Once upon a time, the sounds of contented conversation and a crackling fire drifted through the peaked ceiling room, bouncing off dark wooden trim and carried by the elegant expressions of an iconic grand piano.

Over Manhattans and glasses of Scotch, stories were shared, milestones were celebrated and friendships were cemented in memories.

If you look and listen closely, you can almost transport yourself back to the “glory days” at Finnerty’s restaurant. But if you blink or become distracted from your nostalgia, the vision shatters and you smell the mildew, see the dusty, long-unused tables and hear the water dripping into a dozen buckets set up throughout the building on Main Street in Wayland’s Cochituate area.

For the first time since they closed suddenly and for good in 2005, Finnerty’s doors were open to the public Tuesday. Technically, Finnerty’s was open for bargain hunters interested in an “everything goes” auction dreamed up by the building’s new owners, Wayland residents Matthew Levy and Jesse Adelman.

But there were many curious people who came to reminisce about days gone by as much (if not more) than they came to shop for a deal.

“It’s sad to see all these years of being vacant,” said Chris McCarthy, one of dozens of people getting a glimpse inside Finnerty’s for the first time since it closed. “We came here for everything. Five of my girls had wedding showers here – we put the gifts on the piano.”

The piano, incidentally, no longer sits in the front room where she remembers it being. Still, McCarthy looked around the rooms of the restaurant as though she could all but taste the many meals she’d shared with friends and family there.

Lifelong Wayland resident Miriam Andrews best remembers Christmastime at Finnerty’s when white lights filled the front room, the fire was bright and she and her friends would walk through the snow to enjoy an evening together.

“If this was only open [these past few years,] there are so many events we would have had here,” said Andrews, a Wayland High School graduate who added that her 50th high school reunion would have been at Finnerty’s had that been an option.
 
But it wasn’t just patrons who enjoyed a walk through Finnerty’s now-musty rooms. Longtime Finnerty’s bartender Pete Moynihan found his way back behind the bar where he performed “three tours of duty,” the last ending when the restaurant closed in 2005.

“It was good here – a lot of fun,” Moynihan said, standing behind a bar looking ready to serve a glass of J.R. Dials to his longtime customer Walter Connery, who sat across the oak.

“[I remember] how comfortable it was with Peter,” Connery said, good-naturedly bragging on his bartender friend. “He treated everyone the same.”

Congenialities and memories continued at the once busy bar while from the kitchen around the corner, through a cloud that smelled of attic and old wood, came the sound of an auctioneer’s voice.

While some came to chat, recollect and “window shop,” others came to power shop and for those who were there to bid, the deals weren’t tough to come by. How about $150 for an estimated 2,000 pieces, or about 250 place settings, of Buffalo china? Or maybe $100 for a set of leather club chairs? Kitchen equipment, paintings, wooden moldings, chandeliers, even door handles were each tagged with lot numbers and available to the highest bidder.

Trucks and vans advertising the names of estate sale companies, caterers and restaurants filled the faded parking lot outside, but private individuals were there to buy as well.

Michael Saperstein, with Paul E. Saperstein Auctioneers and Appraisers who ran the auction, said individuals who won the bidding war for an item made at least a down payment of about 25 percent in order to hold the item they’d purchased. They could then make arrangements to pick it up at a later time.

While final totals aren’t yet available – more items could still be sold during the next week or so – it appeared that the auction was a success. That success will translate into a donation to the Hannah Williams revitalization efforts, though the amount of that donation remains unknown.

It also signals the completion of yet one more step toward reopening businesses at the site and the beginning of a new era for a new generation to create their own memories.

Correction: Patch incorrectly named "Michael Levy" as one of the new owners. It is in fact,"Matthew Levy" as written in previous articles who is a new owner. The text above has been corrected.