Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010—Bar 143

Day 143—Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Dive Bar
Ding, ding, ding! The donation has gone off and James Coleman has sent in a generous donation of ten dollars. His stated purpose on the PayPal receipt said: “I am Tim Carey's father-in-law.” Thanks to James and to Tim and Colleen Carey for hanging out with me on the 365 Bar Crawl the last three nights! Happy anniversary and don’t forget to check out Butch’s Pizza online or in a store or tavern near you. It’s great pizza and a family-run business, it doesn’t get any better than that.

And in other 365 Bar news, we’re soon going to have a page on facecrack...I mean facebook. The administrators and people who put it together are 365 commentator, Gidget and our in house artist, the one and only “Boris.” It’ll probably go live tomorrow and I’ll put up a link then. I really want to thank Gidget and “Boris” for putting this up, as I have no time to do it and people keep asking me why we’re not on facebook. So thanks to Gidget, who’s the coolest DJ in the world, you have to listen to her show on Woody Radio, she plays great tunes and is an entertaining and funny DJ (DJ Loki also rules there as well). Check out the website for the schedule here: Woody Radio Website. You can listen online and there’s a chat room where you can chat with the DJ and other folks who are tuning in.
And thanks to “Boris” not only for helping to set up the page with Gidget, but for setting up and maintaining the 365 Bar Store (more about that below.) “Boris” is available for freelance artwork, so if you need a T-shirt design or logo, he’s your man. He also does CD and book cover design and just about anything you can think of, send me an email and I’ll pass it along to “Boris.”

Okay, on to tonight’s crawl. I love dive bars, so naturally the name of this place caught my eye. But then I read an online review and it turns out it literaly is a dive bar. They’ve got an aquarium and the place is designed with an aquatic theme. Let’s go check out and see if they have Flipper on the TV set. And check out the 365 jersey I’m wearing on tonight’s crawl, if you’d like to order one or check out all the items, just click here: 365 Bar Store  to be transported to the 365 Bar Store, set up and run by our very own in-house artist, “Boris.”

****Update: (2:06 pm) I just got a call from Frank Carmichael who hosts the talk show Happenings Q & A on WLIP 1050 AM Radio in Kenosha, Wisconsin and I'm going to be interviewed on his show at 2:45 eastern time. You can listen live here: WLIP 1050 Radio. Just click on the "Listen Live" link at the upper right hand part of the page. See you on the radio!

Okay, let's dive in to the Dive Bar.

Wow, I thought it would be slow, seeing that it's a Tuesday and a day after the holiday weekend, but this joint is jumping.

Here's bartender Howie, serving up a beer. Howie's a friendly and fun bartender.

John was seated next to me at the bar and told me he's a regular here.

He snapped a photo of me flashing the 365 colors on my jersey.

Martina and Martin were sitting in front of the aquarium. With names like those it's only fitting that I take their photo.

Some of the aquatic knick-knacks and bric-a-brac at the bar.

The aquarium in the front, the sign of a true dive bar.

Cate works Monday and Tuesday's in here, no wonder there's a crowd!

One of the many large screen TV's, hey, it's not tuned to Flipper, come on guys!

And here's Howie with bartender/waitress Jenny, one more reason it's packed in here.

There's tables and chairs in the back room.

There's also large wooden booths for lounging, eating and drinking in.

This place has an astounding amount of bottled beers. This board is just a partial list.

Howie works the crowded bar.

Hans is a regular who was holding down the end of the bar.

Howie presents Mark and Catherine. Mark recently moved into the neighborhood and both were fun to talk with and were very supportive of the 365 Bar Crawl.

The beer patio out in front of the bar.

Uh, oh, I think it's time to go.

Okay, I'm safely at home having a night cap from my 365 frosted mug. Okay, I'll stop plugging the 365 store.

I just need to put my beer down somewhere, hey check out this coaster. Goodnight everybody!

Review
This place was originally an old Speakeasy but they traded the secret knock for an aquarium and it’s now the Dive Bar. The bar is a neighborhood favorite and the bartenders are friendly and fun. The crowd is mainly regulars but first timers are welcomed with open arms. The atmosphere is festive, with colored lights mixed in with the aquatic bric-a-bracs including a mermaid jutting out from the wall and a large aquarium in the front room. The front room has a bar with tables and chairs opposite of it and there’s a back room with more tables and wooden booths. There’s lots of large screen TVs lining the walls and there’s patio seating outside in the front when the weather permits.

The bar lives up to its name because there is a a river of booze to be had here. There’s a vast selection of bottled and draft beers and a huge wine list. In addition they stock 20 bourbons, 35 tequila's and a staggering 65 single malt scotch selections. There’s a varied and large food menu that offers ten varieties of burgers, a good sandwich selection including: sliced steak, roast beef, pulled pork and the Dive Sub which is built with Genoa salami, ham, provolone, pimento, hot peppers, tomato and onion. Breakfast is served anytime and some of the deep sea delights include fried clams, scallops, calamari and shrimp. You can sample them all with a seafood platter that comes with onion rings. Happy Hour runs Monday through Friday from 4pm to 7pm with four buck drafts and five dollar well drinks.

Dive right in to the Dive Bar, the water’s fine and 100 proof.

Dive Bar
732 Amsterdam Ave. (Near 96th St.)
212-749-4358