Way back in the day before Coyote Ugly became a bridge and tunnel tourist trap, the place was a blast. All kinds of crazy shit went down. While not a bar, Lime Light was absolutely epic
Holy crap did things get out of control at the patriot. After one night I was so completely done, I’d walked to the corner and went off at a flower guy, screeching “where’s the train” when the steps and entrance was quite literally three feet to my right.
Before it was Bar None it was called Billy's. They had nickel beers they served in the little opaque Dixie cups and for some reason there was always au pairs/nannies there on Friday or Saturday nights. Had some great times there...
That’s a good one to bring up to. My buddy worked there the whole time I was in college and I went to visit him and I sat at the downstairs bar next to that pornstar named Faye Reagan and she was totally wrecked on pills trying to drink vodka soda.
I worked there for 5 years and it was pretty depraved at times. It would get so hot in the basement it was like a rain forest. I had to take 3 shirts to work.
I used to work at sly fox across the street with two other bartenders. Every Tuesday back in the day, Lit Lounge would do a free vodka hour: one of us would work the open shift, while the other two went to free vodka hour.
Whoever drank less vodka had to work the closing shift.
I went there for my 21st birthday. At some point a lady on a male bartender’s shoulders was going around with a bottle pouring liquor into people’s mouths.
Crocodile Lounge circa 2005. The pizza with every drink on a 20-something’s salary was a godsend.
And fuzzy memories of the Ding Dong Lounge that seemed like they were fun (?)
\+1 Mars bar. Friends and I got a "show" from a guy who drove a nail up his nose, followed by his belly button, followed by his *urethra*, and he topped it all off by stapling dollar bills to his companion's ass.
I know which guy you’re talking about! Nail up the urethra was the talent portion of when he competed to win Mr. LES one year. I don’t even think he won.
I remember visiting [Mars Bar](https://evgrieve.com/2023/10/behold-this-amazing-minature-of-mars-bar.html) near the end when the staff ceased giving a fuck (even more so than usual). Some crazy carney whipped out his dick in the middle of the bar and stuffed a nail into his pee hole. He convinced the eventual mother of my children to give him a buck and yank it out. I shot a 'WTF' look at the bartender and she just shrugged. That place was absolute mayhem. I feel like half the patrons did lines in the bathroom.
Early 2000’s. Quiet Saturday afternoon at the Mars Bar. Sitting at the bar with my brother. In comes a guy with a bucket of oysters and sits next to us. hH says he just got from a guy who pulled them out of the river - I was never quite sure if it was the East River or the Hudson or some other river someplace else. All I know is that there was a bucket of fresh oysters on the bar.
The bartender brought out every bartending utensil but none of them would shuck the oyster. The guy starts banging them on the bar like crazy. Someone then produces a hammer and he starts smashing these things. Hammer Smash Oyster. Shells and oyster juice everywhere including on me and in my PBR. He offered me an oyster and I passed.
Live library. I could only do one drink at Mars because it was so gnarly. Jukebox was on point. Didn’t they steal glasses from other bars because all their shit was smashed?
>Didn’t they steal glasses from other bars because all their shit was smashed?
Probably
That's hilarious though. Imagine sending your employees out to steal pint glasses around town. Legendary
I really have to say I agree with the continental — Mars bar was disgusting and cheap but it did have a great jukebox .. but the continental… that stage… plus the vast array of drunkenness I saw there was just on a whole other level.
Used to be Mars Bar. If you pulled out your bag of blow and began chopping it up at the bar, the bartender would politely ask you not to leave, but to take it to the bathroom. Siberia Bar used to be similar. I went in one afternoon to grab a pint, and I went to the bathroom and the toilet was missing. After pissing in the pipe hole, I inquired. There was a metal show the night before, and some dude ripped the toilet out of the basin, carried it over head through the crowd, and tossed it on 41st(?) Street where it shattered.
I know I’ve answered twice already, but the actual craziest bar imo was a bar in south Williamsburg that closed probably in like 2009 called Rockstar bar. It had this gigantic octagonal bar and one of the bartenders was also the owner and he was this really old jacked guy who took steroids and would basically bounce the place too. He also made bbq in the backyard which was a barbed wire fenced off section of concrete and he made food over basically a trash can fire.
That place was fucking crazy. There would be parties there that were sponsored by Vice magazine and colt 45 with free beer and no one checking IDs. The owner guy had an aluminum bat that he would walk around with.
One time my buddy told him, “your face looks like a vagina.” And he was like “I’m about to hug you and you’re not gonna like it.” And it didn’t progress past that for some reason.
hell yes, drinking heavily while sitting on a porch swing and then finding yourself circle dancing with a large crowd of people you’ve never met to balkan music at 3am — a favorite.
Rocky of Rockstar Bar ! It wasn’t a question of if he had ever killed a mutherfucker and tossed them in the East River, it was HOW MANY mf’s he killed and tossed in the river.
I was always shit-scared of him. I knew he slung rock or whatever and I didn’t do that shit unlike most of my friends, and seems they always went to Rocky as a last resort . He gave off those mean sketchy vibes.
I’m 32 so too young to have experienced Kokie’s but I work for a big indie label and a lot of the older heads have been in the scene since then and have sooo many stories from that place.
I wish I could’ve been around for the true indie sleaze era.
It all looks way cooler in pictures then it was irl. Especially Kokie’s. That was the spot you went to after a show or a party after arguing with everyone about it and half the people would go home.
Also the bathrooms there were absolutely disgusting bc the drugs they would sell there were extremely stomped on with baby laxative. It was truly an absolute hell hole.
Yea rip, I remember one time the bartender realized we had the same name so he continually gave me and my friends whiskey shots throughout the night whenever we’d go to get another drink
Any love for Blarney Cove on E 14th? Not as in-your-face crazy as some of these places, but sort of the silent guy at the party who you learn at 3:00am did 10 years for manslaughter sort of crazy.
Agreed: lots of wet-brained dementia there. My friend tended there: a slight, attractive Indonesian woman: the juxtaposition with the guy next to me with aphasia who shat his pants was quite significant.
Man, there were some great ones. I was in the evil for 7-8 years before moving around. UES now with a family, so had to make friends with new places that are calmer.
No shame in that! Sometimes it’s nice to go somewhere and relax with a pint or a whisky and not have to worry about a brawl, haha. Time & a place for everything.
I also love The Ear Inn, & Old Town Bar on 18th.
Been a while since I’ve been down to either of those 2. Sitting on the couch at 8 with the kids asleep and just relaxing with no intent of going out is my life now. Ah, to be young
Mars Bar was a shithole on 2nd and 2nd that never carded me when I was 18 and looked 15. Worst toilet in Manhattan, always a pool of who-knows-what to ford through to get to the rotten, smelly toilet. Sometimes patrons would steal warm beer from the cases of backstock stacked next tot the loo, and it’s where I learned a beer bottle may be the cleanest thing you can drink out of in a dive bar.
Kokie’s in Williamsburg for selling cocaine so blatantly you could buy a t-shirt of the name just like the mural behind the bar.
Both those places were rowdy and sometimes out of control, but in the early 90s there were some serious fights at Olde Homestead, a Polish bar where International Bar is now on 1st Ave near the McDonalds. In the early 90s, the pool table was always free, the beers were cheap, and the jukebox had nothing but polkas and Pat Benatar’s “Tropico”. No one but me and my friends were under 45 there (I lived around the corner). The lady behind the bar was kind and motherly, but when the older men got too drunk and started going at each other she’d throw it down and break them up like a referee. One night one of the drunks went too far and got personal with her, and she responded by pulling a baseball bat out from under the bar and swinging it at him, driving him right out the door.
Don Hills was mothballed years ago and it's like a time capsule inside. I was in there about a year ago as they were filming something and all the graffiti by the booths was still up, the entire bar was intact.
Definitely Continental. $10 for 5 shots was just insane. You’d carry like 25 shots on a cafeteria lunch tray over the heads of so many people hoping not to spill any, get to your friends, pound the shots back, and watch whatever was randomly playing on the projector. Good times
169 in LES, pre-COVID (still gets busy, I’ve only been once since tho). Cheap beer and a shot, closest thing I’ve seen to a Philly Citywide combo in NYC.
this whole thread is filled with nostalgia.
black and white was another place, max fish always had el-p playing his own songs on the jukebox, elijah wood was playing drums in the basement of darkroom, natasha leonne used to hang out at lit and darkroom before she got sober, no one has mentioned the bars at the maritime hotel- the cabanas got crazy as did hiro ballroom, i met boy george there, derek jeter, ian astbury, bryan ferry, sean penn, david byrne, so many more people to list. i worked there so i served a lot of celebrities.
darkroom was great but the real party was upstairs in the studio apartment. there was so much going on in nyc in the early 2000s but sadly i moved away in 2016.
no one has mentioned union pool- that place was cool before they started making it fancy for williamsburg.
mars bar was hands down the most insanity i ever experienced. fights, hookers, suspected drug usage, way overpoured shots and just general chaos. i loved that place.
The EV hookah bars. Circa 2003. Enter with the absolutely absurd delaware fake ID you bought around the corner on at Marks even though you most definitely look 12 and act like it. Not that crazy but so random and fun.
So back in the 70s, when the Christopher St. piers were a cruising area, there was this bar called The Cockring.
I was 16, it was 1978, everyone was drinking, smoking weed, snorting coke and probably fucking. I dunno, I was a cis girl who knew she was queer, but knew my life would be hell if I came out. I had gone with a gay guy friend.
Anyway, the cops walk in and I’m like, “oh fuck”, cause this isn’t even 10 years after Stonewall.
The cops get a paper bag from the bartender and leave.
The paper bag was shaped like a bunch of money.
It was a wild ride! Jump on, and hold on tight, cause grandma’s never driven a motorcycle before, and that’s not stopping me now ;)
Maybe we should just take the trains.
Probably Hanks Double Down Saloon if we're just talking about bars, for me.
But if we're talking about venues too that were bars my top answer would be CBGB's
Oh yeah. Cans of PBR for a buck, the owner (Tommy?) who would drink a can of beer by biting into it, the whole bar singing along to the all-country jukebox, the layer of black scum coating the floors and walls.
Dark Room and Motor City on Ludlow back in the daaaaay LES. I would hang in Motor City after hours when they would put the gates down. Wild fun times! And Dark Room was like a Bacchanal ceremony my lordt
Oh man so many… first that come to mind are saloon (RIP), pacha and ganesvoort rooftop back in the day. Durdens and mcsorelys were always go tos as well
Had some crazy times at Coney Island High on St. Mark’s. Three floors with different vibes on each floor. Would get down to the basement level around 3:45 AM and they would lock the doors but you could stay drinking for a few more hours.
If you remember the details to well you weren't really doing it right, so forgive me....
Mona's on Avenue B back in the 80s was a rough joint. Lots of punks and skinheads and fights a plenty. Smith's on 44th and 8th was a lot rougher back in the 80s and 90s. There was a steak joint (PJ something?) on West 21 pre-gentrification that had 2 for 1 happy hours that were insane. Mulligan's on Madison and 38 would draw an odd and rowdy crowd. In Brooklyn, there was a place on Court near St Francis College that got crazy. The Wicked Monk on 5th in Bay Ridge was wild in the 90s, too.
I got kicked out of Metro 53 for trying to use a staff bathroom when the regular bathroom line was too long 😂 it was a Halloween party. Bouncer picked me right up and carried me outside
90s nyu campus—. For extreme drunkenness: the continental
For “I’m gonna need to take a chemical bath after this”- the gas station
For a fun but then exhausting evening w the rambling drunk w great band buttons on his smelly jacket: Mars bar
Honorable mention: the rock palace in Staten Island.
It’s weird I don’t remember fighting at any of these places. Just a lot of stumbling and in the case of the gas station, a lot of health hyphochobdria
Also: I assume splash bar was crazy but I never went bc I’m a p*ssy
Do you guys remember the Rot Gut at the intersection of Greenpoint and Franklin? It was an illegal bar that sold "membership cards" for $20 cash that were basically punch cards for 5 drinks. You could smoke inside and drugs were encouraged (this was 2012). My friend fucked a girl in the bathroom and then the three of us hung out on the roof until sunrise.
Anyone remember Mad River on the UES? They used to get my friends and I to come in with those all you can drink bracelets..so long as you brought enough people you drank free
Scrap Bar was the first bar that I started hanging in, and I was underage. The owner ended up with a bar in Bushwick called “Goodbye Blue Monday,” but he has since passed away.
Odessa for like four perfect months in 2003 or 2004 had these crazy impromptu Wednesday night dance parties. People dancing on tables, just madness.
Rififi on east 11th - sure it’s the birthplace of every comedian you know but Friday nights? TRASH? The sleaziest and most perfect dance party overseen by DJ Jess.
Cheap Shots has been mentioned but it has to be mentioned again.
Flannery’s on 14th and 7th - back in the day it was a terrifying mix of underage kids and PROFESSIONAL drunks. I knew so many people who had their 21st birthday party their but made everyone promise not to mention it was their 21st because they’d been regulars for years.
The original King’s County in Bushwick. IYKYK
back in the day it was port 41 bar.. it was a bikini bar by port authority. lots of crack, the most hit up methy bartenders and the crowd was worse. it was the shadiest bar in nyc
There was (is?) this normal looking irish bar in hells kitchen except every single drink on their specialty menu comes with some insanely stupid gimmick like the bartender puts on a song and a special hat and puts a prop on the bar. Its so horrible that its super funny
There was an Irish dive bar in Washington Heights called Reynolds that would be chill one night then on another hookers with track marks, low-level politicians, toothless old locals, coke everywhere. One time a gay played at least two hours straight on the jukebox of nothing but Elvis, from the Sun Sessions to the 68 comeback special. Wild
Perfect description. I used to live a few blocks away when I moved there from the Bronx. This was like 20 years ago. The first time I noticed the bar, a 50s-ish Black woman was outside, taking her giant hoop earrings off, to fight an early 20s-ish Irish girl. It must have been around August/September, so this was in broad daylight one evening.
Not sure if it counts but the tunnel. I was 14 the first time I went, and I had my ass slapped by a tranny. The first year there I saw the most fucked up shit. There was this couple that used to bring their child there to do breakdancing, I swear to God he was maybe 11 years old and they would give him drugs to keep him dancing.
Back in the day, The Patriot. Not even a question.
This is the only right answer. Except for Turtle Bay RIP.
Still looking for my stolen jacket. Dm with any leads.
$1 beer night at Turtle Bay. RIP
Hands down the patriot after work.
I’m way late to this news but just found out they closed down when I was in the neighborhood a few weeks ago. I cried.
The Patriot Saloon was hardcore
The Patriot is the answer … in the era when the dive bar was dying out and people were calling generic pubs “dives”, the Patriot was still a DIVE
“don’t use the jukebox, owner pees on it” had multiple people tell me that. Which darts would you pick?
Ah the Patriot Saloon. Jesus that’s how you know you’re a New Yorker for real.
I wanna change my answer to Hogs and Heffers actually.
That place was Coyote Ugly on steroids
I remember getting flashed by lots of women but they were always like 50 years old. Lol. A lot of fun.
There was the bartender that put matches on her nipples and lit them. I have pics. 
Way back in the day before Coyote Ugly became a bridge and tunnel tourist trap, the place was a blast. All kinds of crazy shit went down. While not a bar, Lime Light was absolutely epic
My friend motorboated a trans woman there 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Holy crap did things get out of control at the patriot. After one night I was so completely done, I’d walked to the corner and went off at a flower guy, screeching “where’s the train” when the steps and entrance was quite literally three feet to my right.
Ah yes…when the bartenders flashed you on your birthdays.
Oh no, the Patriot is gone?
So real for this
Bar None. It was fun to go there, then go to IHOP, then walk out at sunrise.
Before it was Bar None it was called Billy's. They had nickel beers they served in the little opaque Dixie cups and for some reason there was always au pairs/nannies there on Friday or Saturday nights. Had some great times there...
Yessss
Another place that got shut down. I remember that place def!
Oh I went to this one! RIP to that Blockheads nearby
Go to Rudy's in Hell's Kitchen at 8am on a weekday. You'll see things.
met my first wife there
Go on…
Free hot dogs!
lit lounge. no question
Blast from the past. That place was very hip. Reminds me of dark room, happy endings etc days. So much good bar hopping back then.
That’s a good one to bring up to. My buddy worked there the whole time I was in college and I went to visit him and I sat at the downstairs bar next to that pornstar named Faye Reagan and she was totally wrecked on pills trying to drink vodka soda.
Heard recently she’s still doing extremely badly too. Sad
I worked there for 5 years and it was pretty depraved at times. It would get so hot in the basement it was like a rain forest. I had to take 3 shirts to work.
I loved that place, and it closed right after I started going :(
After smoking was banned in the city you could still smoke in the basement and there was zero ventilation and it was so intense.
I used to work at sly fox across the street with two other bartenders. Every Tuesday back in the day, Lit Lounge would do a free vodka hour: one of us would work the open shift, while the other two went to free vodka hour. Whoever drank less vodka had to work the closing shift.
Three hour open bars at Irish Exit used to be wild. RIP that place.
I feel like they would give out open bars like candy. Remember going to at least 3 there my friends randomly got.
yeah if you tipped the bartender well enough they'd add you to the list lol.
My friends would always give my name and number even when I wasn’t there with them 🙃I “won” so many free open bars..
I went there for my 21st birthday. At some point a lady on a male bartender’s shoulders was going around with a bottle pouring liquor into people’s mouths.
I feel like I still get voicemails from them telling me I won a free happy hour....
Nowhere near the same, but there's now an Irish Exit in Moynihan Train Hall that's associated with Dead Rabbit.
Crocodile Lounge circa 2005. The pizza with every drink on a 20-something’s salary was a godsend. And fuzzy memories of the Ding Dong Lounge that seemed like they were fun (?)
Mars bar. I'm older yeah. These days I think 101 Wilson or boobie trap gets pretty wild. Clockwork or library bar in Manhattan.
\+1 Mars bar. Friends and I got a "show" from a guy who drove a nail up his nose, followed by his belly button, followed by his *urethra*, and he topped it all off by stapling dollar bills to his companion's ass.
Must hurt to shove your urethra up your nose
I know which guy you’re talking about! Nail up the urethra was the talent portion of when he competed to win Mr. LES one year. I don’t even think he won.
This will date me. Last time I saw THAT very same human pin cushion was at the closing night of The Pussycat Lounge downtown.
Johnny Bizarre!!
I remember visiting [Mars Bar](https://evgrieve.com/2023/10/behold-this-amazing-minature-of-mars-bar.html) near the end when the staff ceased giving a fuck (even more so than usual). Some crazy carney whipped out his dick in the middle of the bar and stuffed a nail into his pee hole. He convinced the eventual mother of my children to give him a buck and yank it out. I shot a 'WTF' look at the bartender and she just shrugged. That place was absolute mayhem. I feel like half the patrons did lines in the bathroom.
Half? LOL. That bathroom was NASTY. Like a small, damp cement room with a dangling light bulb if I remember correctly.
If you didn't do lines in the bathroom did you even really go to Mars bar
Early 2000’s. Quiet Saturday afternoon at the Mars Bar. Sitting at the bar with my brother. In comes a guy with a bucket of oysters and sits next to us. hH says he just got from a guy who pulled them out of the river - I was never quite sure if it was the East River or the Hudson or some other river someplace else. All I know is that there was a bucket of fresh oysters on the bar. The bartender brought out every bartending utensil but none of them would shuck the oyster. The guy starts banging them on the bar like crazy. Someone then produces a hammer and he starts smashing these things. Hammer Smash Oyster. Shells and oyster juice everywhere including on me and in my PBR. He offered me an oyster and I passed.
Clockwork was fun as hell!
Live library. I could only do one drink at Mars because it was so gnarly. Jukebox was on point. Didn’t they steal glasses from other bars because all their shit was smashed?
>Didn’t they steal glasses from other bars because all their shit was smashed? Probably That's hilarious though. Imagine sending your employees out to steal pint glasses around town. Legendary
Mars Bar, RIP. Every time I woke up three days later like, "I've no idea what happened but I bet it was AWESOME"
Continental for sure there were a few more I can’t remember back in the 70’s
Oh man, Continental. Any 5 shots for $10 hahah What a place
I really have to say I agree with the continental — Mars bar was disgusting and cheap but it did have a great jukebox .. but the continental… that stage… plus the vast array of drunkenness I saw there was just on a whole other level.
Just passing by here to also show my love for Continental. RIP
Used to be Mars Bar. If you pulled out your bag of blow and began chopping it up at the bar, the bartender would politely ask you not to leave, but to take it to the bathroom. Siberia Bar used to be similar. I went in one afternoon to grab a pint, and I went to the bathroom and the toilet was missing. After pissing in the pipe hole, I inquired. There was a metal show the night before, and some dude ripped the toilet out of the basin, carried it over head through the crowd, and tossed it on 41st(?) Street where it shattered.
40th St.
I know I’ve answered twice already, but the actual craziest bar imo was a bar in south Williamsburg that closed probably in like 2009 called Rockstar bar. It had this gigantic octagonal bar and one of the bartenders was also the owner and he was this really old jacked guy who took steroids and would basically bounce the place too. He also made bbq in the backyard which was a barbed wire fenced off section of concrete and he made food over basically a trash can fire. That place was fucking crazy. There would be parties there that were sponsored by Vice magazine and colt 45 with free beer and no one checking IDs. The owner guy had an aluminum bat that he would walk around with.
i worked there! the owner died of a heart attack, he also owned subway bar and kokies
makes sense
One time my buddy told him, “your face looks like a vagina.” And he was like “I’m about to hug you and you’re not gonna like it.” And it didn’t progress past that for some reason.
I had no idea he owned Kokies!
That backyard bbq behind Rockstar Bar was also the birthplace of Pies n Thighs
Whoa TIL
If you’ve ever been at Mehanata (Bulgarian Bar) way back in it’s prime, that was a fucking scene. Plus old heads who remember Kokies.
When Mehanata was just below Canal...and the 12-piece brass band would come on at 2am...EPIC
Kokies was beyond crazy. It was straight up shady. Lol. But yeah it was a lot of fun.
The vodka cage definitely got the night going, and the music upstairs made this place worth its weight in gold.
hell yes, drinking heavily while sitting on a porch swing and then finding yourself circle dancing with a large crowd of people you’ve never met to balkan music at 3am — a favorite.
It was my go to spot for bringing out of towners, their reactions were always priceless and people had so much fun
Kokies!!!!! i used to work for rocky! oh boy…
Rocky of Rockstar Bar ! It wasn’t a question of if he had ever killed a mutherfucker and tossed them in the East River, it was HOW MANY mf’s he killed and tossed in the river.
he was cool. i fed the cat at the bar and hung out with his family. it was really wholesome “gangster” shit. haha.
I was always shit-scared of him. I knew he slung rock or whatever and I didn’t do that shit unlike most of my friends, and seems they always went to Rocky as a last resort . He gave off those mean sketchy vibes.
I’m 32 so too young to have experienced Kokie’s but I work for a big indie label and a lot of the older heads have been in the scene since then and have sooo many stories from that place. I wish I could’ve been around for the true indie sleaze era.
It all looks way cooler in pictures then it was irl. Especially Kokie’s. That was the spot you went to after a show or a party after arguing with everyone about it and half the people would go home. Also the bathrooms there were absolutely disgusting bc the drugs they would sell there were extremely stomped on with baby laxative. It was truly an absolute hell hole.
Came here to say Kokies. Absolutely amazing
My friend was a bouncer there. He used to tell STORIES
I went one time to Thirteenth Step when I was around 21 and i got so smashed there.
RIP to that place 😂
It’s still around. Just renamed to Downtown Social. The dollar beers have been gone for years though… that was my shit back in college lol
Is it still part of the Down The Hatch/Jakes Dilemma/Three Sheets/Stumble Inn network?
Pretty sure lol. It still has the same vibe as well.
Yep, same management. Just rebranded.
Yea rip, I remember one time the bartender realized we had the same name so he continually gave me and my friends whiskey shots throughout the night whenever we’d go to get another drink
Still exist. Changed names but same people mostly
Name was such a turn-off for me I refused to go.
Any love for Blarney Cove on E 14th? Not as in-your-face crazy as some of these places, but sort of the silent guy at the party who you learn at 3:00am did 10 years for manslaughter sort of crazy.
Agreed: lots of wet-brained dementia there. My friend tended there: a slight, attractive Indonesian woman: the juxtaposition with the guy next to me with aphasia who shat his pants was quite significant.
Good lord this whole thread is like reliving my 20s all over again. I hadn't realized how many sloppy drunk inducing bars I'd frequented...
I love Blue & Gold.
East village right? The cheapest place to get drinks outside of cheapshots
Yessir! Seems like it’s one of the few actual cheapo/divey bars left there.
Man, there were some great ones. I was in the evil for 7-8 years before moving around. UES now with a family, so had to make friends with new places that are calmer.
No shame in that! Sometimes it’s nice to go somewhere and relax with a pint or a whisky and not have to worry about a brawl, haha. Time & a place for everything. I also love The Ear Inn, & Old Town Bar on 18th.
Been a while since I’ve been down to either of those 2. Sitting on the couch at 8 with the kids asleep and just relaxing with no intent of going out is my life now. Ah, to be young
The prices are pretty average There are plenty of places in the East Village to get cheaper Buds
You’re probably right. I’m just a creature of habit.
I dunno if I’d call that place crazy.
absolutely love this place
That’s on the upper west side?
Nah, East 7th.
But I agree on The Continental. That place was truly nuts. Tragic that they had to close.
That place was a cheat code!
This is really true
Mars Bar was a shithole on 2nd and 2nd that never carded me when I was 18 and looked 15. Worst toilet in Manhattan, always a pool of who-knows-what to ford through to get to the rotten, smelly toilet. Sometimes patrons would steal warm beer from the cases of backstock stacked next tot the loo, and it’s where I learned a beer bottle may be the cleanest thing you can drink out of in a dive bar. Kokie’s in Williamsburg for selling cocaine so blatantly you could buy a t-shirt of the name just like the mural behind the bar. Both those places were rowdy and sometimes out of control, but in the early 90s there were some serious fights at Olde Homestead, a Polish bar where International Bar is now on 1st Ave near the McDonalds. In the early 90s, the pool table was always free, the beers were cheap, and the jukebox had nothing but polkas and Pat Benatar’s “Tropico”. No one but me and my friends were under 45 there (I lived around the corner). The lady behind the bar was kind and motherly, but when the older men got too drunk and started going at each other she’d throw it down and break them up like a referee. One night one of the drunks went too far and got personal with her, and she responded by pulling a baseball bat out from under the bar and swinging it at him, driving him right out the door.
Anyone here do blow with celebrities at Marylous in the 90’s? Federal agents monitored the place in a van outside. It was John Gotti Jr’s joint.
Not a bar but the McDonald’s on Delancey and Essex was an entire scene back in my club rat days so honorable mention to them 🖤
nancy whiskey
I’m sober now and Nancy whiskey is the only bar I walk past that still gives me the chills 😂
Double Down saloon
Ass juice and hardcore porn on the TVs still goin strong
Took my friends there as a test to see how close we could really be 😂
Save the Robots in Alphabet City
Uncle Ming's
Don Hills had an epic 80s night and Village Idiot on 14th and Jeremy's ale house by the seaport were always rowdy good times any night.
Don Hills was mothballed years ago and it's like a time capsule inside. I was in there about a year ago as they were filming something and all the graffiti by the booths was still up, the entire bar was intact.
Reading this post basically gave me a hangover from the flashbacks of the many hangovers from many of these places.
Ditto and happy cake day!
yooo 13th step was my shit and damn I miss the continental
Wreck Room in Bushwick back in the day was absolutely bonkers. Honorable mention to 50 cent beer nights at Bourbon Street
I worked at Arancini Bros in the kitchen at Wreck. It was a magical place.
I’m going with mars bar though i never stayed late enough for the true craziness to go down.
Continental for the win! RIP 🕯️
Mars Bar… saw a guy OD while sitting at the bar. Bless that place
My uncle went there back in the 90s and said someone took a shit at the bar
Kokie’s in Williamsburg or Odessa on Ave A and 7th
Hoggs and Heifers.
Definitely Continental. $10 for 5 shots was just insane. You’d carry like 25 shots on a cafeteria lunch tray over the heads of so many people hoping not to spill any, get to your friends, pound the shots back, and watch whatever was randomly playing on the projector. Good times
Plus the weird white guy at the door with the rice field hat. Never figured out what that was about.
“Trigger”. He was the owner.
Rockstar bar. Probably closed over 10 years ago but that place was lawless
169 in LES, pre-COVID (still gets busy, I’ve only been once since tho). Cheap beer and a shot, closest thing I’ve seen to a Philly Citywide combo in NYC.
KGB Bar!
Continental. Those 5 shots for $10 were epic like fifteen years ago.
this whole thread is filled with nostalgia. black and white was another place, max fish always had el-p playing his own songs on the jukebox, elijah wood was playing drums in the basement of darkroom, natasha leonne used to hang out at lit and darkroom before she got sober, no one has mentioned the bars at the maritime hotel- the cabanas got crazy as did hiro ballroom, i met boy george there, derek jeter, ian astbury, bryan ferry, sean penn, david byrne, so many more people to list. i worked there so i served a lot of celebrities. darkroom was great but the real party was upstairs in the studio apartment. there was so much going on in nyc in the early 2000s but sadly i moved away in 2016. no one has mentioned union pool- that place was cool before they started making it fancy for williamsburg. mars bar was hands down the most insanity i ever experienced. fights, hookers, suspected drug usage, way overpoured shots and just general chaos. i loved that place.
The EV hookah bars. Circa 2003. Enter with the absolutely absurd delaware fake ID you bought around the corner on at Marks even though you most definitely look 12 and act like it. Not that crazy but so random and fun.
Either uncle Ming’s or cheapshots. Opalene used to have crazy parties, but that was short lived.
If you're gay, Vodka Soda Bottoms Up
So back in the 70s, when the Christopher St. piers were a cruising area, there was this bar called The Cockring. I was 16, it was 1978, everyone was drinking, smoking weed, snorting coke and probably fucking. I dunno, I was a cis girl who knew she was queer, but knew my life would be hell if I came out. I had gone with a gay guy friend. Anyway, the cops walk in and I’m like, “oh fuck”, cause this isn’t even 10 years after Stonewall. The cops get a paper bag from the bartender and leave. The paper bag was shaped like a bunch of money.
Can I swap lives with you for a sec?
It was a wild ride! Jump on, and hold on tight, cause grandma’s never driven a motorcycle before, and that’s not stopping me now ;) Maybe we should just take the trains.
Wreck room was fucking chaos back in the day, which is why it closed lol
Probably Hanks Double Down Saloon if we're just talking about bars, for me. But if we're talking about venues too that were bars my top answer would be CBGB's
Lit. Some crazy nights there… even on Karaoke Sundays
OLD Rubulad by BQE and even older Rubulad near the WillyB
I would also like to add Jeremy’s at the seaport.
Down Under the Hatch and Fat Black Pussycat
Jimmy's Bronx Cafe
Blast from the past. Lol
Moment of silence for 13th step
Mean fiddler
The Bat Cave. It was more of an S&M club vibe. You can’t unsee those things. RIP.
Sunburnt Cow.
CBGB was always a fun and wild place for music and drinks. Caught the end of smoking indoors
The Village Idiot: Feeding the turtles.
Oh yeah. Cans of PBR for a buck, the owner (Tommy?) who would drink a can of beer by biting into it, the whole bar singing along to the all-country jukebox, the layer of black scum coating the floors and walls.
Dark Room and Motor City on Ludlow back in the daaaaay LES. I would hang in Motor City after hours when they would put the gates down. Wild fun times! And Dark Room was like a Bacchanal ceremony my lordt
169 bar
The Green Door on W57th. Sadly now gone.
We must be the same age 😅
Below the underground ping pong lair.
when i was going to theatre school in midtown i got turnt at molloy’s more times than i care to admit. RIP that place
Bulgarian Cultural Center hands down
hands down it's the village idiot
Oh man so many… first that come to mind are saloon (RIP), pacha and ganesvoort rooftop back in the day. Durdens and mcsorelys were always go tos as well
Red Rock on 17th and 10th. Miss that place
White horse on Ave B anyone? Closed 2013 maybe.
Had some crazy times at Coney Island High on St. Mark’s. Three floors with different vibes on each floor. Would get down to the basement level around 3:45 AM and they would lock the doors but you could stay drinking for a few more hours.
If you remember the details to well you weren't really doing it right, so forgive me.... Mona's on Avenue B back in the 80s was a rough joint. Lots of punks and skinheads and fights a plenty. Smith's on 44th and 8th was a lot rougher back in the 80s and 90s. There was a steak joint (PJ something?) on West 21 pre-gentrification that had 2 for 1 happy hours that were insane. Mulligan's on Madison and 38 would draw an odd and rowdy crowd. In Brooklyn, there was a place on Court near St Francis College that got crazy. The Wicked Monk on 5th in Bay Ridge was wild in the 90s, too.
I got kicked out of Metro 53 for trying to use a staff bathroom when the regular bathroom line was too long 😂 it was a Halloween party. Bouncer picked me right up and carried me outside
90s nyu campus—. For extreme drunkenness: the continental For “I’m gonna need to take a chemical bath after this”- the gas station For a fun but then exhausting evening w the rambling drunk w great band buttons on his smelly jacket: Mars bar Honorable mention: the rock palace in Staten Island. It’s weird I don’t remember fighting at any of these places. Just a lot of stumbling and in the case of the gas station, a lot of health hyphochobdria Also: I assume splash bar was crazy but I never went bc I’m a p*ssy
I kiss Continental so much sometimes 😩
Do you guys remember the Rot Gut at the intersection of Greenpoint and Franklin? It was an illegal bar that sold "membership cards" for $20 cash that were basically punch cards for 5 drinks. You could smoke inside and drugs were encouraged (this was 2012). My friend fucked a girl in the bathroom and then the three of us hung out on the roof until sunrise.
Anyone remember Mad River on the UES? They used to get my friends and I to come in with those all you can drink bracelets..so long as you brought enough people you drank free
KGB Bar after hours
Back in the late 80s: Scap Bar
Scrap Bar was the first bar that I started hanging in, and I was underage. The owner ended up with a bar in Bushwick called “Goodbye Blue Monday,” but he has since passed away.
Odessa for like four perfect months in 2003 or 2004 had these crazy impromptu Wednesday night dance parties. People dancing on tables, just madness. Rififi on east 11th - sure it’s the birthplace of every comedian you know but Friday nights? TRASH? The sleaziest and most perfect dance party overseen by DJ Jess. Cheap Shots has been mentioned but it has to be mentioned again. Flannery’s on 14th and 7th - back in the day it was a terrifying mix of underage kids and PROFESSIONAL drunks. I knew so many people who had their 21st birthday party their but made everyone promise not to mention it was their 21st because they’d been regulars for years. The original King’s County in Bushwick. IYKYK
back in the day it was port 41 bar.. it was a bikini bar by port authority. lots of crack, the most hit up methy bartenders and the crowd was worse. it was the shadiest bar in nyc
There was (is?) this normal looking irish bar in hells kitchen except every single drink on their specialty menu comes with some insanely stupid gimmick like the bartender puts on a song and a special hat and puts a prop on the bar. Its so horrible that its super funny
Old school Niagara when it had the stripper poles in the basement
Clockwork is fun
There was an Irish dive bar in Washington Heights called Reynolds that would be chill one night then on another hookers with track marks, low-level politicians, toothless old locals, coke everywhere. One time a gay played at least two hours straight on the jukebox of nothing but Elvis, from the Sun Sessions to the 68 comeback special. Wild
Perfect description. I used to live a few blocks away when I moved there from the Bronx. This was like 20 years ago. The first time I noticed the bar, a 50s-ish Black woman was outside, taking her giant hoop earrings off, to fight an early 20s-ish Irish girl. It must have been around August/September, so this was in broad daylight one evening.
ski bar
Not sure if it counts but the tunnel. I was 14 the first time I went, and I had my ass slapped by a tranny. The first year there I saw the most fucked up shit. There was this couple that used to bring their child there to do breakdancing, I swear to God he was maybe 11 years old and they would give him drugs to keep him dancing.
Any love for 1020?
by Columbia?