Day 355—Thursday, December 30th, 2010
Blarney Stone (on 9th Avenue)
Before I begin, I need to direct all of you to a piece of genius. Karen and Jon at Grade “A” Fancy have outdone themselves with a piece of film that sadly displays some of the sad closures that happened in New York City this year. I’d say more, but it speaks for itself, check it out here: 2010 R.I.P.
Okay, another night, another Blarney bar. I think this is the only Blarney bar I haven’t hit yet...there may be one near Wall Street..aw, at this point who the fuck cares? I’m picking this one, not only because I think it’ll be a good stop, on the bar crawl but because it’s all about location, baby! It’s just a few blocks from where I work and I’m getting out of work early, which is nice because I have to get up early to post this and then do my early New Year’s Eve bar crawl. Wow, that’s a lot of “early’s in one sentence.” Makes me think of Biddy Early’s! Let’s go, I think I’m losing my fucking mind here.
It's 8pm so there's a lot more people out and about than usual. A lot of hustle and bustle and I have to admit to being a fan of neither the hustle or the bustle. But in spite of that, what the hell, let's all do the Hustle! (Do it!)
I told you it was close and here we are.
Okay, it looks like a great spot in here and there's plenty of seats at the bar. Shall we?
Linda's the pretty bartender on duty and she's not only friendly...
She's quick with a beer. Peace, love and suds.
An overhead shot of the bar.
And a longshot from below.
Christmas may be over, but there's still a tree in the window here.
There's a long wooden railing and stools opposite the bar.
Sports pictures hang on the well worn walls of the bar.
At first glance you'd assume this is a Jets bar...
But the Giants sign in the back room by the pool table shows otherwise.
Linda and Gregory pose for the 365 camera in the back room.
A shot of the bar from the other end.
Peanuts!
Here's Luis, a regular at the bar. I had a great conversation with this man with topics ranging from music to books to politics to our current culture and everything in between. One of the best things about this bar crawl is meeting people and having interesting conversations and this was one of the best. Great to meet you, Luis!
Halfway into our conversation, Luis' brother Larry walked into the Blarney Stone. It turns out Larry works security at the Horseshoe Bar, which was the 129th bar on the crawl, along with the BBC. Check it out here.
A parting shot from Luis and I. Cheers and goodnight, everybody!
Review
Okay, as I said in the introduction, I have to get to my bar early today and get it over with before the contingents of meatheads start swarming all over this town. New Year’s Eve is NOT a good night if you’re a seasoned bar crawler. Too many amateurs that don’t know how to drink. The odds of getting vomited on go sky high on this night, so I’m hoping to finish early, come home get a bunch of beer and watch the Twilight Zone marathon on the Sci-Fi channel. So I guess what I’m getting around to saying is, I’m going to slack and not write a review. I found this “citizen” review on NY Citysearch and it sums the place up perfectly and it even mentions Linda, check it out.
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(This review is for the Blarney Stone on 9th Ave. and 29th Street. There are several other bars in Manhattan with the same name.) I'm really reluctant to write about this place. If I thought more people would read this, I wouldn't. It's like a fragile glass sculpture. It could so easily be destroyed. As it is, this could be the last place of it's kind south of 125th Street? Wow! A DIVE BAR in the best sense of the word. Nothing faux or pretentious about this place.
Everybody at the bar was our instant friend. The thickly brougued bartendress bought us two pitchers of beer. When we walked in, I said, "this place would be perfect if it weren't for the music being too loud." In ten minutes, Linda, the bartendress came to ask us if there was anything she could get us. "Yeah," I said. "Lower volume." POW! She was at the controls. "Just raise your hand when it's at a good volume," she said. "Excuse me," I didn't, but should have, said. "Are we dead and is this heaven?" The neighborhood is foreboding with NOTHING, but one pizza place and lots of people sleeping on the sidewalk. I hope that's enough to scare off tourists. Once inside, the funkiness, friendliness, and everyone's-a-pal spirit, makes this our best new discovery of the year.—Drink Club NYC is a roving group of NYC drinkers
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Happy New Year, everybody!
Blarney Stone (on 9th Avenue)
340 9th Ave
212-502-4656