Day 34—Friday, February 12th
Mama’s
It’s Friday night and I just got paid, as the song goes, so a perfect night to travel around town a little further in the 365 Bar Crawl. Plus, no work tomorrow so I can sleep in. Woo and hoo. I’m going to splurge and take a cab into Alphabet City. I found a cool looking bar while Googling tonight and it’s called Mama’s. Mama may have told Randy Newman not to come, but I think we’re all welcome! So let’s get out their and hail a cab and make tracks to Mama’s.
TAAAAAXIIII!
The view from inside the cab.
Motherfucker! Ten minutes later and we're only halfway there! Tons of traffic tonight.
Finally we make our destination, Mama's Bar. I walked past it twice, because there's no sign for the place outside.
When I saw the drink specials outside I knew I had found it. Time to get inside out of the freezing cold.
Holy shitballs, it's packed in here! Wall to wall people. And the music is louder than hell. That combined with everyone shouting to each other will make it impossible for me to do my usual meet and greet. So tonight will be a photo-study of Mama's Bar.
The bartender was busy, but i got a bottle of Bud in minutes.
The lively and loud crowd at Mama's Bar.
These paintings on the paint-peeled wall are great!
There's a table at the front which this quintet is utilizing.
A giant frong sits atop a table in the corner of the bar. Riiibitt.
Some of the yard sale motif at Mama's Bar.
The man responsible for the loud tunes is DJ Michael. Here he cues up a remix of the classic, "Freddie's Dead," by Curtis Mayfield.
Kitschy chandeliers hang from the ceiling.
An original mural spans over one and a half walls in the bar.
A view from the other end of the bar. Cheers!
Empties!
I'm growing weary of the obligatory bathroom mirror shot. While I'm not abandoning it completely, I'm going to make it the "occasional" bathroom mirror shot from here on in. So tonight I leave you with...FEET! Goodnight everybody!
Review
Take equal parts punk rock, kitsch and kaboodle, remnants from a yard sale, a quirky neighborhood art gallery and plenty of booze and you’ve got the recipe for Mama’s Bar. The bar itself is a small and cozy bar decorated with a thrift store mentality and it fills up quickly. The clientle is mainly friendly folks from the neighborhood and the bartenders are happy to serve you. Some nights Mama’s has a DJ and on those nights that they don’t there’s an eclectic rock and roll jukebox.
There’s a full bar with bottled beers, mixed drinks and the specialty is the house infused vodka. Some of the flavors include: cantaloupe, grapefruit, strawberry, hot pepper and pineapple. Mama’s also has six quality beers on draft including: Six Point, Kelso of Brooklyn, Blue Moon and Guinness.
There’s no food to be had at the bar, but patrons are welcome to bring in their own munchies. In fact you might want to try nearby Mama’s Restaurant (no affilliation to the bar) which specializes in comfort food like mac and cheese and bacon wrapped meatloaf. Perfect for a comfortable, kitschy dive bar like Mama’s.
Mama’s
34 Ave. B @ 3rd St.
212-777-5729