Belmont Racetrack

(Saturday Night Cheeseburger will not be seen this week, due to this special Kentucky Derby trip. It will return next week at it’s regularly scheduled time.)

When I was five-years-old, my family moved to Louisville, Kentucky and we lived there from 1963 to 1969. Louisville is a great town and there’s lots of things to do there, but one of the things it’s best known for is the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Our family used to take trips out to Churchill Downs and watch the races, the horses and the people in the spring and summertime and I have fond memories of the place. But the one weekend most locals didn’t go near the racetrack was Derby weekend. The town got absolutely nuts, prices were raised and things got pretty wild. I’ve never been to a racetrack on Derby day and last week while corresponding with EV Grieve, he suggested that it might make for a fun post to go out to Belmont Park and check out that race track on Derby Day. I thought it was a splendid idea, and so now, please prepare to enjoy TWM’s day at the races!

We'll be taking the train to Belmont Park from Penn Station.

Nobody's walking on the escalator, hopefully a sign of a good day ahead!

The Long Island Railroad has a special train that goes out to the racetrack at specific times of the day. Let's go get a ticket.

And here's the train, all aboooard!

Here's the view out the window. According to the weather it was supposed to be a nice day today, but so far it's kind of gray and the sky is spitting a little rain out. Hopefully it'll clear up as the day progresses.

Okay, here we are, Belmont Park, let the racing begin!

I'm not exactly sure where to go, so I'm just following the crowd.

Looks like we're just about there!

Wow, it's a huge place and it kind of resembles a giant airplane hangar. There's three floors, but it all kind of looks the same in here.

See what I mean?

Here's a view of the racetrack from the second floor. No horses racing yet, I wonder what time that starts? Let's go outside and see what's happening.

Here's some people having a picnic outside in a reserved area. It's kind of chilly out here.

Man in sombrero waving alert!

Still no horses on the track and now it's starting to mist a little and it's cold out here, let's go back inside.

There's TV's and large screens all over the place inside.

Although I have no idea what any of this means and the whole place is starting to make me nervous.

One thing I've noticed is that people are really into reading the racing forms out here.

Everyone is studying them and there's not a lot of eye contact, nobody's even noticing I'm taking their picture.

It's kind of like they're racing form zombies and it's kind of freaking me out. Let's go check out the track and see if the races have started.

Nope, still no horses and the seats are kind of empty. I thought there'd be more action out here on Derby Day.

And more TV's inside. One thing you're not experiencing through these pictures is that there's an announcer on the loudspeakers constantly talking, but you can't understand a word he's saying. It's like the subway announcements that are always garbled, but this never stops and it's kind of giving me a headache!

Here's the back of the building, let's see what's out here.

It's a picnic area. It's a little chilly and it's drizzling rain, but let's check it out.

Jesus fucking Christ, there's no escape from this shit!

Aaaahhhh!

Let's go back inside.

More TV's, let's go see if anything is happening at the racetrack.

Hey...check it out...

It's a racehorse. But so far he's just standing there.

Okay, he just took off, but is this just a race of one horse?

Wait a second, now there's an ambulance on the track, gaining on the racehorse. This must be some sort of new-fangled race.

I tell you there's electricity in the crowd as the race is peaking.

And in the end, it was the ambulance by a nose. A stuffed up nose, but that's okay, there's doctors on board.

Okay, I've still got a couple of hours to kill before the first train back to Manhattan, so I've decided to do what I should've done in the first place, go to the bar and have some beers.

Check out these two lovely ladies, Nikki and Colleen! They're a mother-daughter bartending team and they were lots of fun to talk to. If you're ever at this bar at Belmont Park, ask Colleen to tell you her sick joke!

Here's Nikki presenting me with a beer, Home Shopping Network style! I had a great time at the bar with them and before I knew it, it was time to head back home. I think I need to come back out here in the summer and try it when the weather is nicer.

I should be home in time to catch the Kentucky Derby on the TV, the way we used to spend Derby Day in Louisville.

Except my TV set has been on the fritz for nine months now.

So I decided to while the evening away watching Mr. Ed and having a few beers. Wiiilbuuurrrr!

Belmont Park
2150 Hempstead Turnpike
Elmont, NY

Further Reading: NY Daily News, Bleacher Report and The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved.

Ain’t no doubt,
I’m talkin’ about,
Kentucky woman.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

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Bonus Mr. Ed Art by Jaws!

Taking a cue from the Mr. Ed photo, Jaws the Cabbie sent in this Mr. Ed art he produced a while back. Here's what he says about it: "I did this one while suffering through Minnesota's last protracted senatorial race." Great work, Jaws, thanks!

Main Squeeze

I find a lot of things to write and post about at TWM by pure accident and this is one of those cases. Years ago when I first moved here and was doing some freelance writing for New York Newsday, I had written about a shop in midtown that only sold accordions. I wondered if it was still in business, so I Googled, “accordions nyc” and while I didn’t find the shop in midtown, I think I found something and someone more interesting. Intrigued? Then come along as I take a little trip to a shop called, Main Squeeze owned by Walter Kühr on the Lower East Side.

And here we are at Main Squeeze on Essex street, love the neon in the window! This shop was opened in May, 1996. Let’s go inside and see what’s happening.

It’s a long, narrow space. I had called Walter in advance to see if it was okay to do this and he told me to stop by. He’s in the back office and told me to take a look around and he’d be out in a little bit. So let’s take a tour of Main Squeeze.

A Main squeeze window poster hangs in the window. It turns out that the woman in the picture is the same woman that got Walter interested in the accordion at the tender age of 6-years-old in his homeland of Germany.

Walter also uses this image on a postcard he sells in the shop, a beautiful photo and a beautiful woman!

I haven’t seen this many accordions in one room since I did my New York Newsday story. The cool thing about accordions is how each one has its own distinctive look and style.

There’s accordions on display in display cases...

And up on shelves. It’s like a Myron Floren wet dream in here!

This is a cool one, I like the blue color.

It’s a double A accordion, Alfred and Arnold.

An accordion that’s doubling up as a hat stand for this fedora.

A Hohner melodica, I just got a Hooter’s flashback!

There’s more than accordions for sale in here, here’s a whole wall of accordion and polka CD’s.

Love this accordion postcard!

A vintage accordion album cover hangs on the wall. Ooh la la!

There’s also bins of sheet music for sale in here.

Papa John would love this, Monday, Monday for the accordion.

In addition to Main Squeeze, Walter has a nine piece Latin jazz band called The Last of the International Playboys and he’s the conductor and mastermind of the Main Squeeze Orchestera which is an 14 piece, all female accordion orchestra. “Girls Gone Weill,” ha ha ha!

A picture of the orchestra is proudly displayed on the stores wall. Four years ago Walter’s mother was in town celebrating her 80th birthday and the orchestra was playing at the Zipper Factory and they played “Happy Birthday” to her. Walter said it was a great moment for the woman who inspired him to play the accordion as a child.

Here’s the women of the very first orchestra. The Main Squeeze orchestra is truly a dream come true for Walter. I asked him how he thought of such a unique orchestra and he told me he had a dream of 18 women in pigtails and white shirts on a tour bus heading home after a concert. When he woke up he said it was something he new he had to do and he did it. Here’s a picture of the original orchestra from 2002. Since then, he’s pared it down to 14 women, an amazing and unique idea!

And if you’re curious about this and are in the New York area, you can see them live tomorrow night at the Bowery Poetry club. This is the flyer and here’s more information about the show.

There’s lots of cool little items in this display case ranging from an accordion key chain, to tie pins to burlesque playing cards to...

Accordion neckties, I may have to get one of these!

And here’s a portrait of the musician squeezing his true love, the accordion. Walter told me that people shopping online at sites like eBay have hurt his sales and wondered why people don’t like to go out and shop and intermingle with other people. “They don’t know what they’re losing,” he told me and I agree.

He also said that it’s a shame about all the chain stores popping up in New York. One more point I agree with Walter on, I wish there were more unique shops like Main Squeeze around town. I’m glad it’s still there and hope it thrives, stop by and buy a tie if you’re in the neighborhood.

I did!

And one glance at the backward neon and it’s out the door we go.

Main Squeeze
19 Essex St.
212-614-3109

Further Reading: accordion to karen, NY Times and Hey Girl.

Everybody’s lookin’ for something.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

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Bonus Album Cover Art By Danny The Freelancer!

Danny the Freelancer turned Friday's Happy Hour into album cover art, check it out! Very cool, Thanks, Danny!

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Bonus CBBM Mutation Sighting By blue glass!

Blue glass found this Cardboard Box Man mutation photo and sent it in along with this message: "Guests found the chimney’s expression unsettling, though Roger insisted upon its benevolence. This turned out to be his undoing." Aaahhhh!

Happy Hour At Bar Nine

I’m baaaack! Anybody out there? Well, so far, no job, but that will not deter this week’s Happy Hour! outing! When my parents were in town, I went to a bar and met a TWM reader from Georgia named, Bill. It’s always fun for me to meet readers of the blog and Bill was no exception, we had a great time chatting and having a few beers. Well, that day a reader named Ray Ray, left a comment on that days post and he wrote: “Hey Marty, I just saw you on 55th and 7th ave. Wanted to say hi but i lost you in the crowd. You are getting very famous!” That cracked me up and I commented back that he should email me if he’d like to have a beer sometime. Well, he did just that and tonight we get to meet Ray at this week’s happy hour! Let's go!

 We'll be taking the Q train to midtown.

Usually I have to wait forever for the stupid Q train to show up, but as I land on the bottom of the stairs, here it is! Oh happy day!

I found a seat next to this guy who was out like a light. I've never understood how people can sleep on subways and as I type this, I suddenly realize that I don't understand the phrase, "out like a light." This will bother me all day.

And through the miracle of the internet, you're saved walking three blocks in the wrong direction and then finally making it here to Bar Nine.

This woman was sitting on the bench in front of the bar and I asked if I could take her picture and she said yes, so I snapped this photo. She then asked if I could send it to her and I asked her what was her email address and she gave me her street address complete with apartment number. I don't think she knows what email is. I'm jealous!

According to the sign, happy hour is underway, let's go inside and check it out.

It's nice in here and fairly dark, I think Al would approve of the place!

And what's even nicer is Marina, the pretty and friendly bartender who's quick with a bottle of Budweiser.

There's my spot at the bar, the bottle of Bud marks the spot.

These big industrial lights hover over the bar, bathing it in a yellow hue.

Here's some of the beers on draft.

Check out the Full Metal Jacket painting on the brick wall. Marina told me that all the art in the bar is done by local artist, Benjamin Enzfelder.

Here's another Enzfelder original, Travis Bickle with Bar Nine in the background.

Dude!

Apparently there's a pool table in the back. Let's go take a look.

Here's some leather couches in a lounge area, but I don't see a pool table.

But a backward glance reveals the pool table in the very back of the bar.

Here's another lounge area up front. Check out the table...

Number nine...number nine...number nine...

And back at the bar, Marina is busy pouring a beer. But when she was done she introduced me to...

Benjamin, the artist who's paintings we just looked at. Benjamin's a nice guy and a great artist, check out more of his work here: Enzfelder Studios.

And as I settled back in to the bar, Ray showed up. He covered his face for his photo, I think he's either camera shy or wanted by the law...probably both. Ray's a great guy and we had some beers and a nice conversation about the blog, New York, music and before I knew it, it was time to head home.

And as I head towards the subway station, night has fallen on midtown, and you probably know by now that I love that. See you tomorrow!

Bar Nine
807 Ninth Ave. (Near 53rd St.)
212-399-9336
Happy Hour Specials (noon to 8PM): Four dollar Coors Light, 11 dollar pitches of Coors, Four buck Corona's and 25 cent hot wings.

Further Reading: New York Magazine, Time Out New York and Shecky's.

Love Potion Number Nine.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

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Bonus Travis Bickle Illustration by Jaws!

After seeing the Travis Bickle artwork on the wall of Bar Nine, Jaws the Cabbie sent in his own Travis artwork! Thanks, Jaws!