Wednesday, January 5th, 2010—Bar 360
Day 360—Tuesday, January 4th, 2010
The Abbey Pub
More cash donations alert! Two men who have had the luckless task of being my manager at my night job are Frank Scott and Decker Decker. They’ve both been very supportive of this bar crawl and I appreciate it. And what I appreciate even more is that both of them generously threw twenty bucks apiece into the bar crawl till yesterday, check it out below (that’s Frank on the left and Decker on the right):
Thanks, guys! Sheldon Levine would be proud of both of you.
One of the things that was difficult on this bar crawl was to find different types of bars every night that would be entertaining not only to go to, but for people reading the blog to look at. I always tell people that doing this was kind of like doing an improv play, because you never know what’s going to happen. If nothing interesting happens with people, you need the bar to fall back on to get some good pictures of and tell about the history of the place. Sure, there’s thousands of bars in New York, but so many of them are what I like to call “cookie cutter bars” that have no personality whatsoever. So I always appreciated people suggesting bars and no one has suggested better bars than the man I refer to as my co-pilot, Al Rizo all the way down in Miami. Since the remaining nights are now in single digits, I emailed Al and asked if he had a last minute request and he asked if I would go to The Abbey Pub on the Upper West Side. You asked for it and you’re going to get it Al! Next stop, Abbey Pub. Well, actually the next stop is Penn Station, this place is way uptown, so we’re subway bound. All aboard!
Attention Penn Station: The holidays are officially over, time to take that fucking shit off the walls. Thank you.
Here's the train and once again to quote Fat Al, lean back, motherfuckers!
Look at everybody hypnotized by their texting devices. Hi, assholes!
It's freezing out and the streets are empty up here.
Here we are, the Abbey Pub, let's go in and have a drink or three.
There's lots of people in here for a Tuesday night, but I see a spot at the end of the bar, let's grab it.
And no sooner do I sit down, than the lovely and friendly Francis serves up an ice-cold Corona.
Bottles behind the bar surround the vintage cash register.
Natalie and Dan were seated next to me and wished me well on the last stretch of the 365 journey.
A quick glance above reveals what all classic bars have, a tin ceiling.
Francis and I toast to the 360th night in a row. Cheers!
Free popcorn!
A line of stools are lined up to sit at when the bar is full.
There's seating rooms to the side and back of the bar.
The wooden booths look a little like church pews. "Our Father who art in Pabst..."
There's also tables and chairs to relax at and hoist a hearty brew.
Which is exactly what Kayla and Kevin were doing back here.
Here's someone working the room, let's go say hi.
It's Heather who's a pretty waitress at the bar. This Sunday Heather's taking part in the No Pants Subway Ride of 2011. Check out the details here: NPSR of 2011.
Meanwhile life goes on back at the bar.
I was going to take an obligatory bathroom mirror shot here, but there's no obligatory mirror in the bathroom. Uhh...well...umm...goodnight, everybody!
Review
The Abbey Pub has stood tall on the block for over 50 years. It’s a low-lit bar with brick walls, a long wooden bar and tables and large wooden booths off to the side. The bartenders are friendly and the crowd is a mix of neighborhood locals and Columbia students. The regulars tend to hang at the bar leaving the booths and tables to the rowdier Columbia kids.
There’s a full bar with a nice selection of inexpensive beers and drinks available. The food is your basic bar choices including burgers, chili and fish and chips. The kitchen is open till 11:30pm during the week and till 1:30am on the weekends. Happy Hour runs Monday through Saturday from 4pm to 7pm and on Sundays from noon to 7pm with one dollar off beer, wine and well drinks. There’s also nightly drink specials available at the bar.
The Abbey Pub
237 W. 105th St. (Near Broadway)
212-222-8713
Cheers to Al Rizo for picking another winner! (Al co-pilot artwork by “Boris.”)
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Bonus Photos From Clacky’s Bunt Custer’s Bar: Part II—The Search For More Booze And Bird Flippage!
Yesterday we featured photos from the opening night of our Aussie friend and 365 commentator, Tim “Clacky” Clack’s Bunt Custer’s bar. And now here’s part II, with captions provided by Clacky. Oh, Clacky...
Umm...this raunchy removal of clothing was stubbornly denied in the following days.
Who's the stud? Why it's Bunt Custer himself!
Here's Chris and Mick Hogarth. Chris is a great chef and Mick is Chris' dad. He and wife Julie we're visiting from Tasmania.
As you can see Bunt's is friendly to Dogs and feet.
Some fine fare cooking up behind the bar.
And the wonderful aromas attract some unwanted attention. This is my dog. her name is Baps and that's Chris's dog Dio named after the late great Black Sabbath singer.
For those about to drink....We Salute You!
Closing time at Old Bunt's.
8 References
Reader Comments (22)
Those wooden booths really do look like church pews, where devoted pagans like Clacky can reverently pay homages to the great God Lowenbrau...pagan Viking God of alcohol. And speaking of pagan idolatry...that plastic doll with the corkscrew junk looks like it might be a pagan idol of sorts...just Clacky's speed...HA!!!
wow 5 days to go. i will be at sushi samba with mrs.peel when you end this. dying to see the last bar on this epic journey. a pre-congrats.
@Jaws: That plastic doll is a pagan idol, it's Bunt Custer himself!
@nick beal: Good to hear from you! Thanks for the pre-congrats!
Love the church pews and your Pabst prayer! LMAO! Another winner from your co-pilot Al. Only five left...unfuckingbelievable!
The bar look great (with tin ceiling and free popcorn, they always looks great!)
@365: You could be a preacher! Pretty good prayer! Hehe
@Jaws: Amen, to Lowenbrau!!
@Clacky: the best thing of a tequila's hangover, is the day before! The day after serves to see all the shit you have done, and laught of it.
@clacky the dog looks just like my dog.. the brown and white one..thought maybe you borrowed her.. she is old and doesnt travel well and well kinda farts too much ha..glad you have your own:)
@Marty i like this place.. I am fond of church pews.
I see they split the bar with a partition from the dining area,,,good move. These bars that you walk down off the streets, my favorites. Dark wood, tin ceiling and old cash register, they know. This is officially my last recommendation on THIS crawl. Notice I capitalized THIS,,,because as a co pilot here Im staying for the long haul, wherever the road leads. It's been an honor and pleasure to pick out some bars. The journey forges on. Thanks Marty and all regulars here,,,I would love to walk into a bar and see us all together soon. @TimClack: Baps and Dio know where to hang out at,,,near the food.
Wow. If I was Bunt Custer, I'd have that thing looked at.
@Ned Sparks: BWAHAHAHAHA!!
Hey, this bar looks cool. I love those well-worn tables in the back, although I'm far from rowdy these days, so it'd probably be best if I sat at the bar. Plus, church pews give me the shivers in my timbers! Next time I'm heading to the park to make fun of all the singers in Strawberry Fields, I'll stop into The Abbey for a beer.
Oh, almost forgot - nice part 2, Clacky! But next time, show us the clown's money shot!
@Al: Thanks to you for finding some great bars for all of us to see, you've been a great co-pilot and I appreciate all your help and look forward to hitting a bar with you sometime!
@Ned Sparks: I second Biff's response: BWAHAHAHAHA!
Listen up America...Take the christmas decorations down!!!
I dig the exterior of the Abbey. Looks like some of the old convict built pubs in The Rocks in Sydney.
Where's all the snow? Did it melt that quickly?! This is a serious drinkers bar. Love it.
@Ned Sparks: Bunt appeared as a gift for the bar from a mate's girlfriend. He provided much amusement. My Uncle dubbed him Bunt Custer (swap the B and C around). He's not going anywhere near any bottles of wine that I'm planning on drinking.
@Gidgie: Wow! They could be from the same batch! We flew Baps cross country to Perth. We doped her up with 7 valium tablets and she barley blinked....she farts like a champion too.
@Biff: You don't want to see that. He only behaves like that once, maybe 8, times a year. It's become an annual thing to behave like a goose at my birthday party.
TO 5!!
@Clacky: There's still snow, but a good chunk of it melted last week when the temperatures got up to 50 degrees. Gotta love that global warming!
Is "waiting custom area" is a polite way to say restroom in US ?? ;)
Nice bar!!
Very mega giga cool pics clacky!! We saluuuuute you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bang! [canon ball]
OH! And talking about ball.........
global warming?! who said that!! Com'on Marty! That's conspiracy! have you ever heard about 2012? They have predicted women gonna get balls! they call that the globalls warning!!! ARRRRIIIIIVA !!!! Hey girls! Don't eat mexican food anymore you will get hairy balls! hahahaha ..... (ok, ok... I get out of here!)
We had an old church pew growing up instead of a couch. I LOVE the booths! Plus the addition of the stained glass. Guessing the church similarities end there though.
No pants subway ride huh. A moment for the freaks to fit in. Guess I should get on with that taking down the christmas tree thing...
@kari: A church pew instead of a couch? Pretty cool!
i love those booths too! looks like a nice neighborhood bar. are you trying to scare us, clacky? you're a little scary in that photo! LOL!
wow...what can be said?...clackster nice shot thanks for sharin'....al another great suggestion bet some team out there would like to have somebody hitting a thousand like you...oh yea...the abbey pub is another classic on the crawl...my list is so massive (even with the numerous gone before i got there)...i hold a 365 salute high gosh only the cats can see it and they don't seem too interested...oh well...KOC
rr
@raginrr: A salute right back at you sir!
You are almost done! Great year; great work. And I think you should sell T-shirts that say "Peace, Love, Beer.
Wonder what happened to the mirror?
@Meleah: I don't know, but there's probably some bad luck shit happening in here for the next seven years!