Friday, July 23rd, 2010—Bar 194

Day 194—Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
International Bar
The PayPal donation bell has rung again! Al Rizo from Miami sent in 25 bucks with this stated purpose on the PayPal receipt: “For the darkest dive in NY, preferably the International Bar in the East Village.” Thanks so much for the generous donation, Al! Al’s a daily commentator here and has contributed in the past and I appreciate the donation. And every dime I get goes back on the bar crawl, so if you enjoy this journey I’m on and can send a few bucks, it’ll help me out a lot. My night job doesn’t pay big-time dough and it’s expensive doing this. Okay, the begging portion of this post is over (for now!)

Al asked for the International Bar and that’s exactly what Al is going to get. This is a legendary New York dive bar and it should be a good night. Get ready to dive in, Al, this dark bar is for you!

No bright signage for this dark bar, just a gold-leafed logo on the window, nice.

Here's the doorman, who's name I forgot to write down, if you're reading this, leave your name in the comments section and I'll update it.

There's one seat at the bar and I'm taking it. It's darker in here than the photo suggests, the flash brightens it up. Take my word for it, this is a true dark bar. Good choice, Al!

Elaina the beautiful and friendly bartender serves up the first of many three buck cans of Schaefers.

Cheers.

Some of the drink specials on the walls.

The bar in all its darkness.

A big can opener in a little bar. Makes me think of Chris Farley.

Alvin was seated next to me and toasted the 365 Bar Crawl.

A dark painting in a dark bar, I love it.

Edgar Winter moment.

Jacques was here in the evening, but said he prefers mornings at the International Bar. Jacques has a restaurant in Brooklyn, check it out here: Bartabac.

Susan was seated at the end of the bar and I had a nice conversation with her.

Roger was the other bartender on duty, here he is in action.

There's tables in the back of the bar.

Meanwhile back at the bar Susan and Elaina are chatting.

The International Bar has a great selection on the jukebox. Some of the artists you can listen to include: The Damned, Patsy Cline, Nina Simone, The Byrds, Leonard Cohen, Big Star, Buck Owens and The Shaggs. Any jukebox that has The Shaggs on it is alright by me.

I met two fellow-midwesterners at the bar, Doug and Joe. Both are from Chicago, Doug still lives there and Joe lives here in New York.

Susan's friend Unkle Waltie stopped by for a drink.

Here's Elaina and Keith with a fan that Keith brought in as a gift for Elaina. Keith's a photographer, check out his work here: Keith Sirchio.

Casper the Friendly Ghost says, "Goodnight, everybody!"

Review
Al has written to me and told me he prefers dark bars, which shows he’s a true bar aficionado. Dark bars are the best bars, check out Esquire magazine’s defintioin of a dark bar: The Dark Bar in Esquire. Sadly, these days, dark bars seem to be slowly becoming extinct. But the International Bar is a true dark and divey bar in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It’s a legendary bar that closed in 2005 and was resurrected in 2008 by East Village musician Molly Fitch and her partner Shawn Dahl. The bar is a narrow, railroad styled bar with quirky signage and knick knacks on the walls, cheap drinks, friendly bartenders and a local cliental that are friendly to newbiers stopping by the bar.

The drinking is easy and cheap here. It’s a full bar and the some of the bottled beers include: Corona, Budweiser Amstel and Rolling Rock. Cans of Genesee Lager can be had for two bucks and Schaefer cans are three dollars apiece. There’s a full bar and the drinks are strong and the martini’s are made to overflow the generous-sized glasses.

The International bar opens it’s doors early at 8am, but even at that hour it’s a dark bar. A true Manhattan original.

International Bar
120 1/2 First Ave. (Near 7th St.)
212-777-1643

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010—Bar 193

Day 193—Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
Jeremy's Ale House
Okay, let’s take care of a little business first. “Boris” has been busy at the old 365 store and he’s come up with a brand new red logo and it’s now available on all the shirts and some of the merchandise. Check it out here: The 365 Bar Store.

I really want to thank everybody who’s bought shirts and products, I appreciate it and hope you enjoy the 365 merchandise.

And I also want to thank “Boris” for putting the whole thing together. Remember that “Boris” is available for freelance artwork, so if you have a website and you need some banner art or a logo, he’s your go-to guy. “Boris” can also design your CD or book cover and do just about anything when it comes to art/design. Just send me an email and I’ll give your request to “Boris.”

And speaking of merchandise, my friend Joe Freedman (who designed both of my books) has come up with the coolest thing in the world. It’s a password encoder called Mr. Mistifiki. With this device you can generate passwords for websites that you’ll never forget. I’m going to let Joe explain it over at his website, click on the link and check it out: Mr. Mistifiki at Leaf Design.

Okay, now on to the business of bars. Mark Smimmo sent me an email and suggested I go to the Blarney Stone on Third the other day and it was one of the best times on the bar crawl yet. So when I got an email from him telling me that Jeremy’s Ale House, down in the South Street Seaport is a fantastic bar, it’s a no-brainer, it’s off to Jeremy’s Ale House we go. Taxi!

And we're off. It's hotter than shit out and of course he says his air conditioning is broke, so my head is out the window trying to cool off.

After one long-ass taxi ride we're here on the block. Hey look, it's bar number 68, Nelson Blue. Let's pop in and see if Pauli is working tonight.

A blast from the bar crawl past: Pauli along with added bonus of the lovely bartender, Melissa!

Pauli poured out a couple of shots for the reunion. Cheers!

Okay, back to bar-crawling business. Here we are at Jeremy's Ale House.

Wow, it's a big room in here. Let's mosey up to the bar.

And general manager, Milton serves up a tall 32 ounce stryofoam cup of Budweiser. The cups may not keep Al Gore happy, but they keep the beer cold, so fuck Al Gore.

Marco and Timmy were also behind the bar. Timmy worked for years in the printing industry, so we had a long talk about the terror of working in that industry that I'm still stuck in.

Milton not only served me up a giganzo beer, he gave me this bumper sticker.

Here's Rebecca, Jeremy and Jessica. Jeremy bartends at legendary Sardi's in Times Square and I think we'll be seeing him soon on the bar crawl. Stay tuned.

Here's the house mascot, the moose on the wall along with some discarded bras and knick-knacks.

There's a picnic styled booth in the back to sit at.

There's various photos, reviews and press articles splattered all over the front wall.

Lots of tables and chairs off to the side of the bar.

Saiju and Tim were celebrating Saiju's 23rd birthday. Happy birthday, Saiju! I don't remember 23, but then I don't remember last night either.

Jessica pointed out graffiti on the ceiling from her niece Amy and Amy's husband Charlie.

Milton at work at the bar.

This makes me think of the old Ed Head cartoons from Playboy. Anybody else?

The extensive food menu.

And the drink list to wash your food down with.

Here's the back room of the bar. Let's go see who these two hooligans are.

It's Mike and Matt who were working on their third round of buckets. Impressive!

I always like to see a pay phone in a bar, it means it's patrons aren't cell phone junkies. Okay it's midnight and Jeremy's closes at midnight on weeknights. Hey, they open up at 8 in the morning, so cut them some slack!

But Nelson Blue is still open, so I have a shot with Pauli and his crew. Goodnight everybody!

Review
Jeremy’s Ale House is a big airplane hanger-like dive bar in the heart of the South Street Seaport. The bar has been in various locations in this neighborhood since 1974 and owner Jeremy Holin calls it, 'the oldest established permanent floating saloon in New York.” The bar itself is somewhat dwarfed by the room in the bar, there’s tables, booths, bras and graffiti on the ceilings and TV sets here and there. The bartenders are talkative and friendly and the crowd is a mix of fishermen and construction workers in the morning and daytime to finance workers, tourists and locals in the evening.

There’s a full bar at Jeremy’s with a good selection of bottled beers and drafts, but everyone comes here for the 32 ounce styrofoam buckets of beer for six bucks. It’s not politically correct packaging, but after a couple you really don’t give a rats ass, so who cares? Happy hour runs from 4pm to 6pm with half price well drinks, $1.50 Jr. Burgers and 4 dollar buckets of Coors and Coors Light. Jeremy’s also has a kitchen with a large menu ranging from the usual suspects such as buffalo wings, cheese fries and several styles of nachos to burgers, hot dogs and a Philly cheese steak sandwich. There ‘s also a large selection of seafood including: crab cakes, calamari, oysters, marinated tuna steak and their specialty, clams.

And if you’re an early riser, Jeremy’s has an 8am to 10am special featuring 32 ounce buckets of Coors for two bucks a throw. A nice way to greet the day, indeed!

Jeremy's Ale House
228 Front St. (Near Peck Slip)
212-964-3537

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010—Bar 192

Day 192—Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Upstairs Bar (2nd Floor of the Hotel @ Times Square)
First off, I want to thank Sandeep Chouskey who gave me a shout-out in his new blog called, Sleepless In New York. He just started the blog and you can check it out here: Sleepless in New York. Thanks Sandeep and good luck with your blog.

Okay, my camera is all charged up and hopefully won’t fail me tonight. Last night at the Holiday, David who was sitting next to me told me about a little, somewhat unknown bar in Times Square. He said it’s a tiny bar, but very cool. It’s located on the 2nd floor at the Hotel @ Times Square hotel. I found a review on it and it looks like a cool little place . So that’s tonight’s destination, camera don’t fail me now.

Okay, here's the hotel, let's find the bar.

Signpost: Upstairs Bar is one floor away.

Here we are.

I'm not even in the door and I like it already.

It looks super-friendly in here and there's a seat at the bar waiting to be snagged.

Seconds after the snagging, super-cute and friendly bartender Kira serves up an ice-cold Corona.

Here's my little area at the bar where I'm perched.

Kira's two lovely friends were seated next to me, here they are with Kira. From left: Kira, Emily and Ellice.

Barry and Shawn were seated on the other side of me. This place was like drinking in a fun little dorm room.

And speaking of drinking, cheers!

Here's Kira at work.

A Red Stag machine, I've never seen one of these, a first on the bar crawl.

One of the walls is covered with tiny little pictures of the tiny little bar.

Here's a list of some of the cocktails and specialty shots available at the bar.

James and Wil were visiting from Sydney, Australia. Two nice guys, who continue to bond the 365 Bar Crawl to my mates in Australia.

Here's the cozy back room of the bar, let's see who these guys are.

It's Ken and Bill who are friends from way back in their college days.

Here's Frank, the hospitable owner of the bar posing with Kira.

Frank's a great host and minutes after he arrived he was pouring out shots for the house.

Kira, Frank, Ellice and Emily toast a shot together.

As do this group who's gathered at the tables behind the bar.

They're in town from North Dakota and they are (from left:) Matthew, Michelle, Tara, Mark, Rochel and Leigh. And the jerkoff pointing at them like an idiot is me.

And now it's time for my shot. Thanks to Kira, Frank and everybody at the bar for a great time on the old crawl. Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Sometimes old expressions ring true. In this case that expression would be that good things come in small packages. The Upstairs Bar calls itself “The Biggest Little Bar” and they don’t lie. The Upstairs Bar is certainly are a David, battling some of the city’s Goliath gastropubs, behemoth bars and towering taverns and in my opinion, they beat them all. Climb up the black marble stairs in this boutique hotel and you’ll discover a tiny, little gem of a bar. The bar itself is a small L-shaped bar that can seat five people. There’s tables behind it and a cozy room in the back with a booth and a couple more tables. Kira the bartender is one of the friendliest bartenders in town and if you’re there when Frank the owner is there, the odds are the house will get a free shot. This place is located on the second floor in this hotel in Times Square, but it feels more like you’re drinking in the basement of someone’s house when you were in high school and there parents were away. The crowd changes every half an hour due to the hotel cliental, so there’s an ever-changing mix of people to talk to, and this place seems to magically put everyone in a good mood.

The happy hour here runs from 5pm to 7pm, but you can score three buck drafts and five dollar glasses of wine from the time it opens which is 5pm to closing time which varies, but usually is around one in the morning. There’s no food available, but considering the mood and atmosphere, I’m sure they would have no problem with you bringing in takeout. Just be prepared to share, it’s that kind of place. Stop by Upstairs, it’s got a downstairs attitude and a great bar in an area of town that desperately needs one.

Upstairs Bar
Hotel @ Times Square
59 W 46th St. (Between 5th and 6th St.)
2nd Floor
212-719-2300 (ext. 1419)