Music Festival In Hoboken

It was a beautiful sunny day and perfect to head over to Hoboken again and partake in a street fair and music festival. The place was jammed and there were blocks of booths selling food and all of the usual street fair stuff. I actually passed by a couple of places because they were too packed and one was even charging a cover because they had live music, like it wasn’t for free on the street. On the other hand, in there you probably didn’t have to deal with the “new” Herman’s Hermits.

466) Wilton House

Just a short walk from the Path and a bit off the main drag at 58 Newark Street we came to this inviting looking place. Of course my first bar of the day always looks inviting. It had a long tan tile bar with a tan Formica type of finish, only it was kind of textured. It had a tiled foot rest. Old dark wood bar chairs. Light tan cupboard and drawers behind the bar topped with a black top and a step shelf holding the liquor. A mirror runs pretty much the length of the place and is emblazoned with the bar’s name and two horse heads. The ceiling is brown painted tin and hanging from it, over the bar, are overhead fans with white globe lights. The floor has the same reddish orange tiles as our kitchen. The walls are kind of a rough planking and there are large mirrors on one of the side walls. Three televisions, two with the Yankees Toronto game and one showing the Detroit Phillie basketball game.

I had a bottle of Samuel Adam’s Boston Lager, in the bottle, no glass offered.

467) Black Bear

On the crowded street where the festival was taking place, at 205 Washington Street was this crowded place. I guess this place is supposed to have some kind of a hunting lodge look to it. One wall is wood paneled and has two deer heads and a bear skin mounted on it as well as a pretty small northern or some other similar looking fish. Some old advertising signs and a U.S. Government Reservation No Trespassing sign. Over the bar are a couple of chandeliers made out of antlers. A set of moose antlers, a set of deer antlers, and a small black bear head are mounted high on the wall behind the bar. There are a lot of televisions, at least a dozen mounted on the walls both downstairs and in the upstairs dining area. The bar is a dark wood angled affair with a narrow rail. A carved bear in dark wood, along with a bouncer, keep an eye on the door.

I had a Tanqueray and tonic.

468) DaVinci

Walking up the street I passed by a couple of places that were just too crowded. One was a tiki bar but I simply couldn’t get up to the bar. I will catch it on a return trip. This was a small Italian restaurant with a small bar. The bar is wood with a brass foot rail and a brass rail on top that is held in place by the trunks of brass elephant heads. An overhead rack holds glasses and bottles. A tiered shelf behind the bar holds wine and liquor bottles and a mirror with a frosted image of DaVinci’s study of the proportions of man. The one with the four arms and four legs stretched out. The floor is white tile with black diamond shapes. The ceiling is black lacquer with embedded spot lighting and silver and wood overhead fans. A few pictures of seaside towns hang on the very light tan wash walls. A few old-fashioned lights hang on the walls as well. A fairly small dining area with about 15 small tables. There is an outdoor seating area as well.

I had a Tanqueray and tonic.

469) Court Street

Every place on Washington was getting pretty packed and some, with live music, had a cover charge. I am not a big fan of paying for the privilege of paying for drinks. I ducked off the path being well beaten and into this somewhat quieter, but still crowded, bar. Just a wood bar with a brass rail, nothing fancy. Glass shelving behind the bar holds glasses, bottles, and individual drink-sized cocktail shakers. There are large wood framed mirrors behind the shelves. Lots of sports and celebrity themed pictures hang from the cream-colored walls. There is a good sized dining area in the back. A black ceiling that looks like sound proofing has overhead fans and recessed spot lighting. There are large, paned windows on two sides. Four televisions showing the Yankees losing to Toronto

I had a Tanqueray and tonic.

470) Moran’s

We took a little walk around and found a nice park. Right by it was an unmarked bar. No sight outside advertising its name or even that it is a bar. It just looks like a bar. It is 501 Garden Street, right on the corner. The place had a lively crowd but it looked like regulars and not the overflow from the festival. A good sized wooden bar with a brass rail and old looking wooden bar chairs. Lot’s of dried vine type of arrangements decorated with colored Christmas lights. These are mounted on the wall behind the bar and in metal containers in the windows. A black patterned tin ceiling with school room type lights hanging over the bar. There is a well-lit dart board on one wall and a good sized dining area in the back. An old wood floor. The walls are the light tan walls have wood paneling that goes up about three quarters of the way to the ceiling. Yellow golf course flags hang above the mirror behind the bar. A couple of televisions, one showing the Yankee Toronto game and the other showing the Heat Net game.

I had a Tanqueray and tonic.

471) Bar NoCetti

I got off the Path at Christopher Street and the bar was just sitting there, waiting for me. And here we were, just back from Hoboken, the birthplace of Frank Sinatra and we walk into a bar playing Frank Sinatra on the sound system. Is that spooky, or what? This place is right on the corner of Christopher and Greenwich. A good sized dark wood bar with a bend in it. A silver set of taps with unmarked black handles. They did have the names of the four beers posted on a blackboard leaning up against the brick wall behind the bar. There was an old ornate mosaic floor that had been chipped away in places. Tiered shelves behind the bar held bottles. One section of the wall is white and has a large mirror in a wide wooden frame mounted on it. Windows on two sides of this corner place. A new looking tin ceiling with both recessed and protruding small spot lites. Dark tables and chairs separated from the bar by a wooden divider with a narrow shelf for drinks. A large Warhol Absolut poster is mounted on the rose colored section of the back wall. The rest of the walls are dark brown and brick with a mirror and some framed photos hanging from them.

I had a glass of Pino Grigio and headed home.

A most decent day with six bars under my belt making a total of 471 for the year and leaving me with 529 left to go.