Friday, August 20th, 2010—Bar 222
Day 222—Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Walter’s Bar
The PayPal donation bell has rung and it was run by Dianne Swift. Dianne recently gave birth to a baby boy named, Emerson. I gave her some baby gas drops for a baby present and she in-turn sent in a generous donation of ten dollars with a message stating: “Your gas drops saved my night last night. Have one on my sanity.” You should check out Dianne’s website here: Hell Bound Heretic. Thanks Dianne!
Tonight I thought I’d stay in the neighborhood where I work. I’m a little tired from last night and I’ve saved a bar that’s only a couple blocks from where I work for a night where I was kind of beat and tonight’s the night. Walter’s Bar is one of the few bars in this area (I work near Madison Square Garden/Penn Station) that’s not a cookie cutter bar filled with refugees from the latest Madison Square Garden event and/or people having a drink before they get on their commuter train. back to the suburbs Walter’s is a real working class, neighborhood bar and a great place to throw back a beer or seven. And it’s a stone’s throw from where I work. You’ll see.
See, we're here already. Let's go in.
Wow, big crowd in here tonight.
But I managed to find a seat at the bar and Francis not only served me up a can of Pabst...
He threw in a shot on the house. I told you this was a friendly place!
The bottles are lit up at the bar. I always like that.
This is a rule I can live with.
There's a wooden bank and chairs opposite the bar that runs the perimeter of the brick walls.
There's a pool table in the back and the bar hosts local teams.
Joe was enjoying a beer at the bar. Cheers, Joe!
Walter's lamps hang overhead.
Owner Tony Ferber bought shots for both of us. He's a great host and knows all the customers in the place. His father Walter opened the place up 22 years ago. He owned another bar and threw Frank Sinatra and his bodyguard out when Frank demanded he empty the place so he could drink in peace. The next day Frank came back and told the bartender he liked Walter's style and he wanted to buy him a drink. It was Walter's day off and the bartender called him at home and told him Frank Sinatra wanted to buy him a drink. Tony told me his dad didn't miss a beat and said, "You tell him to come back and buy me a drink when I'm working, this is my day off!" Ha ha ha! Great story, Walter sounds like a legendary, old-school New York barkeep.
Tony was a Marine for four years and proudly hangs this tribute to the Corps.
A Walter's cap.
Drink specials hang on the wall.
Custom-made neon hangs over the bar.
A vintage cash register is illuminated by the lit bottles at the bar.
Walter's logo was designed by Tony's sister-in-law. They keep it all in the family here.
There's a world-class dart board in the back and just like pool, they host local teams during the week.
There's a pizza oven at the end of the bar. Anyone hungry?
Joe is!
Here's regular Al, who holds up the paper and my card for proof that I was here on this night. Thanks for the verification, Al!
And here's Francis with the lovely Allison at the end of the bar.
And a glance out the window on my way out. Goodnight, everybody!
Review
Walter’s Bar is a friendly neighborhood joint in an area of town that is sorely short on joints like this. It’s a family owned business that was originally run by Walter Ferber. These days it’s owned and operated by his sons Tony and Michael. Most nights you can find Tony in the bar and he’s a friendly host and bartender. The bar is low-lit with rock and roll tunes playing at a conversational level. There’s a pool table in the back and a world-class dart board. The bar hosts both pool and dart teams on different nights of the week.
Walter’s has a full bar and during baseball season cans of Pabst go for two for five bucks every day of the week from opening to closing time (which is 4am, every night.) As you can tell from the aforementioned Pabst special Walter’s is a baseball bar and if a Met or Yankee player hits a triple, everyone in the bar gets two dollar shots that inning, which turns everyone into an avid baseball fan in the bar. And if a Met or Yankee hits a home run, everybody gets three buck shots. Play ball!
If you’re hungry, Walter’s has a pizza oven and has been on the block for 22 years. Stop in and have a drink at this family-owned local joint that’s a true local.
Walter’s Bar
389 Eighth Ave. (Near 29th St.)
212-502-4023
11 References
Reader Comments (24)
Nice local bar. Loved the Frank story and a great Kinks song! Good crawl!
"Room 222" proves to be a Winner!
What a great neighborhood joint!
It literally reminds me of the last place I called "home" with my partner in crime "Bandito" (RIP).
Even resembles it to a certain degree. What a classic family run business.
With great legendary stories to boot! (plus my Dad's name was Walter so it's all good)
I like this place a lot.
I'll put it on my list when I come to visit.
@"Boris:" Room 222? Ha ha ha! Forgot all about that show! And to your Dad and Bandito, R.I.P.
Can't go wrong in a bar with history and a sense of humor...women-no shirts, free drinks...says my kind of hang out! I've always been a fan of custom neon signage, wish I had the skills, equipment and talent to make a living sculpting those things. I have a tendency to judge a bar by it's neon.
Walter's seems like an excellent place, and new to me. Thanks for the tip.
So cool that bar!! I love the bricks! It looks like bars in Toulouse since all buildings in Toulouse have been built in bricks. I have bricks in my appartment too.
So fun the Sinatra story!
yum pizza! PIZZA!! PIIIIZZAAAAAAAAA !!!!
To Dianne !!!
To Dianne!
Good to see another dc'er on here dianne! I spent a lot of time when my little guy was that age trying to capture his smiles on camera. Your little guy is adorable.
Also love the custom neon in the place. And nice to see some places still being passed down in the family, cool place.
I love Walters what a cool looking bar it is and I adore the friendly people who work and imbibe there as well.
Walter's looks like my kind of cool and laid back place. I like it!
Thank you also to Tony for sharing the story about his father and Frank Sinatra with us. I loved it!
Marty, that is what makes your bar crawl so very special, it is the personal stories behind the establishments that really adds to the intrigue and allure of the places special enough to be reviewed on your virtual bar crawl.
Walter's has everything going for it. Great custom neon signs and loved the story by Tony about Frank. Dad wasn't going to work on his day off,,,,way to go. See Francis picture? that shirt is from the legendary Mac's Club Deuce on Miami Beach,,, a real dive bar that is still going strong. I used to go there before they started calling it "South Beach". Long live Walter's Bar, and Mac's, formerly of MIAMI BITCH.
as usual am lost for words 'cause most have been said...but i'll babble on with no light a the end of the fragmented group of words...looks like a great place, great owner, friendly patrons, nice neon, free shots, great old time stories...am sure 365 heard more than one...another dyno stop on the crawl...a couple off topic...@boris you threw a curve ball on that room 222 reference...raisin' one to your dad and bandito...@ dianne...interesting blog...will try and check...damn only so many hours in the day...have enough just following 365...which i understand just learned about a new "animal" today....and before i forget there was an atm and nobody not even 365 made mention of...sorry joey d...KOC
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not only that i appear to be redundant...or totally retarded...KOC
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@raginrr: Godddamn! I totally missed the ATM! Nice work, eagle-eyes!
It's good to know that if I'm ever in a bind the next time I'm in NYC, there is a bar where I can get free drinks if I take my shirt off!
@SuzRocks: Let me know when you get to town, I'll bring my camera!
LOL at suzrocks comment and martys answer! looks like a cool bar for the hood!
Yeah....Suzrocks wants to take her shirt off and i'm the asshole who asked for it! I hope Futzy looks away!
@pie...(fuk the rest of ya name)...you make a good point....i'll look away (maybe in the mirror)..could be someone i know???
By the way,,,Marty,,that guy (Francis) his shirt says Mac's Club Deuce,,,,address 222 14 st miami beach,,,,life is full of strange facts
OMG!! Walter really IS a legendary, old-school New York barkeep. And reading about Frank Sinatra buying him a drink was a FANTASTIC story!
@Al: That's crazy, another 365 miracle!
@Fitzy and Professor: Will you two kiss and make up? It's no fun having feuds here.
@Everyone who reads this: Today's post will be late because my hosting service is having problems. Motherfucker.
ooh-rah! love the Marine Corps signage! Semper Fi
Great purple-blue glow to the place and two thumbs up to the old-school dart boards. Electronic dart boards are for pussies.