Thursday, May 27th, 2010—Bar 137

Day 137—Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
Hiro Ballroom
Ding ding ding! Yes, that’s right the PayPal donation button is ringing again. Shannon Kennedy sent in a generous donation of $2.70 with the stated purpose on the PayPal receipt stating: “tip the bathroom attendant.” Shannon has a cool blog and you should check it out here: Green Monkey Tales. She found out about the 365 site through my friend, Gina’s blog, who gave me a shoutout the other day, so I’m giving her one back, she’s a great person, rides a motorcycle, is a wonderful writer and she just got married! Woo and hoo! And here’s her blog: A Muse In My Pocket. Thanks to both Shannon and Gina for helping out the 365 cause and tonight’s bathroom attendent!

And a second donation has also rang in. Brian Lee sent in a very generous donation of twenty bucks with this stated purpose on his PayPal receipt: “From an expatriated Peorian in San Diego...keep Jeff away from the brown liquor...dig the site...cheers.” Brian’s referring to Jeff Ulrich, an ex-Peorian who’s going to be making a guest starring appearance here soon. Stay tuned for that and thanks a bunch for the donation, Brian, get out here to New York and us three ex-Peorians will make a night out on the town of it!

Okay on to tonight’s bar crawl. It’s a first tonight because I got invited to a party, the first party yet on the 365 bar carawl! And since there’s a bar there, I can attend. If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll remember Georgia the editor from New World Library who saved the day by forcing all her friends to pose for pictures for me last night. Well, New World Library and a bunch of other publishing houses are throwing a party and she invited me to come to it and gave me a pass to get in. It’s at the Hiro Ballroom where I did a photoblog a while back at my first website, The Marty Wombacher Show. I was a guest at a Bebe Buell show, check it out here: Bebe Photoblog.

Okay, on to the Hiro Ballroom, a party with a bar! Perfect!

Here we are at the Hiro Ballroom, quite a crowd outside, I bet it's packed inside. Let's go find out.

Down the stairs we go.

Here's the DJ booth, but there's no DJ because tonight there's a live band at the party.

And here they are.

Tha band is called Sex Mob and they have a special guest star tonight.

And here he is on keyboards.

It's legendary keyboardist, Bernie Worrell, who's played with Parliment-Funkadelic and The Talking Heads.

Wow, the bar is packed!

And part of the reason for the packedness is bar-dwellers. At a venue like this you shouldn't hang out at the bar like these people are. Get your drink and get out of the way, and let others in. Bar-dwellers be damned! Why can't everyone just follow the rules? I really need a drink!

After much pushing and cajoling of the bar-dwellers, I get a much-needed beer. Aaah, all is better now.

I remember this guy!

Look at the crowd, how am I ever going to find Georgia and Monique?

Disco ball!

Okay, time to make my way through the crowd and find Georgia and Monique.

And here they are! Earlita from New Harbinger Publications is at the far right and Georgia is on the left. Monique is in the middle and I have to apologize for not hearing the name of the woman inbetween Georgia and Monique. I wish she would've given me a card like Earlita did because I'm almost deaf and with the band blaring I couldn't hear the introductions.

They graciously invited me to sit at their table and here I am with last night's blog savior, Georgia!

And here's Georgia with another guest who's name I couldn't hear. Damn my tinnitus!

And now for a brief Men's Room stop.

And I give Matthew, the bathroom attendant, Shannon's generous tip! I love it when things come full circle like this! Thanks for the party invitation, Georgia and Monique, keep in touch! And Goodnight, everybody!

Review
The Hiro Ballroom (underneath the Maritime Hotel) is a perfect party area. Three strategically located bars are in the ballroom, two on the first level and one upstairs. There’s a sprawling dance floor, a DJ area and a band stand for the live acts. Tables and banquettes are off to the side and upstairs is more of a lounge type atmosphere with a bar, long couch and comfortable banquettes and tables. The decor is Japanese inspired with a touch of Saturday Night Fever disco flourishes thrown in for good measure. Attica!

The Ballroom is utilized for private parties, like the one that Georgia and Monique graciously invited me too, plus it’s open to the public Friday through Sunday. There’s theme nights every one of those nights with Friday hosting the Base NYC which is a Korean-American party, they claim it’s the biggest type party on the east coast. Come and find out for yourself. Saturday is Skool night, where guest DJ’s spin old and new skool tunes plus hip hop and party classics. Every Sunday the club hosts a gay themed party call Cuckoo Club. A little something for everyone at the Hiro Ballroom.

Thanks to Georgia and Monique for inviting me to 365’s first party, it was a blast!

Hiro Ballroom
88 Ninth Ave. (Near 16th St.)
212-727-0212

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010—Bar 136

Day 136—Sunday, May 25th, 2010
Doubletree Hotel Bar (Originally headed to Covet)
First off I really want to thank all of you who stopped by the 365 Bar Store, that 365 resident artist, “Boris” set up. I appreciate those of you who purchased items and encourage everybody to stop by as “Boris” will be adding items every now and again. Don’t forget, wear your 365 colors loud and proud! And thanks again to “Boris” for setting it all up, great job, daddio! And remember that “Boris” does freelance artwork and design for websites, CD covers, books, designs logos and a whole lot more. If you have a request, simply email me and I’ll pass it along to “Boris.”

Do you hear what I here? Ding, ding, ding, the donation board has just lit up. My friend Fran Hughes generously sent me 10 bucks with this stated purpose on her PayPal receipt: “Hey Marty...for old times...have a brew on me. HUGS from Fran Hughes.” Great big hugs right back to you, Fran, thanks so much!

Okay, on to the crawl. Yesterday I did a radio interview on the show, Happenings Q & A, hosted by Frank Carmichael on radio station WLIP 1050 AM out of Kenosha, Wisconsin. This is the second time I’ve done the show and it went great. Frank’s a great interviewer and the show is a companion to Happenings Magazine which you can check out here: Happenings Magazine. So anyway, we were talking about the bar crawl and he brought up a club in midtown called Covet and the fact that they sell a cocktail for $160 bucks! For that kind of money it better come with a happy ending from one of the waitresses! Anyway since I do this thing pretty much on the fly and don’t plan night to night, I told Frank I’d go check it out.

I went to their website and it is a fancy-Dan joint. At first when I was reading about the place I thought it said the dining room had Led Zeppelin chandeliers and I’m like, “Wow, this place might be kind of cool after all,” but then I realized it said, “Large Zeppelin chandeliers.” Now that’s just plain weird. Anyway, I give it odds of 40/60 that they let me do my bar crawl thing in there, we’ll see. If worst comes to worst, I’ll tell them Frank Carmichael sent me and he’s going to get all medieval on their asses if they don’t let me do my thing. Okay, shine up those shoes and let the swanky-franky crawling begin!

Okay, I've been up and down this block three times and can't find this place, it's really getting on my nerves!

The reason I couldn't find it is there's no address on the building and just a tiny little sign. I guess it's their way of being cool. Anyway, a woman was standing outside behind the velvet rope (velvet ropes always are a sign there's going to be trouble, especially when there's a velvet rope and no one waiting to get in) and when I took out my camera she asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm taking a picture, then I'm going to go inside," I answered.

"You can't take a photo," she told me in halting tones.

"But I'm on the sidewalk, I can do whatever I want to do," I explained while aiming my camera at the club.

"Well, then you can't come in here," she haughtily shot back.

"Aaah, it looks like the place sucks anyway, I'll move on," I told her and headed down the street.

The sad thing here is I had scoped out the area before, anticipating that the club wouldn't let me in and it looked like there weren't any bars around. And so we begin our lonesome walk down Lexington Avenue.

Wow, i've walked about ten blocks and I haven't seen one bar. I hate this part of town!

Hello! Can you say "Hotel bar?" I knew you could!

It's not too fancy, but it's a bar so it'll do.

And Sandy the bartender not only served me up an ice cold Corona, he encouraged me to do my bar crawl thing in the bar.

And so it begins! Cheers!

Seated next to me were (from left:) Joe, Melissa and Kerman, who's the Guest Relations Manager at the hotel. He too was supportive of me doing my bar crawl thing in their bar. Take that Covet!

Melissa designs jewelry and here's one of her lovely bracelets. She said she'd have a website up soon and I'll post a link when it's up. Her father Joe was visiting from India and told me he'd buy me a drink in India if I took the bar crawl over there. I need to get a passport!

Okay, things started to fall a little flat as I asked people over here to pose for a photo and they all declined.

The same thing happened here, shit, no meet and greet photos to be had.

But all is not lost. There's snacks at the bar! Hooray!

And then a photo savior sat down at the bar. Georgia was in town for a book convention, she's an editor at New World Library and had lots of friends who would pose for my 365 camera.

And so here we go: Georgia with Joe.

Georgia with Monique who's the Publicity Director of New World Library.

Georgia with Monique and a guy originally from Kalamazoo who's name I didn't write down, so we'll call him Kal.

And finally I have to get in on the action, myself with Monique and Georgia. It was great meeting Georgia and Monique and all their friends from the book expo.

And I almost forgot the obligatory bathroom mirror shot for Danny the Sut, but I remembered when I got home and here you go, Danny. Goodnight everybody!

Review
The bar in the Doubletree hotel is a perfect lesson I’ve learned on this bar crawl. It’s not the bar surroundings that make it special, it’s the people inside that do. After Covet gave me the boot I just wanted to find a bar and get this night’s crawl over with and get home. So I stumbled upon the Doubletree hotel, thought, “Aha, hotel bar,” and figured I’d have my three drinks and go home. But once inside the bar, Sandy the bartender was more than accommodating when I told him what I was doing and encouraged me to take all the photos I wanted to. Then I met Melissa, Joe (who was traveling in from India) and Kerman, who’s the Guest Relations Manager of the hotel and had a great conversation with them. Soon they had to take off  and most of the other guests I approached were a little leery about what I was doing. And I don’t blame them, you’re in New York from out of town and some guy with beer on his breath wants to take your photo for his website, naturally all of them turned me down. But then along came Georgia, a book editor from New World Library and she introduced me to all her friends and I not only got plenty of people shots, but great conversations with Georgia, Monique and all their friends. You never know how your night is going to end up on the crawl and it was a fun one tonight! Woo hoo!

The Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel opened in 1961 as the Summit and it’s been restored to its original glory and has modern day amenities like high-speed internet access and their restaurant and lounge. The hotel is close to Park and Madison Avenue, Broadway theaters museums and all the attractions available in New York City.

And you get a chocolate chip cookie when you check in. Who could ask for anything more?

Doubletree Hotel Bar
569 Lexington Avenue. (Near 51st St.)
212-752-7000

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010—Bar 135

Day 135—Sunday, May 24th, 2010
123 Burger Shot Beer
Okay, it’s a big day here at 365 Bars! I’m proud and pleased to announce that our online 365 Bars store is open! 365 Resident Artist, “Boris” set up the whole shop and is the proprietor of the place. His specially designed logo is printed on quality items from t-shirts to hooded sweat shirts to tote bags, frosted beer steins, coffee mugs, coasters and even more. Go check it out here: 365 Bar Store.

Much thanks to “Boris” for stepping up and doing this! “Boris is available for freelance work if you need a logo, CD design and artwork, a book cover designed, art for our website and more. Just email me and I’ll pass the information on to him. Thanks again Daddyo, the store looks great! I hope you check it out. And remember, every item you buy helps me crawl a little further.

I’m still waiting for a package to come to me, but soon I’ll be wearing the clothing on the crawl and occasionally giving 365 merch away, so stay tuned!

The next news is I’m being interviewed on the radio today. I’m doing a call-in interview on Happenings Q & A radio, which is hosted by Frank Carmichael. This is my second time on the show and it’s a great radio show and Frank is a wonderful host and interviewer. And you can listen live, I’m on at 2:15 pm eastern time today and if you go to their website you can just click on the “Listen Live” button to the left of the top hand page and listen to me jabber on and on and on! Here’s their website link: WLIP 1050 AM. Thanks to Frank, Jackie, Marija and everybody at Happenings Q & A for the interview and exposure. I hope you tune in!

Alright, on to the crawl. If you follow the 365 site, you’ll know for two nights in a row I’ve tried to go to the 123 Burger Shot  Beer bar. Well, it’s Monday so it shouldn’t be crowded tonight, so it’s off we go to Hell’s Kitchen. Let’s see if the third time is truly charmed.

Deja vu, I feel like I've been here before!

Wow, even on a Monday this place has a lot of people in it. But there's some seats at the end of the bar, so let's dive in.

And I'm glad I made the dive. Here's the lovely and friendly bartender Kacy with a three dollar mug of beer. The third time truly does appear to be a charm!

Alexandra is the other bartender on duty and she rocks it for the camera. Looking fantastic!

Waitress Sabrina joins Kacy behind the bar for a photo. Looking lovely ladies! This is a friendly joint!

There's a large selection of drafts available, all for just three bucks apiece.

And I was pleased to meet this couple who were on a tour of the states from Australia, Brad and Shellie. I told them I had been on TV in Australia and had a lot of people from that great country following this site. Brad's from Perth and Shellie's from Brisbane and they met on the tour. Give them a shout out, Fitzi, Brooksy and all you other mates from Oz land!

Tables line the brick wall opposite from the bar and are filled with party-hearty patrons.

These three were enjoying beers at the end of the bar, from left: Omari, Dan and Anthony. I later found out it was Anthony's birthday, happy birthday, Anthony!

You won't miss a sporting event in here, the walls are lined with big screen TV's, all showing different games.

Condiments!

Okay, this is how it's done...

Burger...

Shot...

Beer! Thanks to Kacy for taking the photos and to the lovely ladies of 123 Burger Shot Beer for posing for the photos! Goodnight everybody!

Review
123 Burger Shot Beer is a party bar filled to the gills with drink specials, extended happy hours, karaoke, tailgate parties, singles nights, beer pong and just about any other specialty or gimmick you can think of for a bar to offer. They bill themselves as New York’s vacation bar and the place is always packed with people looking to get their party on. The bar’s name refers to the nightly special of one dollar mini slider burgers, two buck shots and three dollar draft beers. The bar is an impressive 1,800 sqare foot space and it packs people in nightly. The bartenders and waitresses are friendly and lovely to look at.

The menu here is standard pub grub, but it’s tasty and done up right with unbelievable prices. The mini burgers are better than White Castles and are a buck a piece, you can get a basket of seven pigs in a blanket for five bucks, a half dozen barbecue ribs can be had for eight dollars and generous orders of Waffle Fries, French Fries, Potato Wedges, Fried Cheese Ravioli and Yucca Fries go for three bucks an order.

Decent drinks are also on the cheap here with three dollar draft beers ranging from Goose Island IPA, 123 Amber, Dos Equis XX, Brooklyn Winter Ale, Newcastle Ale and Belgian White. Nip bottles are three bucks a bottle, a 100 ounce beer tube goes for thirty dollars and there’s several six dollar frozen cocktails to be sampled. Shots go for two dollars and you have a large choice including: Kamikaze, Lemon Drop, DoMeAgain, Jolly Rancher, Blue Melon Ball, Screaming Orgasm and about a dozen other like-minded mind bombs.

There’s nightly drink specials, the kitchen is open till 4am every night and you can count on a packed bar soaking up these specials, cheap drinks and grub on a nightly basis. One, two, three...eat, drink and be merry!

123 Burger Shot Beer
738 10th Ave (Between 50th and 51st St.)
212-315-0123