Thursday, October 7th, 2010—Bar 270
Day 270—Wednesday, October 6th, 2010
Mulberry Street Bar
Okay, this tonight’s destination is last Friday’s destination. If you follow the blog you’ll remember I had kind of got fucked up the ass last Friday and had to work late, so I changed plans and went to a nearby bar, which turned out to be a good time. I originally was going to go to Little Italy last week and check out the classic Mulberry Street Bar. So I hought I’d make that tonight’s destination. It’s been on the block since 1908 and has been used as a back drop for a lot of mobster movies and TV shows. So let’s go check it out. Lights, camera, taxi!
Go East? Fuck that, GO BROWNS!
And here we are at the sparkly Mulberry Street Bar.
It's a little crowded, but there's spot I can slither into right next to that blonde.
And bartender Robert serves up a cold bottle of Budweiser.
Some lit-up bottles behind the bar.
And of course this joint has a tin ceiling.
Some of the artwork and memorabilia behind the bar.
There's a classic painting on the wall, let's go see who these people are.
It's Mel, Nick and Steve. Mel and Steve were in town from Canada (Hello, Lex!) and Nick had just received the Common Ground Award for his work with the homeless. Congratulations, Nick!
A bar's-eye view shot.
There's tables and chairs opposite the bar.
And seated at one of the tables was, Krissy, Ryan and Kylie. And guess where they're from? Melbourne, Australia! Another Australian connection on the bar crawl, you gotta love it!
One sign of an old school bar, a genuine phone booth.
Shots of celebrities and dignitaries that have visited the bar line the walls.
Here's Keanu Reeves having an excellent adventure in the bar.
And a tribute to Old Blue Eyes hangs on the wall.
The jukebox is loaded with Little Italy favorites such as: Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Ray Charles, Patsy Cline and Artie Shaw.
Here's Sylvia, Paul and Nick at the bar clinking bottles. They all work at the nearby Lunella restaurant. Check it out online: Lunella Ristorante.
Luis was also part of the crowd at the bar and here's the two of us.
And here's the four of us having a shot together. Cheers!
And one last look out the window and it's time to call it a night. Goodnight, everybody!
Review
If you’re a Sopranos fan or a fan of classic films, you’ll have deja vu when you saunter in to the Muberry Street Bar. The bar has been used as a featured player in five Sopranos episodes and films including: The Pope Of Greenwich Village, Men Of Honor, Godfather III and Contract On Cherry Street which starred Frank Sinatra. It’s been on the block over 100 years with a classic tin ceiling, tiled floors and a nice wooden bar up front. The bartenders and staff are friendly and shots of celebrities that have visited line the walls. The patrons are a mix of locals from the Little Italy neighborhood and tourists looking to find a chunk of old school New York.
There’s a full bar with a good selection of beers and cocktails available. Happy hour runs Monday through Friday, 4pm to 8pm with five dollar drafts and four buck Bud and Bud Light bottles. You’re invited to get whacked on “Thirsty Thursdays” when well drinks and drafts are just four bucks and a live DJ spins tunes. There’s Karaoke Friday and Saturday if you feel like releasing your inner Blue Eyes.
Mulberry Street Bar
176 1/2 Mulberry St. (Near Broome St.)
212-226-9345
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Bonus Pictures of a Gift From Grade “A” Fancy!
Karen McBurnie and Jon Hammer recently printed up a mini-magazine to celebrate and announce their online publication, Grade “A” Fancy. Here’s some scans of it, it’s very cool and has a couple of good martini recipes in it.
Here's the front cover.
And it folds open to this martini introduction.
Which in turn folds into two delicious martini recipes.
And the back cover.
And it was adorned with this Grade "A" Fancy tag. Very cool.
Thanks Karen and Jon, I hope to have a drink or three with you some night along this crawling of bars! And check out Grade “A” Fancy here: Grade “A” Fancy.
21 Comments
Reader Comments (21)
My favorite gangster in a bar/restaurant scenes;
1) Michael Corleone shoots Capt. McCluskey and Sollozzo (The Godfather)
2) Joe Pesci's homicidal 'you think I'm funny' rampage (Goodfellas)
Mama Mia!
Great old-school Italian Little Italy bar. And of course its got tin ceilings and blue eyes not only on the wall but on the jukebox. NIce shot on the way out!
@Jaws: The Pesci scene in Goodfellas is one of my faves too! They could have filmed it in here.
P.S. Love the Grade "A" Fancy magazine site. When's the next issue coming online?
Marty you're the berries. Thanks for the plug-eroo! Grade"A" Fancy has some irons in the fire, once we get a little extra time a new issue is on the way. Mulberry St. Bar should be on everybody's crawl-list for historic NYC bars. I'd stick to beer, however, we was in there once and the gal bartender had to look up how to build a Negroni on her crackberry. In Little Italy?! Great atmo, though.
@Ned Sparks: Happy to spread the Grade "A" Fancy word and look forward to the next issue. The crackberry Negroni story is hilarious!
Great bar here,,,,there are still plenty of classic bars and this one is great. Good you went back. Whats up today with this site? Anyone having problems seeing the pictures as you comment here. First time this has happened. Anyways,,,,the bartender, Robert, he looks like he just toked, hey, like Dylan said,,,everybody must get stoned.
@Al: There's some glitch on this page that the support people can't figure out, at least the main page works. Hopefully this won't keep happening.
This place sounds great and I can't wait to look at this site from a real computer so I can see the pictures. Right now I'm stuck on my 1G iPhone which totally blows and reduces all your photos to tiny blue boxes. Boo, iPhone!! And fuck east! GO BROWNS!!!
Oh I just read Al's and your comments up there. Maybe it isn't my iPhone after all! But it still sucks.
Melbourne. The greatest city in this fair land of Oz.
I can almost hear the violins and accordions playing bittersweet melodies. I can't say that I remember it from the movies but If Keanu Reeves had an excellent adventure here it must be good...
Are those tin Budweiser bottles? They serve Crown Lager (Carlton United Breweries- Check your beer lovers guide) in those on domestic flights over here. They keep the beer really cold and taste good too. I think they're a really good idea to stop pissed idiots throwing bottles at each other...
I really dig Grade A Fancy. It mixes two of my favourite things....Booze and Satire.
You've gotta read the Interview with the Martini.
Gold and Cold.
I'm keen to check out Lunella's while we're there.
TO Nick!
sounds like you had good time !!!!!
Cheers Aussies !!!!!!!
going bed i'm kind of drunk-tired after hanging out at the irish karaoke bar (and i forgot to take pictures, next thursday, but I sang and it was not a desaster so everything's ok! cheeers! marty!)
@Tim Clack: I think it's aluminum, but it keeps the beer cold. Melbourne sounds great and they were really nice people. And Grade "A" Fancy is great, I love it how it has the look and feel of a print magazine, they successfully merged the two. I wanted to go to Lunella's, but sadly there's no bar there, so you'll have to report!
@Zioum Zioum: Cheers!
So many of these bars start looking so much alike! You must get 'déjà-vu' a lot. I like those martini Grade A cards.
I keep wondering what on earth you'll do with your evenings once your year is complete!
@Darleya: My standard line for "what are you going to do after this" is: I'm going to spend 365 days in rehab!
I'm having fun living vicariously through you, Marty, and yes, I've come out of blog silence to say hi. Next trip to NYC, the Mulberry Bar; dripping with atmosphere works for me.
@Mel, Nick and Steve (and Keanu too): excellent to see some other faces from North of the 49th! Congrats Nick!!
@Jon & Karen: my parents are in town for Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend, and are happy to know that someone cares as much as they do about the perfect martini! Cheers.
@Krissy, Ryan and Kylie and the rest of the Australian contingent, g'day. My gran was from Melbourne. Rumor has it her headstone reads: "I always knew it'd come to this!".
PS the pix came through just fine for me on the computer, but not on the phone
@clacky, who you flying with?....if its Qantas naa,no Crownies, if ya flying someone else i'd say NAA! no Crownies...not that i drank on the way over, i was too shitscared of not getting thru customs....& for fuks sake clacky dont visit a farm in the last 2 weeks before you go, not that you probably would...but when i was going thru San Fran i was up to the 2nd last check point & was just talking to this old cockie who had a dairy farm up in Coffs Harbour who'd been on my flight....next thing this custom fellla comes up just random & starts asking questions....fair enough, no drama, he clears me i'm bout to walk away & the customs gut asks the cockie if he had visited a farm in the last 2 weeks..the cockie proceeded to say "Yeh WE"RE from the same neck of the woods, i own a dairy farm rararara"...well fuck me this custom bloke has signaled, was gunna take me to til i & the cockie said we were not together...4 customs guys ushered him out the back...dunno how long it would have taken the poor ol' bugger to get cleared....
@Lex: Great to see you commentating! I look forward to more! Say hi to Mary Ann and Morley for me and have fun with your parents. Send in a photo of the three of you drinking a martini toast to Grade "A" Fancy!
Cool bar! The last time I was in Little Italy was the first time I was in NYC. I remember pasta and red wine and that our waiter was from Puerto Rico, but that's about it. I need to go back, and my first stop will be Mulberry Street. And I'll bring plenty of singles for that sweet jukebox!
Dig the Grade "A" Fancy pics, but I thought a Negroni WAS a beer?! Aw, what do I know? I'm Irish.
Lost for words , but Cheers !!
Some of the shots are cool.
Can't see the pics either, but I'll take your word that it was a good place :)
It sounds like a very cool bar indeed!