Friday, November 5th, 2010—2010

Day 299—Thursday, November 4th, 2010
Coal Yard Bar
About a week ago I read a post on the fine EV Grieve blog announcing that a new bar was opening in the East Village called Coal Yard Bar and that  the owners were the same people who own the International Bar that I visited last July.
That bar is certainly one of the top ten bars in New York I’ve been to, so I’m curious to see what the Coal Yard Bar is all about. So what do you say that we go check it out?

Here we are, let's go in and see what's happening, it looks nice from the outside.

Wow, nice and dark in here and it feels like a bar that's been on the block for years.

And friendly bartender Johnny serves up an ice cold Rolling Rock for three bucks. There's happy hour prices in here all night long.

And here's a pretty and familiar face, Elaina was the bartender on duty when I went to the sister bar, The International, great to see her again!

The bar's been open about a week, but tonight was the official grand opening night and here I am with the beautiful owners of the bar, Molly and Shawn.

Molly got shots for some of us up at the bar. From left: Yours Fooly, Shawn, Molly, Fernando, Roger and Lauren giving the double-fingered salute. Cheers!

A shot of the dark bar in all its glory.

Kristen and Julie were enjoying the opening night's festivities.

A shot of the top of the maple wood bar.

There's a nice-sized window up front where you can gaze out onto the East Village.

Boo!

The liquor bottles behind the bar are lit up in a nice shade of magenta.

Vintage beer signs dot the walls of the bar.

Molly introduced me to her friends, Cal (far right) and head of security, Big Lee giving the middle finger salute that's become so popular on the 365 crawl.

Like the International, the Coal Yard has a great jukebox with selections including: Roger Miller, The Velvet Underground, Dolly Parton, Led Zeppelin and Bo Diddley.

When asked to have his picture taken, AJ said, "Why the fuck not?" I like his attitude!

Meanwhile, Elaina's taking care of business at the bar.

There's tables in the dimly-lit back room.

There's a long wooden railing opposite the bar to rest a drink and an elbow on.

Fernando and Jason were hanging out by the front door. Both men are musicians and they introduced me to another musician who's name is...

Marty! We'll call this shot, "Marty Squared."

Hey, these two look familiar...

By cracky, it's Clacky and Shannon from Australia completing a trifecta of one finger salutes! Goodnight, everybody!

Review
Molly and Shawn, the owners of Coal Yard Bar deserve a medal for reviving the International Bar in the East Village in 2008. It’s one of the best bars on that block and beyond and now they’ve taken the old rule of, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it,” and opened up a sister bar, The Coal Yard Bar. Walking into the bar you immediately feel at home and although the joint is new, it feels like it’s been on the block for years. The dark-grained wooden half moon bar is impressive and dominates the front of the bar. It was made and crafted for the bar and owner Molly told me they wanted it to have the finish of a Les Paul guitar. To just imagine a bar with a Les Paul guitar finish is a genius thought and they’ve pulled it off here.

There’s a full bar and well drinks are just four bucks. There’s a decent selection of draft beer and there’s also cans and bottles available. Rolling Rocks go for three bucks a can, so that’s what I had. Happy hour runs from 3pm to 8pm with a dollar off everything, so you don’t need to come here on payday to enjoy a night of drinking.

In the 1850’s coal yards dominated this area, and now there’s a new Coal Yard on the block that feels like yesterday’s dive bar. And that’s a good thing.

Coal Yard Bar
102 First Avenue (@6th St. )
212-677-4595

And in honor of tonight's trifecta flip-off, I present the "365 Flip," artwork by "Boris!"