Thursday, July 15th, 2010—Bar 186

Day 186—Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Coppersmith's (Originally headed for J. Macs.)
Alright, tonight’s bar is another one that I owe a hat tip to Fat Al over at the fine blog, The Half Empty Glass. On Monday he wrote a nice post about my visit to Fedora’s bar last Sunday. In his post he wrote about a bar in Hell’s Kitchen called J.Mac's that has the last cigarette machine in town. Okay, that’s a must-stop for this 365 crawl, smoke 'em if you got ‘em and if you don’t got ‘em you can get ‘em soon.

Okay, sometimes things get weird on the old bar crawl and tonight is one of them. I walked into J. Mac’s and it was a little crazy in there. There were only about five people in there, but they were all screaming and making lots of noise and appeared to be pretty fucked up. I approached the bar and the bartender looked a little weary as I started to tell her about my website. She looked at my camera, threw her hands up in the air and said, “No, you can’t do this in here tonight and that’s all I’m going to say. Don’t ask me anything else.” I told her I understood and  jokingly said that I didn’t want to get my legs broken to which she replied, “That’s good.” And there was no humor in her voice. People, as a seasoned bar crawler you learn when someone tells you it’s a smart move not to want to get your legs broken and there’s no humor attached to it, you thank the person and move on. She did tell me I could try again on another night and I’m just senseless enough to try, so stay tuned. Now it’s off to another bar while I can still walk.

And so a another lonely walk begins on the crawl.

Motherfucker, it's really no-man's land out here and I'm hotter than shit.

Help me Jesus! I haven't been that bad...okay, I have, but for fuck's sake, cut me a break here, I'm sweating my ass off.

This is the best you got, Jesus? Fuck this, I'm not drinking in a Holiday Inn!

Self-portrait of a sweaty and angry bar crawler.

Okay, we're at 54th and 9th, I've passed some bars but they've all been too crowded and noisy to do my bar crawl thing in.

And a block later I find this oasis in Hell's Kitchen.

The air is cool inside and the bar is long with lots of seats, welcome to tonight's bar everyone!

And it's a fun joint with friendly patrons and pretty bartenders. From left: Maire, Heather, the 365 goofball and Paula.

A longshot of the bar, upfront are large open French doors which really give the place a nice open feeling.

2 fer Tuesday specials.

The lovely Paula serves up another Corona with a fresh lime.

There's a large selection of drafts available here.

The bare bulbs hanging from the tin ceiling are a nice touch and add to the friendly mood of the bar.

Adrian, Tara and Halley were having fun at the end of the bar.

Paula hard at work...

And hard at partying with Heather at the other end of the bar. Cheers, ladies!

Maire and Louise were enjoying wine from the extensive wine list at Coppersmiths.

Seated next to me were, Paris, Joseph and Julie.

And a little ATM action for Joey D. downstairs next to the bathroom. This can only mean one thing...

Obligatory bathroom shot! Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Coppersmiths is a nice neighborhood hangout. Upfront, French doors open up and give the front area a nice porch feeling with an excellent view of Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen in all its glory. There’s tall mahogany tables up front leading to the long polished bar in the middle. The bar has eleven TV’s with sports on them, jerseys and sports memorabilia hang on the exposed brick walls. Bare light bulbs dangle from the tin ceilings and the bartenders are friendly, fun and pretty.

The bar has a large draft and bottled beer selection including, Hoegaarden, Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn Lager and Labatts Blue on tap. Bottled beers include: Amstel Light, Heineken, Corona, Sam Adams Light and Magners. They have a large menu including varied appetizers, five syles of burgers, pasta and such entrees as: Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf, Rosemary Chicken, Grilled Pork Chops and Chicken Pot Pie. There’s nightly drink specials and on Sunday for 25 bucks it’s all you can drink (Budweiser, Bud Light or Coors drafts) with an order of wings thrown in for good measure.

Copersmith’s is a bar that is friendly and fun, but doesn’t merge into crazyville. It’s a good hang.

Coppersmith's
793 Ninth Ave. (Near 53rd St.)
212-957-2994