October 19, 2011
Okay, it’s Tuesday night, the night I go to a bar and see if we can score a swizzle stick. I thought that tonight we’d go back to the source for this Tuesday night swizzle stick hunt, Sardi’s. I first started thinking about swizzle sticks due to a post at Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, where he wrote about Swizzles and Sardi’s. Sardi’s was bar number 252 on my 365 Bar Crawl last year, let’s go back and say hi and get a swizzle, a drink and perhaps a snack or two.
It's a nice night out, so we'll just walk, it's about 16 blocks away. I'm enjoying this fall weather while it lasts, in about a month it's going to be freezing out and I'm dreading that.
Holy 1967, Batman! This shirt and tie combination is giving me an acid flashback. Groovy!
And here we are, Sardi's.
Holy moley, it looks like we've got the bar all to ourselves. Hey, wait a minute, what does that sign say...
Son of a bitch, the little bar is closed. Oh well, when in Rome...
Start roamin'. Up we go to the upstairs bar.
There's plenty of seats up here, let's go snag one.
Bartender Joseph serves up the double gin and tonic and it looks like we've scored a swizzle stick!
A basic black swizzle stick, perfect!
A long shot of the bar and...
Cheese and Ritz crackers! Sardi's has the best bar snacks in the city!
That guy in the cowboy hat looks familiar, so I went over and said hi.
It's Randy Jones, the cowboy from the Village People! I told him that I watched them on the old Merv Griffin show when I lived in Peoria and he told me that was perfect. A nice guy, check out his website: Randy Jones World.
Sardi's is known for the caricatures on the walls, let's look at a few.
Here's Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney, I don't know about you, but ventriloquists creep me out.
The Lord of the Thighs, Suzanne Somers.
Steve Guttenberg. Who knew he had such a giraffe neck?
Lady Gaga? Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
Swizzle Stick Donation!
Kate from One More Folded Sunset donated a half a dozen cool swizzle sticks she collected in her travels! Thanks, Kate, see you this Sunday!
The Whole Stinking Collection So Far!
Thanks to all who have donated, it’s turned into a cool collection!
Sardi’s
234 W. 44th St. (Near Broadway)
212-221-8440
Further reading: Wikipedia, trip advisor and nyc.com.
I walk on concrete,
I walk on sand.
But I can't find,
A safe place to stand.
26 Comments | Share Article | tagged Randy Jones, Sardi's, Times Square, Village People | 2 References
Reader Comments (26)
Ahhhh!! So many amazing things in this post!! 1. Check out that swizzle stick collection!! 2. Yes, PJ Harvey!!! 3. Randy Jones of the Village People!?!??!?! How cool is THAT!! 4. That shirt will go fabulously with your green wig. I've wanted to go to Sardi's ever since I saw it in the Muppets Take Manhattan when I was a little kid and still haven't gone! Thanks for the reminder, looks like a great place!!
You met Randy Jones and you're not even in the Navy?
If Joesph appeared behind the bar to take my order, I'd make sure other people could see him. He's absolutely Shining.
Way to go, Marty, you scored a swizzle AND a celebrity! I was just thinking...as your fame continues to grow, perhaps you should get together with Boris and an injection mold maker and design your very own brand of Marty head swizzle sticks. Perhaps some of the many bars you've visited would feature them in their specialty drinks.
UFB !!! .... Village People !!!!!!! ....... I didn't even know they were still alive !
@Lindsay: Definitely check out Sardi's when you get a chance, it's a great place and there's free cheese!
@csp: I"m not in the Navy, I'm not a macho man, but I am considering staying at the YMCA. Great Lloyd the bartender reference!
@Jaws: Great idea! "Boris" and I shall brainstorm on it, so have your umbrella handy!
@GENE: I know and he still looks absolutely the same! A really nice guy with no attitude, it was cool to meet him.
Randy Jones is looking great!
I love his shirt as well as the purple shirt/tie combo...
I had never heard of Randy Jones until now. PJ Harvey song has that loud and far away feel to it,,,great. Sardi's bar seemed a little bright or was it the flash?
Lovely!!Glad you added another swizzle stick to the collection. I used to have a clear glass one--lovely.
Wow - you hit paydirt here! Sardi's AND a Village Person AND a swizzle stick.
1979 top pop hits:
1. Y.M.C.A. - Village People
2. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
3. Don't Stop Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
4. We Are Family - Sister Sledge
Good stuff.
Goggla: I thought so too, he hasn't aged a bit! And he was really a nice guy. Thanks again for the glow in the dark swizzles!
@Al: You've heard of The Village People, right? It is bright in Sardi's, but the free cheese makes up for it. Plus a double gin and tonic is just 8 bucks and change, not bad at all for that part of town.
@Melanie: Yes, the collection continues to grow.
@onemorefoldedsunset: It was a great night! And thanks again for all your contributions to the swizzle stick collection, I appreciate it!
Al needs to cowboy up.
still laughing over "lord of thighs".... wow, Randy Jones! so glad you went the extra mile by climbing up those stairs.
@csp: Ha!
@Green Monkey: At first I was pissed that the smaller bar was closed (I usually like that one better), but everything turned out good because it was closed! Funny how things work out sometimes!
Wow, Cheese and Ritz crackers? Sardi's DOES have the best bar snacks in the city!
And ZOMG you totally just met Randy Jones, the cowboy from the Village People! OH SNAP!
Your swizzle stick collection is freaking awesome!
this is my third post...guess the first two are in cyber space,,,too much to re-key...the "rutgut 45" is really kickin' in...
“My mom was a ventriloquist and she always was throwing her voice. For ten years I thought the dog was telling me to kill my father.”
~Wendy Liebman
rr
oh yeah was that government cheese?
rr
@Meleah: It was a good swizzle stick night for sure!
@rr: Sorry your comments got eaten up, if I write a long comment I always copy it since the comments can be buggy here at times. Great quote! I follow Wendy on Twitter. And I don't believe that was government cheese, really tasty...and free!
Glad to see you finally discovered my favorite hangout, where I get to talk about my favorite Broadway Shows: plus I like my bartenders to be in uniform and use one of those measuring devices attached to the bottles. God forbid they should overserve me...I'd be a downright lush. Now I''m just downright upright. (Editorial Comment:) Just realized this place is above 14th Street. Major faux pas. I already miss the BMW / Guggenheim influx of some real classy culture into my neighborhood...now I feel like a ghetto-dweller again. Let me know next time you're heading to Neptune...we can commiserate over pierogies and a lot of good Polish beer. Sip Ahoy!
@rr, or anyone really. If my comment gets eaten; I iht the back one page button, my comment is still hanging out in the Post entry field. I copy it, click the date of the MAD post I want to comment on paste my comment in the post field, and hit create post. Bam, my comment is posted, I win, everyone else loses. Hope that helps. (I'm using Firefox btw.)
That's pretty stellar-a swizzle and double G&T go 8 bucks?! Nice. Do you think the other members of the Village People still dress up as their characters? Randy Jones is looking good!
@Uncle Walite: I'll let you know when I go back to Neptune for sure, Melanie wants to go to. Sip Ahoy!
@csp: Good tip, hopefully the comments bug will go away.
@Britta: It's close to Halloween and I know that lots of people will be donning Village People outfits.
It's like I always say - never throw away your old clothes because in 10 to 20 years, they'll be back in style again. I fear a resurgence of Capezio jazz shoes are right around the corner.
@Biff: I have no idea what Capezio jazz shoes are and I'm afraid to ask. Any relation to jazz hands?
I think you're supposed to do the jazz hands thing while wearing the Capezio shoes. It's a dance thing. Of course, here in Columbus, no one has ever really exercised (especially back in the '80s), so we just paired 'em with those horrible parachute pants and called it a day. In any case, they look kind of like malnourished Oxfords...and have horrible arch support.
Hey Hey Hey Marty Marty Man. I want to be a Marty fan.singin Marty Marty Man I want to be a Marty fan! Hey!
@Biff: "malnourished Oxfords" For some reason that makes me think of an anorexic Kennedy (and, no, not the VJ Kennedy.)
@Ron: Thanks for the tribute toon!