March 26th, 2010—Bar 75

Day 75—Thursday, March 25th
Lucy’s

First off thanks to Joe Sixpack and the Philadelphia Daily News for writing about the 365 site. Joe writes a weekly column about bars and booze and graciously interviewed me for this week’s edition in The Philadephia Daily News. You can read it here: Joe Sixpack. And you can visit Joe's website here: Joe Sixpack Website.

And speaking of publicity, a couple weeks ago, Guest of a Guest writer, Billy Gray put up a nice post about the 365 website, you can read it here, if you haven’t seen it, Billy’s 365 Post. (**Update: Billy just posted this today on Guest of a Guest: A Guy Walks Into His 75th Bar. Great post, Billy, thanks again!) sent Billy an email and told him it would be fun to meet some night on the 365 crawl and tonight’s the night, to quote Rod the Mod (boy that reference dates me!) Anyway, I asked Billy to pick the bar and he decided on the legendary watering hole, Lucy’s in the East Village. Since he picked the joint, then that makes me a guest of a guest of a guest...right? Fuck it, let’s not scramble our brains here, let’s roll. Oh, and Billy agreed to be this site’s first guest reviewer, his review of Lucy’s follows the pictures. Thanks, Billy, it gives me a break this morning and allows me time to go out and get some much needed Advil.

Lucy's bar, looks like my kind of place.

And one step inside of the joint I feel right at home.

And these two made feel welcome from the second I stepped in. From left: Kasia and the legendary owner, Lucy. Lucy's a Polish-born barkeep that started working in the bar in the '70's and ended up owning it. A sweet woman who pours a mean drink, you gotta love her!

There's a river of booze to be had at Lucy's.

Billy Gray joined me for drinks this evening and the evening flew by. He also agreed to write the review and did a great job, check it out at the end of the post.

He also shot this picture of myself and Lucy behind the bar. Thanks, Billy!

Sprout was seated next to us and later put some decent tunes on the jukebox, which is loaded with good songs.

It was a full house and a good time was being had by all.

Amanda and Oscar were holding down the end of the bar and Oscar had a bar selection for me, which I'll follow up on in an upcoming post.

There's charming and fun kitsch and kaboodle scattered helter skelter around the bar.

Here's Roi getting ready to make a shot. I hope my flash didn't throw him off his game.

Adam and Danielle were waiting in the wings for their turn. Good luck with the game!

Pinball!

Lucy in action at the bar. She's a star here and a legendary fixture on the New York dive bar scene.

Corina and Katie were enjoying beer and good times at the bar.

A list of some of the many beers available at Lucy's.

It's after 1:00 in the morning and Lucy takes a well deserved break at the front table. Billy and I decide it's time to leave and a good time was had by all. Mucho thanks to Lucy, Joe Sixpack and to Billy for joining the crawl and doing yeoman's duy by writing the review below! Goodnight everybody!

Review

By Billy Gray

Lucy’s is about as bare bones a bar as you can find in shiny new New York. The neighborhood fixture is on a stretch of Avenue A just  a hypodermic needle’s throw away from Tompkins Square Park’s famed gutter punk row and maintains some old school East Village grit (and its Eastern European immigrant roots) while being friendly enough to welcome youngsters who couldn’t even tell you what a squeegee man is.

Marty and I nabbed two stools at the end of the bar. On a Thursday night, the shallow end dive was crowded, but not too crowded. Lucy herself worked the room like she has for more than 30 years. No spring chicken, Lucy, along with her beloved bouffant, is on her feet doling out no-frills drinks (if you’re an Appletini fan, look elsewhere) to a no-frills crowd every night. Except for when she heads back to her native Poland for a few weeks every year. We moved on from Yuengling to Lucy’s delicious specialty: bison vodka and apple juice.  It’s a drink that the fancy pants “mixologists” down the street at Death & Co. might sneeze at, but coming from a kind-hearted septuagenarian it’s pretty damn impressive.

Lucy’s daughter and granddaughter often join her behind the bar. Last night, Marty also had the honor as Lucy happily posed for a picture. Eternally hip, she couldn’t wait to check out the digital camera thumbnail preview. Lucy approved. For a while Marty and I were sandwiched between a couple of NYU juniors from the heartland who shared endearingly wide-eyed stories about their arrival in The Big City and a grungy veteran of East Village watering holes who might have served as a cautionary tale to the undergrads. But he couldn’t have been nicer, and even asked Marty for his business card. He admitted he was unlikely to remember their interaction.

But Marty and I won’t forget Lucy or her place. Lucy is the kind of barkeep who’ll leave the place unattended and run to the bodega next door when a customer requests a mixer she’s out of. And the regulars—a mix of homesick Slavs, NYU newcomers and, downtown Bukowski types, all of whom know Lucy by name—love her for it.

Billy Gray is a journalist who writes daily posts for Guest of a Guest. In addition he does freelance writing and has his own blog devoted to movies here: He Buzzes Like A Fridge. Great job Billy and I look forward to hoisting more drinks with you along the crawl. Cheers!

Lucy’s
135 Avenue A (Near E. 9th St.)
212-673-3824