Happy Hour At Teneleven

Okay, it’s Friday and time for the weekly Happy Hour here at TWM. This week’s Happy Hour destination was suggested by frequent TWM guest star, Shawn. He suggested a bar to meet at that I’ve never been to called, Teneleven in the East Village which has a seven hour Happy Hour, from 2PM to 9PM, sounds good to me!

And here we are at Teneleven, there's no sign out front, just look for the windows and the red door to the right. (I have to confess, this isn't my photo, the first few photos I took got deleted somehow, I found this on Grub Street.)

It's still early afternoon when I arrive, so there's plenty of room at the bar. Carrie was bartending, but was really tired as she had closed the bar (it's open till 4 AM) and had to reopen it at 2 PM, so she didn't feel like having her picture taken and I can't blame her. There was a pretty and friendly woman named Malika who let me take her photo, but as I said above, somehow the first few photos got deleted, so hopefully I'll run into Malika again in my travels and you'll get to see her! Okay, on with the tour of the bar.

There's a nice display of lit up bottles behind the bar.

And a decent selection of beers are on tap at Teneleven.

Here's Mikey and Andrew who are regulars here at the bar.

A long shot of the silver-topped, wooden railing bar.

Peanuts!

A genuine Broadway Joe Namath jersey hangs on the blue bricked walls in the bar.

Framed art hangs on the red wall opposite the bar.

Malika (who's picture got deleted) pointed out this painting behind the bar. It's by artist James Quinn, who is the nephew of the owner of the bar.

And another James Quinn original hangs in the center of the wall behind the bar.

There's a lot of cool stuff here in Teneleven, but nothing more cool than this. Bartender Carrie told me that this is a picture of an autograph by Davy Jones of the Monkees on the ass of the owner of the bar, Evelyn. Evelyn got Davy to autograph her ass and then had it permanently tattooed there and this is a photo of it. Very cheeky!

At the far end of the bar is an entrance to another room in the back.

There's a small little bar back here.

There's tables and chairs to sit at.

Here's a shot from the back of the room and you can see there's a small stage at the front of the space.

And as night settles in, the candles come out on the wooden railing opposite the bar, nice!

And some of the TWM Happy Hour crew arrive and settle in at the bar.

It's kind of hard to tell who's who, with my unflashed photos...

So we all posed for one group photo taken by Carrie. From left: Dave, Shawn, Elie, THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N., Yours Fooly, The Duncester and Alvah.

And as the Happy Hour came to a close, I took one glance out the windows...

And hit the road and was homeward bound. Thanks to everybody who showed up, it was a great Happy Hour at TWM!

Teneleven
171 Ave. C (Near 11th St.)
Happy Hour: 2 PM to 9 PM with three buck beers and various drink specials.

Further Reading: New York Magazine, New York On Tap and New York Hard Times.

Sirens crying,
Gotta grab the next thing back to our town,
Before the whole thing crumbles to the ground.

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

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!

-----------------------------------------------

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!

The Russian Vodka Room

Like my friend and 365 Bars co-pilot, Al Rizo, I’m a fan of dark bars. And the less TV sets, the better. I found a bar on my 365 Bar Crawl that not only has no TV sets, there’s not even any windows in the joint! It’s like it’s midnight at all hours in there. The bar is the Russian Vodka Room and I’ve never been back since my happy hour. Today changes all that as I’ve chosen it for my happy hour bar of the week.

The bar is in midtown, about ten blocks from Times Square, so we'll take the subway there.

And here we are amongst the tourist madness in Times Square.

Jesus Christ, I need a drink! Let's get to the bar, pronto!

And here we are at the Russian Vodka Room. Even though it's daylight outside...

It always feels like night time in here!

The bartender was shy and didn't want her picture taken, but she wanted to take one of me, so why not? Cheers! I got a martini in here instead of my usual Budweiser, as they're just five bucks during happy hour.

Archy the manager of the bar isn't shy about photos and posed with a bottle of what the bar is named after.

And here he is pouring bottles of vodka into a glass vat filled with cranberries.

Once the vodka fills the vats, they sit up here and age and make the flavor-infused vodkas that are served at the bar.

Here's the view of the bar from my perch.

Martini glasses are chilled with ice on top of the bar.

There's a lounge area in the back of the bar.

A framed piece of Russian art hangs on the dark-wooden wall.

A shot of the bar from the opposite end.

Peter and Kalbir were seated nearby and told me that they're visiting New York and live in the U.K. They wanted to know of a decent jazz bar, so I suggested Arthur's Tavern in Greenwich Village. I hope they enjoyed it!

Glen was enjoying a Russian dinner at the bar. Archy told me he eats there every single night.

And speaking of eating, Archy presented me with a pierogi sampler on the house. The four pierogis were filed with meat, spinach, cheese and potato and were delicious!

As the evening wears on, the bar is starting to fill up.

And the piano man begins playing his tunes for the crowd.

This painting hangs beside him.

And as I head home, day time had turned to night time in New York City. See you all tomorrow!

Russian Vodka Room
265 W. 52nd St. (Near Broadway)
212-307-5835
Happy Hour Specials: Five dollar flavored martinis and beers from 4 PM to 7 PM.

Further Reading: CBS New York, Time Out New York and Black Book.

On the way the paperback was on my knee,
Man I had dreadful flight,
I’m back in the U.S.S.R.
You don’t know how lucky you are, boys.

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

-------------------------------------------

Bonus Photos From Danny The Freelancer!

After yesterday's toilet post,TWM commenter, Danny the Freelancer sent in a couple of his own toilet photos, taken on vacation. Here's what he wrote to me: "Here are two photos that I took at the Ancient Roman city of Ephesus in Turkey in 2008. The Toilets were only for Roman's. Their would be a slave on hand to wipe and wash your ass when you were done." That's Danny's girlfriend Donna, posing on the toilet. Very cool, Thanks Danny!

-------------------------------------------

Bonus Video From The Duncester!

The Duncester sent in this Russian flavored clip from one of my favorite movies, Dr. Strangelove, great scene! Thanks, Duncester!