Friday, June 4th, 2010—Bar 145

Day 145—Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
The Local 269
Okay, tonight I was trying to figure out what bar to crawl to and it fell right in to my lap. Or perhaps I should say it fell right in to my email. Let me explain.

Months ago I met photographer Jason Kuffer on the 61st bar of this sudsy sojurn. You can read about it here: Bar 61. That was a great night and today Jason emailed me about an auction that’s going on at a bar in the East Village at The Local 269. It’s a punk rock auction presented by musician/author, Mickey Leigh and Erin O’ to raise money for the Joey Ramone Lymphoma Foundation. That sounds cool and I appreciate Jason telling me about it, it should make for a nice night on the town. But I’m wondering, how do you have an auction in a bar? I’m not sure, but we’re about to find out!

Here we are at The Local 269 on the corner of Houston and Suffolk.

Wow, the place is packed! Lots of people showed up for the auction.

I managed to wiggle in and get beers from the friendly bartender, Mickie.

I think I know who that fellow in the yellow t-shirt is.

It's the co-presenter of the punk rock auction, Mickey Leigh with his friends. From left: Yoaz, Mickey, Tina and Izzy Bella. Mickey is Joey Ramone's brother and recently wrote a book with Legs McNeil called, "I Slept With Joey Ramone." A great book and I highly recommend it. Mickey's friend Yoaz plays bass with the band, Ingrid and the Defectors. They're playing tonight at Kenny's Castaways on Bleecker, go check them out, I'd go but they go on at nine and I'll be at work. Sob! Let me know when the next gig is Yoaz and I'll try to make that one.

And here's Jason Kuffer! Jason's a great photographer and you can check out his photos here: Jason's photos. Check out his shots from the Joey Ramone Birthday Bash. Great photography, Jason!

Here's Jason getting a shot of Mickey Leigh.

The DJ for the auction was Steve Craig from 101.9 RXP. He played some great punk rock tunes and lots of Ramones classics.

Here's the lovely co-presenter Erin O' sipping a drink at the auction.

Kim, Jason and Morgan were seated at a table at the front of the bar.

Jason liked the 365 Bar Crawl so much he wanted to take a photo of me outside the bar, so I had him take one with my camera as well. Cool photo, Jason! I guess if you're named Jason, you're a natural born photographer.

Here's a shot of me taking a picture of Jason who's taking a picture of me. That last sentence just made me dizzy. I need to sit down...oh wait, I already am. Never mind.

Jason introduced me to Sarah, who's the Edito-in-Chief of Stay Thirsty. Check them out here: Stay Thirsty.

I found out how the auction worked. The items were placed around the bar and you put your name on a sheet if you wanted to bid on it. Some of the items up for auction included: A New York Doll's movie poster signed by photographer Bob Gruen, a gift package from CBGB's gift store, a Cyndi Lauper Barbie Doll and cool photos including this one of Joey Ramone at CBGB's signed by photographer Godlis.

It already had a bid on it.

Here's a great shot of Joey and Dee Dee Ramone.

Here's a photo of writer Legs McNeil and Marky Ramone and it's signed by the photographer, John Nikolai. Legs was the first person to publish my writing when I moved here to New York in 1993 when he was the editor of Nerve magazine. And I interviewed Marky Ramone for my magazine fishwrap back in the '90's, so I had to bid on this one!

I hope no one outbids me.

I got it! Now I need to get it framed and find an empty space on my walls to hang it.

The bar cleared out a bit as the auction ended and the band was setting up to play for the evening.

The band playing was The Joseph Walsh Quartet (insert Eagles and/or Rocky Mountain Way joke here.) They performed jazz and pop standards.

Great band, but they ignored my request to play, "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue." Oh well, you can't win them all. Goodnight everybody!

Review
If you didn’t know better you’d think The Local 269 has been a fixture in the neighborhood for quite some time. It is called the Local after all, but truth be told it’s a fairly new bar. There’s no tricked out gimmickry here, inside it’s dark (the way bars should be) and the space is intimate. There’s a bar that seats around 10 to a dozen and tables behind it. Mismatched chandeliers hang overhead in the dark brick-walled space. There’s a few small tables to sit at when the bar is full and the bartenders and staff are friendly. The crowd is a mix of punk rock, hipster and neighborhood regulars. Old school TV’s loom from atop the bar and there’s a stage up front. You’d expect the band’s in here to be punk rock and/or garage flavored, but Monday’s they have a jazz night and the night I was there it was the Joseph Walsh Quartet doing an evening of jazz and old school pop standards.

They have a decent selection of bottled and draft beers, drafts range from Guinness to Brooklyn Lager and if you’re in the mood to get buzzed in a hurry you can get five shots for ten bucks. There’s a nice Happy Hour here that runs daily from 4pm to 8pm with 2 for 1 beers and well drinks. The food is standard pub grub, but if you’re a grilled cheese fanatic you’re in luck. There’s three different varieties to choose from here. They also host a weekly jazz brunch.

Check out The Local 269, it just might become your local watering hole.

The Local 269
269 E. Houston St. @Suffolk
212-228-9874