Monday, February 21, 2011
Wandering around @8:45 pm
Bleecker St. in Greenwich Village
One thing I like about this blog is I can do whatever the fuck I want to do. Some nights I may just wander around and take pictures and that’s the plan for this evening. I’m going to try and go to one bar a week, but I just am not in the mood tonight. It’s one of those nights I don’t feel like talking or being sociable, so maybe I’ll go to one tomorrow. This is what I love about this blog. If I don’t want to mingle with people I don’t have to. Do you know how many nights I didn’t want to go to a bar last year, but still had to drag my sorry ass to one and then be the motherfucking life of the goddamned party, I’m breaking out in sweats just thinking about it.
So, no bar tonight, I think I’ll walk down towards Greenwich Village and see what’s happening.
Here I am, ready to go out outfitted in my recently purchased Jaws the Cabbie jersey. Check out the Jaws the Cabbie store here: Jaws the Cabbie Store.
I've wandered down towards Bleecker Street and thought we'd take a little tour of this fine street in Greenwich Village.
The walking man says, "Walk," so that's what we'll do.
And so, here we go. A journey of Bleecker Street begins.
Here's one of my favorite stops on Bleecker Street: Bleecker Street Records.
Here's Caleb who's manning the counter at the store.
A sight for sore eyes in this day of mp3's, a wall of vinyl records.
It's time for Regis...to retire, from what I've read in the papers lately.
Mick Jagger's first solo outing, the soundtrack to "Performance."
Buttshakers!
Here's the store's security cat. Hey, wake up fella!
Night time shoppers around an outside jewelry sales table.
That's one bold statement!
The Back Fence Bar. This place has been on the block for years, maybe I'll go here tomorrow night.
I had a late lunch of a grilled salami and swiss cheese sandwich on rye and it's giving me heartburn like crazy, so I'm stopping in here to get some Rolaids. Maybe I can get a shot of a deli man in my travels.
The Chinese deli man was shy and didn't want his picture taken, but Sammy, who was buying some bagels was happy to pose for the MAD camera.
Sammy told me he works two doors down here at the Trattoria restaurant.
Here's the legendary Bleecker Street nightclub, The Bitter End.
Tom Howes was having a cigarette outside. I had a nice conversation with Tom about New York, The Lovin' Spoonful and other topics. Tom's a singer, guitarist and writer who'll be performing here in a few weeks.
And they say there's no jobs in New York these days.
And they say there's no jobs in New York these days, part II, the search for a cook.
A shadowy portrait of Kari and Mike who were relaxing on a bench on Bleecker Street.
Guitars behind bars.
Racks of postcards on Bleecker Street.
Alfrey was decked out in a suit and tie and waiting for friends to show up on Bleecker Street.
I wonder if this place is any relation to Frank Booth?
The question here is, do you really want your teeth whitened by someone who can't spell, "guaranteed?"
This is one of the best pizza joints in New York City.
Hookah pipes in a window on Bleecker Street.
Eye spy.
This store has legs.
Okay, up Sixth Avenue and homeward bound.
Boy, there's just no escape from this shit! Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow, after dark.
Bleecker St.
One of the chapters in my book, “99 Beers Off The Wall,” was spent on Bleecker St. Here’s the introduction to that chapter.
Yesterday’s scattered, all-over-the-city bar battles have left me fatigued and a true General Patton-like weariness has sunk into my battered body. My head aches, my eyes are reduced to sunken globes of a pinkish hue and my jeans stink of blood, sweat and beers. Today will be a more relaxed day as I plan to keep close to home by leisurely reviewing bars close by the homefront on Bleecker St., a mere pebble’s throw away.
The reason I chose Bleecker St., other than the fact that it’s close by, is because in my wild-eyed youth when I was in high school in the midwest town of Peoria, Illinois, my friends and I would pile in a couple of cars and park in a field on the outskirts of town where we’d proceed to get high on a variety of pills, powders, smoke and beer. When it was winter we’d sit in the beat up cars with the heaters on like they were our little apartments, stoned out of our gourds, jabbering, joking and being silly in a carefree way only a stoned 16-year-old can be. When it was an exceptionally clear night we tuned up and down the FM dial for a late night show called “Bleecker St.” The DJ/Emcee of the Bleecker St. show was one of those low-voiced, stoned/smooth talking DJ’s that emanated “cool” in the mid ’70s. He’d play music unknown and unheard of in Peoria, Illinois—the first time I ever heard The Velvet Underground was on “Bleecker St.”—and we’d get high, drink and listen intently to these new and wonderful sounds. We all wondered where this elusive Bleecker St. was until one night the stoned DJ, announced, “You’re listening to Bleecker St., here in New York City, maaan.” I remember trying to imagine what Bleecker St. and New York were like. Even my imagination stoked to the gills on pot, various pills and cheap cans of Blatz beer failed to conjure up the proper imagery, but I knew it was world’s away from sitting in a car in the middle of a field, stoned to the bone in Peoria, Illinois.
Most of the people I used to sit in cars and get high and drink cheap beer with are still in Peoria. The majority of them are married with kids, cars, jobs, house payments and lives steeped in the middle class world of midwest America. And as I consider my life of freelance writing, being single, working a goofy, responsibility-free night-shift job to pay my rent in New York City while I count the 56 bucks in my only pair of jeans, gather up my cigarettes and head out the door to drink 14 beers in 14 bars on Bleecker Street, I feel like the luckiest son of a bitch in the land.
Further reading: New York Songlines, Bleecker St. Bars on metromix and Wikipedia.
Nightcap
Thirty dollars pays your rent
On Bleecker Street.
(Not anymore, Paul, not anymore.)
28 Comments
Reader Comments (28)
I like Bleecker Street and McDougal Street ... that is a fun area ... you could spend a week doing your blog in that neighborhood ! I'm just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit before returning !
A great tour of a legendary street in the Village! Loved the vinyl photos and that guitars behind bars shot rules! Nice work!
Hey Marty, really cool this post! I like the idea to wander around and take some photos from the street!
And, thanks to you, that now I don't need to imagine how Bleecker Street looks!
I always wondered what happened to Eddie Munster.
@GENE: It's one of my favorite streets in New York and I'm waiting for it to warm up too!
@Barfly: Thanks!
@Gui Stecher: Glad you enjoyed the tour!
@Dan: Ha ha ha! There is a resemblance, a separated at birth moment!
the guarantied picture cracked me up! i thought i was a bad speller! lol!
$30 pays your rent!?! My God, what century was that? Say, thanks for the plugola Marty! The Kepler space probe just discovered a new solar system 2000 light years away, and I've got two new designs at my store to honor the occation, and any of our little grey buddies that may be dropping in for a visit on Bleeker Street....'Gliese 581 responds' and 'What's with the Butt Probes'. Roger the Alien from American Dad just bought one of each! A heartfelt congratulations to Zioum Zioum the Chainsaw and Jason Hwang...thet tied the knot in France on Saturday. The marital adventure continues...and I'm sure we'll be hearing all about it in the comments section of this blog before much longer. Way to go, Jason and Zioums!
Another Kari on the trail! Wonder if she pronounces it the same way.
Great mix of stuff all on one street. I think every chinese restaurant I've eaten at says they are the finest. I don't think I've agreed.
Part of "Sanctuary" which Dion recorded back around 71 or 72 were taped live at the Bitter End. He was going through his "folkie" phase and wore his hair long with wire rimmed glasses. Still one of my favorite albums, no doo wop in sight. The shots of Bleecker Street Records are great, I love those independent record stores. I see "ET" on the wall, wonder if that's the soundtrack from the movie. I am also a big Neil Diamond fan, (I know, I sound like a boring square) and the song he did for that movie was "Heartlight" it's one of my all time favorite songs. The guitar store is another place I could spend hours in. That lit up "BAR" sign in black and white looks just like an old movie like "Lost Weekend".
If security cat keeps it up, it's going to get transferred to Suize's.
"Bleecker" was one of my favorite Muppets... oops never mind.
What a stroll you took us on!
The souls that played the Bitter End and still do.
There was a lot of magic that happened within those walls.
The BW photos look amazing!
It just adds to the nighttime feel.
Great work.
PS.
Congratulations to the Newlyweds!
@"Boris" you can Modify "Beeker" and turn him into "Bleecker"
you are THAT talented
@Martser... totally awesome stroll.. i had a good time with you here.
thank you
@rita r.: It cracked me up too!
@Jaws: That was a long time ago, these days 30 bucks barely buys you a beer and a cheeseburger on Bleecker! And yes, congratulations to Jason and Zioum Zioum, I'm hoping they'll send pictures soon.
@kari: I thought the same thing when she told me her name. I may go eat at Suzi's tonight and see if they are indeed the finest cuisine.
@Al: Independent record stores are all that's left here. Sadly, due to the internet, the record store as we know it is dying.
@cp: Well, maybe I won't go to Suzie's after all.
@"Boris:" Thanks, Daddio, glad you enjoyed the tour!
@Gidgie: You're welcome, glad you liked it!
damn MAD really stirred the ol' nostalgia pot w/this post...after reading i sorta stared out the window and on snow covered rooftops...faded and fogged scenes of the the bitter end... shit decades ago...played like they were last week...hell a couple like they were last night...oh well...
Al...neil to me was sorta like bacharach...both wrote some great stuff...but neither could sing their own tunes anywhere near others that performed them...
performance...got that piece of vynal around here sumwhere...i'll never forget that bit from "turner"...
" Come now, gentlemen, your love is all I crave.
You'll still be in the circus when I'm laughing, laughing in my grave."
congrats to zioum zioum and jason...may they have a fantastic journey forward...
rr
@rr: Nice memo!
this is way way way off topic....but w/the state of states this action is still going on:
Mom Gets 10-Year Sentence for Selling $31 of Pot
rr
@rr: Do you have a link to that story? That's crazy!
should have pasted link in first place...this is so twilight zone...i could not believe it...
http://www.newsok.com/oklahoma-watch-how-31-of-pot-gave-mom-a-10-year-prison-sentence/article/3542585?custom_click=lead_story_title#
rr
@rr: That's fucking nuts! Thanks for the link.
@raginrr: That story about the 10 year sentence for a little pot is incredible. So many young people with lives ruined because of very minor amounts of grass. Prisons are filled with these people that in this country are treated like they are murderers or rapists. The sad part is that because of pot, now when they get out, years later, they may be hardened and the laws which are antiquated, did this. Feel bad for the mother,,,this stuff should of been legalized a long time ago. Go after murderers, child molesters, rapists, Bernie Madoff types,,,,,Im getting carried away here,,,but you guys get my point.
Love Bleeker street! I played a nice Fender Jazz bass in Matt Umanov's guitar shop, perused the shelves in Bleeker st Records...then found myself around the corner at the White Horse tavern!!
I'd take that cooks job if it meant I could live in NYC.
@Clecky of Bunt's Downunder: I thought of you when I saw that cook's sign!
Very cool tour Marty!!
@Tiki Bar Susie: Thanks! Great to see you here!
Great Post Marty! You live in the greatest city in the world and all you have to do is walk out your door and you have a story! I'm embarrased that i have never been there yet! Buying a vinyl record used to be an emotional experience. Go home and throw it on the turntable while reading all the liner notes.....Yeah! You have it good Pal! You are living in the center of the universe and still creating! I'm sure you would like to see a little more payoff........but in a way.......you already have it! You're doing it all in New York City! Cheers and a few Beers!
Thanks Professor! Great to see you commenting again! I hear you about the record buying experience, something I really miss. I remember de-seeding pot on glossy album covers! You need to get out here someday and we'll tear this town up! Or I need to get to Milwaukee.
Professor! When you finally decide to head to NYC, we should try to synchronize our watches. Marty, if I ever had only $56 and my last pair of jeans, I'd want to spend it with you in the Village. Lots of beer, friendly folks, maybe some fries, and no tooth whitening. Sounds like heaven.
@Biff: It is heaven, especially when the weather gets a little warmer!