Drinks On The Water

As I mentioned last week, when Bernie and I were in Bally Bunion a fellow recommended that we visit his home bar, the Tamaqua Club. at Gerritsen Beach in Brooklyn. It was a good recommendation as you will see.

979) Tamaqua Club





Bar Man, Mysterious Chinese Woman, MaryAnn, and Bernie


This was a classic waterfront bar and clubhouse that has been around forever, or at least since the 1920s.

Tamaqua Club In The 20's


It doesn’t look like it has changed a lot and the people in here seem to like it that way. It is a large place that has the feel of an old VFW or American Legion club. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. Too many of these old clubs feel a need to remodel and a lot of what made them fun somehow seems to get lost. When you walk in here you really feel like you have stepped back in time and certainly stepped out of Brooklyn. It is right on the water and there is a active marina right in front. One of the guys drinking in here lives part of the time on a boat docked right outside.

There is a square bar with a black rippled linoleum top with a narrow wood armrest in front, a wood-grained Formica front, and a black footrest. Seating is a combination of old wood bar chairs and bar stools with well worn, torn and taped seats. There are three beer stations on the bar, two on one side and one on the opposite side. They each had two spigots so not much of a selection, but they did have a Sam Adam’s and some kind of an Amber Bock. The bartender works inside the square bar where there are two wooden cabinets that have green and white diamond patterned stained glass doors.

Kim, The Bartender Who Made Us Feel Like Regulars


Sitting on top of them are two tiers of liquor and metal racks of little bags of potato chips and, Bar Man’s favorite, Cheese Curls. They do have a kitchen in here but nobody seemed to be eating. Maybe it is more of a dinner place. They seem to host a lot of events here and do have live music on occasion.

There are a couple of pool tables at one end and a foosball machine up against the back wall. Tables and chairs and benches pretty much line the walls and occupy most of the free floor space. There are all kinds of mounted fish on the walls along with photos of the regulars, many of them proudly displaying their catch.



All of the people in here seemed to be regulars, but very friendly.

MaryAnn, Hoping To Join The Regulars


One fellow showed me around the place and gave me a quick run-down of the neighborhood and how much he liked it. I can see why. By the time we left we all felt like regulars too.

The wall next to the water has large glass windows so you can sit and gaze out at the water and the boats. It doesn’t look quite the way as it used to, a bit grimier with more grit, but still has the flavor of an old fishing town. If someone just plopped you down here you would never think that you were in Brooklyn.

The Way It Looked Not Too Long Ago


I had a few Amber Bocks and shots of Yukon Jack (beers and shots seemed to be the thing to drink) before calling it a day. I will be back though when summer rolls around.

Shipping Out To Staten Island

Today I hit the last of the five boroughs of New York City, Staten Island. It was a fairly nice day for a boat ride, but we did stay inside instead of hanging on the rails to watch the Statue of Liberty go by. If you visit New York you really should take the ferry, it is free and you can just get off at Staten Island and then get back on the next one to Manhattan. You get great views. We were escorted by a Coast Guard boat with machineguns fore and aft. First time I have ever seen that.

975) Ruddy & Dean



This is a steak house with only a hanger steak on the menu. To be fair, it was there lunch menu. The dinner menu did, indeed, offer a lot of steaks including a porterhouse, one of my favorites. There is a decent sized bar with a marble top and a polished dark wood armrest and front. A brass rail and wood bar chairs with mustard-yellow seats. A matching wood bar back with shelves for liquor and glasses and coolers with glass doors that were full of beer. Tiered shelves above for liquor with one section full of a good selection of bottled wines. There is a fairly large espresso machine at one end. Large mirrors are behind the bottles. Stubby blue tubular lights hang over the bar.

The walls are pale orange above wood paneling. Dark blue half-cone shaped lights hang on the wall opposite the bar towards the back along with a couple of Christmas presents. Brown booth-like benches line that section of the wall with tables covered in white tablecloths in front of them. There are more tables in a wider section of the room across the way and these have little green flying saucer shaped lights hanging over them.

There is a large upstairs party room with a small outside area that offers a nice view of downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn.



The bartenders said sunsets with the light reflecting off the buildings are quite beautiful.

Rob And LeeAnn, The Friendly And Informative Bartenders


This place is quite close to both the ferry terminal and the ballpark where the “Baby Bombers” play. It seems like it would be a very nice place to stop in for a drink and even dinner before or after a game. I may very well do that one day next summer. On this somewhat chilly day I had a Dewar’s and soda.

976) Sidestreet Saloon



As the name implies, this is a fairly small bar on a small side street. The bar is U shaped and wraps around a square brick column with shelves of liquor on the back corners. The bar is old wood with a brass rail running around it. The bar chairs are high-backed dark wood. The back side of the bar has a door leading to the kitchen and next to that are more shelves of liquor and a metal overhead rack of glasses. A bit of an overhang above the bar (more like a lowered section of the ceiling) has recessed lights and is decorated with a garland of pine and small white lights.

There is a decent sized dining area with brick walls and a large Bass Ale mirror. Behind where I was sitting was a large mirror, a Fire Bird II jukebox, a television, and a System Megatouch game that seemed to cycle through snippets of lots of video games. My favorite was air hockey.

I had a Dewar’s and soda.

977) Danny O’s Pub



This was an Irish pub where everyone, except the bartender, was speaking a language other than English, and it wasn’t Irish either. It sounded like either Swedish or Norwegian. A bit strange. There was a nice wooden bar with a bit of a curve to it at the end by the door. There was a variety of seating at the bar, at my end they were old wooden chairs with high curved backs and seats padded in torn and taped brown leather-like vinyl. This, apparently, was a family owned bar with the old guy tending bar being one of the owners. It was quite dark in here but well decorated with wrapped presents, plastic Santas, and strings of little white lights.

This could safely be put into the dive bar category what with a pretty standard bar back and stacks of boxes of unrefrigerated Almaden wine ready for your drinking pleasure. A cold breeze laced with cigarette smoke blue through every time the bartender stood in the doorway having a smoke. Actually that wasn’t too bad because it masked the slight smell of urine that seemed to pervade the place. The foosball machine was, mercifully, in the front.

I had a bottle of Magner’s Cider served in a glass that wasn’t all that clean.

978) Karl’s Klipper



A somewhat small bar tucked into the end of a fairly large dining area. The bar itself was comfortable enough with high-backed dark wood chairs in front of a bar with a brass rail. Several beer stations each with two spigots sat on the bar. As you might gather from the name, it has a somewhat nautical look to it with a ship’s wheel and a picture of a Clipper ship on the wall. Lots of multi-colored lights were strung above the mirrors behind the bar that had tiered shelves of liquor. Not too much to see here but just a neat little place to pop into for a quick drink.

I had a Dewar’s and soda.

The sun was just setting as I headed back to the ferry and the sunset was, indeed, quite spectacular. The buildings in lower Manhattan had a bright golden glow to them that was really beautiful. This just reinforces my intentions to come back to Ruddy and Dean on summer evening for drinks on their deck.

A very pleasant, although chilly, day with four bars hit making 978 for the day and leaving 22 more for the year. And I have now had a drink in at least one bar in all five boroughs of New York and several in Long Island as well.

A Trip To Queens

Queens is the borough just adjacent to Brooklyn with a bit of a non-specific boundary. At least few people seem able to agree on exactly where the boundary between Queens and Brooklyn actually lies. It lies somewhere beyond Williamsburg, that’s all I know. I got there by subway and I know that where I got off was, without a doubt, Queens.

973) Ovidios Sport Bar



This was my first bar in Queens, on 65th and 39th, one block off Roosevelt Avenue, but it might just as well have been in another country. Not a person in the place, including the bartender, spoke English. Luckily the bartender did understand the word “Budweiser.” It is universal. When I asked how much it was I got a glass.

There is a good-sized bar with a black linoleum top and a wooden armrest in front in this pretty bare-bones place. The only other customer in the place would occasionally break into song, usually when the bartender, who was wearing short shorts, wandered down to his end of the bar. The bar chairs were kind of nice, with light tan bucket seats on metal legs. They spun around but this didn’t seem like the kind of place to be spinning around and shouting “Whoopie.”

There were old wood shelves and coolers with wooden doors behind the bar and a tiered shelf of liquor sitting on top of that. The bottom tier was lit from behind with a blue light giving bottles of vodka and gin an eerie glow. White plaster arches and columns with interesting raised patterns surrounded mirrors that had a strand of purple Christmas trim draped above them. There was a sign on one saying “Trago Pedido – Trago Pagado.” If someone knows what that means let me know. There was an overhang above the area behind the bar with a fine metal grate that had purple florescent lights above it giving it a bit of an other-worldly look. There were two televisions on the wall above the windows in front showing the Spanish version of Fox sports. Interestingly, Fox is also the name of the Mexican president.

Small tables with red table cloths and green vases with red flowers sitting on them lined the wall up by the windows and the wall opposite the bar. The wall opposite the bar is wood paneling above which are mirrors. Half circle red lights hang on the mirrors and on the back wall. There are also some plastic Santa Clauses and white balloons hanging on them. There was also a large illuminated snowman sitting up front.

I had a bottle of Budweiser served with a little napkin wrapped around the top, just like you get them in Mexico. I passed on the glass and just threw a $10 bill on the table to find out how much the beer cost. It was $4.

974) Rey Azteca



I had to wander a ways before I found another bar that was open. Kind of surprising because this just looked like a stretch where there would be a lot of little bars that would be open all day. It was a nice enough Mexican bar and restaurant with a Venezuelan bartender. The large windows on two sides that look out on a gray Roosevelt Avenue and a lack of heat in the place when I walked in let you know you weren’t in Mexico though.

There was a nice wooden bar with a clear plastic top that covered Mexican currency, bills and coins, and pictures that looked like they were torn from Mexican magazines and newspapers. There was a silver foot rail and black bar chairs. The bar back was kind of plain, just wooden shelves of glasses and tiered shelves of liquor and their selection of bottled and canned beers. They did have quite an extensive selection of tequilas. There is an overhang above the area just behind the bar tiled to look like the roof of a hacienda. Above that was a multi-colored mosaic embedded with beer bottles. There were also a number of small mirrors with wide wooden frames hanging on it.

The floor was a nicely patterned tile. The walls were yellow above wood paneling. On the wall to the right of the bar is a large framed Mexican flag behind glass. On the back wall and the portion of the wall opposite the bar that didn’t have windows were large heavy looking plaster wall hangings with a variety of Mexican designs. There were lots of little tables with tops that looked like distressed copper.

I had a margarita, on the rocks even though I asked for it up. It wasn’t very good, made with one of those sweet mixes instead of fresh limes. On the bright side, the heat was turned on and it was quite cozy by the time I left.

A pretty decent day with two new bars and one new borough hit. This makes 974 bars for the year and leaves me with 26 more bars and one more borough for the year.

Beers (And Shots) With The Boys

A reader of this blog, Nick, was coming into Manhattan from New Haven with a bunch of his buddies and wanted to get together for a drink or two. They started out at McSorley’s where I joined them for a few beers. I couldn’t count McSorley’s though because I have already been there. We didn’t have to wander too far after we left though to find virgin (and I use that term a wee bit loosely) territory.

971) Coyote Ugly



Barman, John, John, Doreen, and Michael Heading In


On 1st Avenue between 9th and 10th is this, by now, notorious watering hole. Not too many bars have a movie made about them, but this one did. Or was it the other way around. After an hour or so in here who knows or cares. This is one of the few places in this neighborhood that has a bouncer during the day checking everyone's IDs.

Adam The Bouncer (Even Bar Man Had To Show His ID)


The bar looks ancient and almost worn through in spots with a metal pipe arm rest and the metal bar stools with the wobbling and spinning torn black vinyl seats keep you on your toes. Of course the creaking wooden floor with little changes in height here and there doesn’t make keeping on your toes, or your feet, for that matter, very easy. Relatively cheap beers and generous shots just add to the confusion. Behind the bar is a huge chest full of ice and beers and shelves packed with booze. You will not go dry in here, if you can get the bartenders attention that is. But once you do it is worth it.

Samantha The Dancing Bartender


The two duct-taped beer stations with 5 spigots each added a nice touch. Of course they seemed to be out of anything I actually wanted so I settled for bottled beer. It seemed somehow right though.

Running down the center of the place are poles with small round tables built around them and a few chairs scattered here and there. There are also a few booths against one of the walls but this is mostly a stand up and toss them down kind of a place.The walls are covered in red peeling paint, pictures of patrons, and bras, hundreds and hundreds of bras.

More Bras Than You Could Shake A Breast At


If you come in here wearing one be prepared to leave it. From the looks of most of them though they were bought from a street vendor for about twenty-five cents each. I don’t think I have actually seen anyone wearing a bra like most of these since I was in high-school. Up by the front windows there is a large cowboy hat hanging from the ceiling with a green light bulb in it. I particularly liked the poster on the wall of one ugly coyote.

An Ugly Coyote


Come in for a few drinks and with almost no encouragement the bartender will dance on the bar for you. Come late at night and the customers will too.

I had a bottle of Budweiser and a couple of shots of Bushmills.

972) The Central Bar



Well, I was going to just head home because I had plans for dinner with friends but I passed by this place on 9th between 3rd and 4th. I had to take a whiz and had a bit of a thirst for another shot of Bushmills so in I went. I have to say, this was a really nice place and I didn’t even know it was there. An old dark wood bar with two sets of 9 curved silver beer spigots that actually poured beer. Little cracked crystal globe lights hung over the bar. There is a wide expanse of shelves behind the bar and square wooden bar stools with dark and light brown soft leather seats attached with brass headed tacks.

There were lots of televisions showing sports, mostly soccer around the place. There is a small brick fireplace in the front in the center of the room built into a column. Mostly red walls with a small lounge area up front with brown padded seats facing a bench with matching brown padding. This was a spacious place that still maintained and intimate and cozy feel to it. The friendly manager, Leslie, and bartender, Iva, added to the ambience and we chatted a bit about quest and bars in general. They were very generous in providing suggestions of places to visit. Maybe they were trying to get rid of me.

Leslie, The Manager


Iva, The Bartender


In the back was a staircase decked in white lights that was leading up to somewhere.

I had a pint of Boddington’s and another shot of Bushmills before catching the subway home.

A decent day, and a lot of fun. Several new friends and two new bars making 972 bars for the year and leaving 28 to go. I will be taking tomorrow off. It is my birthday and I will be going to Chinatown to have a birthday dim sum with the Mysterious Chinese Woman and her family. That will be fun, I am sure.

Bay Ridge With Bernie

It was another nice day today, although a bit on the windy side. My friend Bernie and I had planned to go to Bay Ridge with a couple of other friends but, unfortunately, they weren’t able to make it. Ah well, the two of us had enough fun for four.

967) Bally Bunion



After getting off the N Train at 95th I met up with Bernie who was on the train right behind mine and we walked over to 3rd Avenue, kind of a Mecca of bars. It is located at 9510 3rd Avenue and it is kind of hard to miss. This was a very friendly place despite the bartenders refusal to let me take her picture for posting on this blog. She said she had a bad experience once with her picture appearing on the internet. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. The bar had a white top with an oak arm rest and front. Two beer stations with four spigots each sit on the bar. There was a brass rail and wooden bar chairs. Nice old wood shelves and cabinets behind the bar with the shelves holding liquor. More bottles sat on tiered shelves sitting on top in front of mirrors festooned with little white branches decorated with little white lights and red bows. There is also a brass bell to be rung when someone buys a round of drinks.

Above the area behind the bar were three good sized wooden racks hanging from the ceiling that had glasses hanging from them. Clear inverted dome shaped crenulated lamps hang over the bar from the black ceiling. There were also several overhead fans. The front window had a lot of plants hanging from the top and road signs with the names of Irish towns on them hanging above along with lights like the ones hanging over the bar. The wall next to the bar up by the windows had what looked what might be mirrors hanging on it, but they were wrapped to look like presents.

The wall opposite the bar was green above wood paneling. There were signed pictures of ball players along with a baseball that was signed by the player in cases hanging on the wall. A lot of little tables with green tops and chairs were up front and there is a dining area in the back that has a fireplace.

We spent a fair amount of time chatting with a retired firefighter, mostly about fishing. My friend Bernie is an avid fisherman although he is allergic to fish. Kind of ironic. This fellow, I believe his name was Fred, also told us about a bar in his neighborhood that is on the water and has all kinds of pictures and mounted fish on the walls. He said you could spend a couple of hours looking at it. I don’t remember the name of the place or where it was but Bernie wrote it down so I think we are going to visit it next week.

I had a pint of Guinness.

968) O’Sullivan’s



Just down the street a couple of blocks at 8902 3rd Avenue is another classic Irish pub. It has an old oak bar with a brown tile foot rest and wooden bar chairs with green seats. Two round brass beer stations with five spigots each sat on the bar. Coolers with wooden doors and tiered shelves of liquor behind the bar with more bottles sitting on top. Three large mirrors with the name of the bar frosted on the middle one that is partially obscured by a large wreath with red bows and white lights are behind the bottles. Shelves and cabinets with leaded glass paneled doors were on each side of the mirrors.

There are two large televisions but they were both turned off. There was another small one in the corner with OTB showing and that was generating a lot of attention. Apparently a group of guys had just barely missed winning a trifecta in a photo finish. The funny thing was that they came in after the actual race was over so they were watching a replay but didn’t know what the results would be. They weren’t amused by my suggestion that they might have better luck if it was replayed again.

Wide ledges with bar chairs in front of them were against the wall opposite the bar. The floor was patterned light and dark tan tiles and the ceiling was white. There were several chandeliers hanging from the ceiling each with five inverted dome light. There were also several more televisions around the place but aside from the one I mentioned and one showing that lotto-ball game they were all off.

The bartender, Eddie, recognized who I was so we chatted a bit about bars and the life of a bartender.

Eddie, The Gregarious And Generous Bartender


He bought my Bernie and me each a $1 lotto ticket with the number of his bar, 968. Check the papers tomorrow to see if I won.

I had a Dewar’s and soda.

969) Henry Grattan’s



Just down the block a bit at 8814 3rd Avenue is this really nice Irish pub with all kinds of interesting things sitting on shelves, hanging on the walls and, in the case of a suit of armor wearing a Santa Claus beard, standing on the floor. The owner, Barry Donovan, was in the process of hanging a huge wreath outside the place when we walked up and they were in the process of doing a nice decorating job inside as well. I think the suit of armor was going to get a hat to go with his beard. It really was kind of like a little museum in here with an old accordion sitting on a shelf, a violin in its case hanging on the wall, pictures galore including a couple of dogs in formal evening attire, a gold record for a song and an artist I have never heard of, all kinds of stuff. You could spend a fair amount of time in here just looking around. There is also a fireplace with logs burning that just added to the warm and cozy feel of this place.

Barry, The Pleasant Owner


The bar was old, dark wood with the familiar wood bar chairs with green seats. There was an elaborate bar back with old wood drawers, cupboards, and cabinets. Mirrors above those with tiered shelves of liquor and glasses stored underneath. There were all kinds of Christmas decorations such as pine boughs, red bows and ribbons, and little white lights. There is a wooden overhang above the bar that is also well decorated. In fact the whole place is done up for Christmas.

Bernie, Adding To The Christmas Spirit


There were overhead fans with inverted dome lights hanging from the wood beamed ceiling. The floor was wood as well. There is a very nice dining room in the back that looks like it could be your Aunts, if your Aunt had a large theater screen against the back wall (showing ‘It’s A Wonderful Life.”. Everyone was friendly in here and Bernie said he was definitely coming back for St. Patrick ’s Day next year. I will be Mexico drinking green margaritas but I am going to come back here for dinner one night. I understand the food is great.

I had a Dewar’s and soda.

970) Kettle Black



We didn’t have to go far, just up to 8622 3rd Avenue to find our next bar. This place used to be Fitzpatrick’s and just opened as Kettle Black in 2004. I am guessing that it was remodeled and glassed in extensions on two sides were added at the time. As a result it doesn’t have a very cozy feel to it, but then almost any place would suffer in comparison to Henry Grattan’s. The fact that the day was turning a bit gray didn’t help but it might be a lot nicer on a bright sunny day given the floor to ceiling windows on two sides. I will have to say that the black and white tiled floor didn’t add a lot of warmth to the place either.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad about this place. It has a nice old wood bar with a very narrow ledge just big enough for your big toe. The bar chairs here have black seats. Eight curved silver beer spigots protrude from the bar. Old wooden shelves and mirrors behind the bar with a couple of Jackson Pollack looking American flags painted behind the shelves at each end. There is a shiny tine ceiling. Multi-colored lights in plastic tubing run around the walls near the ceiling. There are at least a dozen televisions around the place so it would be a good place to stop in to watch a game. There is certainly plenty of room. There is also a dining area in the back.

I had a Dewar’s and soda and Bernie and I headed off to catch the train vowing to return to the neighborhood again and to Henry Gratton’s in particular.

A very fine day indeed with four very nice bars visited making a nice round 970 for the year and leaving 30 more to go. Tomorrow I am meeting some out-of-towners at McSorley's, which I have already visited, and then we will try to find one that I haven't been to before in the general neighborhood.

Bar Number 1000 Is Approaching

Just another reminder that Bar Number 1000 is just around the corner and it is going to be PIONEER in New York. I will be having my drink on Friday, December 30th and should be there around 6:00 P.M. Of course I will be sticking around for awhile. Hell, there will no longer be a reason for me to go anyplace else. I might just move in. Stop by, have a drink with me, be a part of history. It is also a great excuse to start your New Years Eve celebration a day early.



PIONEER is located at 218 Bowery, and what could be more New York than that. It is easy to get to by subway, which would just add to the experience. You can find out more about PIONEER by clicking the picture below.

I am certainly looking forward to this and looking forward to seeing all of you.