Thursday, March 18th, 2010—Bar 67

Day 67—Wednesday, March 17th—St. Patrick’s Day
Blarney Stone

Okay, it’s here, St. Patrick’s Day. The wearin’ of the green and the drinkin’ of the Guinness and/or anything with alcohol in it. To be honest, I kind of thought about going to a bar where there wouldn’t be any celebration to avoid the madness. But then I decided to fly right into the fucking eye of the booze-soaked hurricane and go to an old-school Irish bar. I walked to work around noon and people were already getting shit-faced. You can imagine what it’ll  be like at an old time Irish bar in New York City tonight. Actually, you don’t have to imagine anything at all, because here we go! Too-rah-loo-rah-loo-rah!

The streets are kind of empty, I hope I didn't miss the St. Paddy's day fun. Oh, oh, coppers to the left, hide your beer everybody!

Okay, here we are at the Blarney Stone, this is more like it!

A great neon sign. The two unlit letters are pefect.

Holy shitballs, it's packed in here!

It's a sea of green and everybody's drinking heavily.

Wow, thee deep at the bar.

Here's a view from the end of the bar. St. Patrick's day madness in New York City!

Cheers!

It's too crowded and noisy to ask anyone to pose for a picture tonight.

In fact I think I'll close up shop a little early tonight. Why?

Because it's St. Patrick's day and I gotta catch up to everyone! Cheers and Happy St. Paddy's Day to you all!

Review

I think there’s about a half dozen bars named Blarney Stone in Manhattan and they are all virtually clones of each other. No frills, no thrills, no daffodils. One bar and assorted tables and chairs strewn about. You come here to drink and you don’t fuck around. I’m pretty sure that if you ordered a fruity drink like “Sex on the Beach” in one of these joints the bartender would throw you right through the window and not miss an Irish beat as he’s pouring a beer and a shot for the regular who’s been sitting on the same bar stool for 47 years.

They also lay out a spread of food starting at lunchtime consisting of Brisket of Beef, Corn Beef, Pastrami, Ham, Turkey and Roast Chicken. You can get an overstuffed sandwich or a hot plate and the serving’s are as big as a leprechaun with a thryoid condition. Nobody was eating in here tonight though. Happy St. Patricks day, everybody!

The Blarney Stone
412 8th Ave. and various other locations around midtown. Throw a rock and you’ll probably hit one.

And in closing here's the Pogues with Kirsty MacColl with "Fairytale of New York."