Читать книгу New York City's Best Dive Bars - Ben Westhoff - Страница 22

Blue & Gold Tavern

79 E. 7th Street (1st Ave and 2nd Ave) Transit: 6 to Astor Place; L to 1st Ave; F to 2nd Ave

(212) 473-8918

Mike, the bartender at the Blue & Gold Tavern, keeps the top couple of buttons on his shirt undone, which shows off his thick chest hair. He also keeps his shirtsleeves rolled up and drinks thirstily from a gallon jug of Poland Spring water. Mike does all of this even when it’s cold outside because he’s always warm, keeping himself busy lining up glassware on the shelves behind the bar and dishing out the tavern’s history.

The place was opened on March 19, 1958 by his grandfather, also named Mike. “He was named after me,” Mike jokes, adding that he prefers not to give out their last name. Granddad came to the U.S. after World War II, from the Ukraine. (Blue & Gold’s name is assumedly a reference to the colors of that country’s flag.)

Mike doesn’t mind if you call his family’s establishment a dive, and takes particular pride in its low prices. Vazac’s Horseshoe Bar is not a real dive, he contends, because it’s too expensive. Indeed, booze is absurdly cheap here; $3 for drinks made with (or shots of) Jim Beam, $3.50 for Jack Daniels, and $4 for Macallan, or “The Macallan,” as the single malt scotch calls itself. The atmosphere is cozy, with Christmas wreaths still hanging long after the holiday has ended. Most tables double as chess, backgammon or Scrabble boards, although the Scrabble table is too mucked up to permit a full game. The music is kept low, which is nice if your tastes don’t jibe with that of those who dominate the place, mainly kids who are closer to twenty than thirty.

In any case, here’s to the Blue & Gold. May its metaphorical flag continue to fly, may its drink prices stay the same.

Dive Bar Rating