Saturday, April 16, 2005

Hoboken Hope

The wife and I decided to take a little trip across the river to Hoboken, New Jersey. This is the town that gave us Frank Sinatra. It is a great place to go bar-hopping and that is what I did.

402) Oddfellows

Right across from the Path Station is this funky New Orleans style bar on 80 River Street. The bar is in the shape of a check-mark. The short side angles off from a large window over-looking the New Jersey Transit Bus Terminal (and the Path Station). A fairly standard set-up behind the bar exceptf for the stuff hanging or sitting all over the place. Madi Gras beads and masks, rubber alligators, brass instruments, and a dreaded swamp elephant. Some of the larger brass instruments have women's legs sticking out of them. A beautiful Italian marble-like ceiling with old-style overhead fans. An old wooden floor. A back room with a couple of pool tables and a good-sized dining room with pictures of Madi Gras scenes on the walls. The walls were primarily brick and there was a large molding on top with a lot of license plates nailed to it. Curling was being televised on three televisions, so that kind of broke the New Orleans mood a bit.

I had a Boddington's.

403) Texas Arizona

Next door at 76 River Street is Texas Arizona. It has the same style ceiling as the place next door so I assume someone remodeled the whole building and then leased out the two bar areas. The bar is copper-topped with a light wood front and a black ledge for your foot. The bar isn't straight, but has a couple of jogs in it. There is a wooden armrest in front of the copper top. The bar chairs are wood with a nice cherry finish to them. Two fabric covered lamps hang from the ceiling. There were eight television sets in the room with the bar and another couple in the smaller dining area off to the side. Mostly tile floors but with one wood area and a raised area in the back with a number of tables that has a wooden floor as well. There is outside seating on the sidewalk and large windows behind the bar let you order and receive your drinks out there without having to come inside.

I had a Tanqueray and Tonic.

404) Hobson's Choice

A corner bar with large windows with venetian blinds on 77 Hudson Street. A good sized wooden bar with a wooden foot rest and wooden bar chairs. A set of mirror backed wood cabinets sit on top of dark green shelves and coolers. There are at least half a dozen televisions and a pool table. Three banks of green and white glass shaded lights hang over the bar. A high tin ceiling painted kind of a gold/mustard color. The wall behind the bar is brick but the others are dark green. Dark green pillers set on high wooden bases run down the center of the room and are docorated with Christmas lights. A wooden parrot clutching a Corona sits on a perch hanging from the ceiling.

I had a Tanqueray and Tonic.

405) Scotland Yard

Now this place, on 77 Hudson, had a real authentic New Orleans jazz club feel to it. It is a dark, narrow place about seven steps down from street level. A fairly low, but ornate ceiling. A red brick floor and dark brown painted brick walls. Dark wood paneling goes about halfway up the walls and there is a narrow ledge on top just large enough to set down a drink. The bar is an odly shaped angular affair with a center island. It has a wooden top and a wood paneled front. A ledge for your foot and a brass rail around the top of the bar that is held in place by brass lion-heads. Televisions and shelves with bottles sit on the center island. White glass-shaded lights hang above the bar and the rest of the place as well. Through a narrow passage you can enter another small room with another bar. There was a three-piece group playing decent music and the small crowd was rocking. They had a large selection of bottled beers.

I had a draft Franzishaner Weissbier.

406) Green Rock

I didn't have to stroll to far too hit this place on 70 Hudson. It is a fairly narrow place with a nice old wooden bar with the traditional brass rail. Eleven beers on draft but a pretty mundane selection. Three very large mirrors are behind the bar set in a very large ornate dark wood frame. A pea-soup green tiled ceiling and wooden floors. Mirrors behind the wooden bar-chairs as well. Lots of television sets showing the Mets/Marlins game. The walls are a combination of brick and pale green. Tables in the back and an in-use dart board. Overhead fans and large, clear lightbulbs with small metal shades on top hung over the bar.

I had a Tanqueray and Tonic.

407) Louise and Jerry's

Another step-down type of bar on 329 Washington Street. Very narrow place with an L shaped polished wood bar. Tile floors with a little white, red, and black octogon pattern. White Christmas lights hung above the burgandy painted walls above knotty-pine paneling. There was a pool table in the back. The ceiling looked like a gun-metal grey ceramic replica of an old tin ceiling. Behind the bar were mirrors and nice sparkly, mirrored lights.

I had a draft Bass Ale.

Well, I will certainly be hitting Hoboken again. Lot's of bars in a small area makes this like shooting fish in a barrel. I hit six bars and that didn't include where we had dinner (it was a B.Y.O.B. place so we brought a bottle of white wine). This made 407 for the year and 593 left to go. Which means only 92 more until May 14th at, what looks like, a party at The Gate.

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