Barbara Templin, who said she's been going to Ernie's more than 30 years, echoed other regular customers in saying she doesn't know how she will replace it.

"I love this place," she said. "I guess I will have to start drinking at home. At least it will be cheaper.''

Most everyone I talked to Monday said the closing will leave a void in their lives.

"It's like a lot of people losing their living room," said Ramona Hodges, who with her sister, Glenna, inherited the business and building from their father and continued to run it. The upper floors are run as a hotel, with monthly boarders sharing common baths.

She told a prospective tenant Monday, someone who works on the city fishing docks, the building should not change hands until at least the spring.

Both sisters said Monday they didn't want to talk about the closing or future of the building but suggested I could chat with customers.

Romana Hodges implied they still hold a grudge against The Day for news stories over the years about crime around the bar, including two murders on the sidewalk in 2006. Those stories hurt New London in general, she said.

The closing of Ernie's will sadly create another dark hole on the streetscape. In fact, Ernie's was one of the few remaining businesses on the west side of that long prominent block of lower Bank Street before it intersects with State Street.

That's part of the bitter part of Monday's long goodbye.

At one time, Ernie's was part of a much more vibrant collection of bars and businesses that catered over the years to sailors — first whalers and then submariners from the Navy boats once homeported in New London.

Indeed, Monday's party seemed a little like the decommissioning of a ship, but less somber.

"I told my 86-year-old father, who lives in San Diego, about it," said Michelle Buehler, explaining he once served on subs homeported here. "He said they can't close Ernie's."

But, alas, they have.

Lancaster said he remembers the bar and the hotel from his childhood in New London. He remembers lining up on the sidewalk out front to see movies at the nearby Capitol Theater. Movie admission was 10 cents, he said.

Inside Ernie's, little seems to have changed in a long time. Big stretches of the paneled walls are covered with glass cases filled with memorabilia and tchotchkes. There are a few signs with rules, no gambling and no hustling among them.

There is what looks like a teller window off the main bar, where paychecks were cashed over the years. On one side of the big room is a long and imposing bar. There are booths on the other side, and a pool table in the back.

Hanging on the walls are wooden commemorative plaques presented over the years from the crews of dozens of submarines. There are also lots of big collages of photographs of parties and events held at the bar over the years.

What struck me most in looking at all the individual photographs was the wide diversity of customers: men, women, young, old, black and white, blue and white collar.

Customers told me about the free meals Ernie's often put out; free Thanksgiving dinners were a custom.

At the end of the bar Monday was a bouquet of flowers, what you might see at a wake. It struck me that flowers on the bar at Ernie's was probably an unlikely sight.

The bar beat won't stop today in downtown New London. There are still plenty of places at which to meet and imbibe.

But a little of Bank Street died Monday with Ernie's decommissioning.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com

Twitter: @DavidCollinsct