Manitoba's

New York City has a ton of bars and some of those bars have great jukeboxes. I thought every couple of weeks I’d visit one and spotlight the jukebox there. Tonight’s destination not only houses a great jukebox, it’s owned by the legendary, proto-punk lead singer of the Dictators and Sirius radio host, Handsome Dick Manitoba. When my friends, Britta and Tom came to town last year, we stopped for a drink at Manitoba’s and met Handsome Dick and took a photo with him. Let’s go see if he’s there tonight!

And we're off, we'll take the familiar trek down 14th Street to the East Village.

One of the great things about Manitoba's is that it's just a few blocks from Tompkins Square Bagels! Let's go get something to eat.

Here's Juan making my sandwich, everyone in here is always very friendly.

The sandwich was delicious...

And moments later my friend Shawn appeared, always great to see him!

After my sandwich, TSB owner Chris, took Shawn and I downstairs to see the bagels as they are hand-rolled by an expert.

Chris introduced us to Celestino who hand rolls each and every bagel for the shop. There's an art to this and Celestino has been doing it for years.

It's amazing how fast he can roll and entire tray of bagels from the raw dough. These are ready for the ovens and I'm ready for a drink or three!

And here we are, Manitoba's on Avenue B.

It's early on a Monday evening, so there's plenty of seats at the bar.

Sean's the bartender on duty and he happily serves up a bottle of Budweiser. He said we had just missed seeing Handsome Dick, he had just left to go do his radio show. Oh well, maybe next time!

A "Welcome to Manitoba's" sign is painted above the bar.

And below it is Handsome Dick merchandise piled above the vintage jukebox.

Here's a long shot of the wooden bar.

We didn't sit at the bar though, we got a table in the back because we were joined by...

Goggla! It appears we've got a mini cash mob going on here at Manitoba's!

Okay, time to check out the jukebox in the back.

It's not the fanciest or most complex jukebox in town, but it's stocked with some great tunes from AC-DC to Johnny Cash to Frank Sinatra to, of course, The Dictators. Let's crank out some songs on this, click on the following links and you can listen to the tunes I picked: The Damned, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Cheap Trick, The Kinks, The Beatles...

Louis Prima, Merle Haggard, Nancy Sinatra, Joan Jett and of course, The Dictators!

Tina put on some songs after I did. I asked if she had a favorite song on Manitoba's jukebox and she just said, "All of them." I agree! Great selection of songs to be listened to in here.

In addition to the jukebox, the walls are plastered with classic rock and roll photos, most of them from the late '70's punk era. That Handsome Dick was a part of.

Here's Handsome Dick and Joan Jett back in the day.

Gabba Gabba Hey, it's the Ramones!

Here's a signed record sleeve from Little Steven. It says, "To Handsome Dick, Who Loves Ya?"

This is a classic shot of Handsome Dick and a friend in front of CBGB's. My photo is a little fuzzy, click here to see the photo in all its glory.

A framed cover of Punk Magazine featuring the Dictators.

I love the hand-painted bathroom doors in here.

And one glance out the window and it's time to call it a night.

And as I venture out, I see the night has fallen on Manhattan, you got to love that! See you tomorrow!

Manitoba's
99 Ave. B (Near 6th St.)
212-982-2511

Further Reading: Rolling Stone, All Music and Maniblog.

I live for cars and girls,
There's nothing else in this crazy world,
Except for cars and girls.

Surprise link, click on it, I dare you!

Hi-Fi Bar Featuring EL-DJ Jukebox

There’s some great jukeboxes in bars around town and I thought I’d start featuring some of them here on TWM. I had to start at what some say is the ultimate jukebox in New York City and maybe in the entire country at The Hi-Fi Bar. They have a jukebox there that was custom made for the bar called, EL-DJ. The jukebox is the brainchild of Mike Stuto who is the owner of The Hi-Fi Bar. This monster box of tunes has nearly 50,000 songs to choose from and they were all handpicked by Stuto himself. And this gentleman knows plenty about music. Before it was The Hi-Fi Bar, Stuto owned and managed the legendary Brownies live music club in this space. Stuto booked such legendary acts as My Morning Jacket, Death Cab For Cutie, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Supergrass, Elliott Smith and Son Volt among others. In 2002, he tired of the grind of running a live music club and re-christened the space, The Hi-Fi Bar, home of EL-DJ. Let’s go take a look and put another dime in the jukebox, baby.

And we're off, it's about a fifteen minute walk to The HI-Fi Bar from my place.

And, ba-boom! Here we are. You know one thing I love about The Hi-Fi Bar?

It's about ten seconds away from Tompkins Square Bagels! I haven't had dinner yet, so let's go and get a sandwich to soak up some of the suds I'll be drinking later.

I ordered the specialty sandwich, The Chittle. What's amazing about ordering this sandwich in here is...

Sometimes the man who the sandwich is named after shows up while you're eating it! Ladies and gentlemen, Shawn! Check out Shawn's jacket, it's a genuine A-2 bomber jacket from World War II, given to Shawn from a veteran he had met.

The back is painted with illustrations from an anti-Nazi Donald Duck film produced by the Disney Studios. I had never heard of this and Shawn sent in a link to it, check it out: Der Furher's Face. Donald Duck meets Hitler...hmmm, wasn't that the pitch line they used for Hogan's Heroes?

And here's Shawn with the sandwich that's named after him.

Here's Shawn enjoying the sandwich!

Okay, back to the Hi-Fi Bar, let's head in and find the EL-DJ monster jukebox!

It's a nice dark bar in here. Here's the bar up front.

We got some beers and settled in to this marble topped table in the middle of the bar.

Owner Mike Stuto joined us for a beer at the table. He and Shawn immediately got into a discussion of music and DJing and I snuck off to check out EL-DJ.

And here it is, hovering in the darknes, the one and only, legendary EL-DJ!

After I spent about five minutes punching the screen, Mike came over and told me you have to use the trackball to navigate the machine. He told me everyone makes the same mistake on their virgin visit to EL-DJ.

The trackball is located on the lower right of the jukebox, it's kind of like operating a mouse on a computer.

Once you get a feel for the trackball, you choose an artist from the left-hand side of EL-DJ.

Then the artist pos up on the upper left of the screen. Unlike most jukeboxes, EL-DJ has full length albums of songs in its inventory. They're all from Mike's personal collection and he told me there's nearly 4,000 albums to choose from and they're constantly adding new ones. There's four Electric Prunes albums to choose from. I didn't even know they recorded four albums!

Once you choose the song, this pops up to make sure you haven't chosen the wrong one. I hit, "yes," and chose some more.

Another cool feature of the jukebox is it tells you the next four songs coming up. As you can see from this short list, there's quite a diverse selection of music to choose from on EL-DJ. I don't think I've ever seen a jukebox like this and don't ever expect to again. Okay, let's go check out the bar.

It's gotten busier and Mike's back behind the bar, pouring beer for thirsty patrons.

There's lit up bottles beneath a row of Bob Dylan album covers.

There's also album covers on the walls at Hi-Fi. Here's one by the Mekons, I got a kick out of this, because Sally Timms, who's a member of the Mekons was one of the first people I met when I moved here. There's a documentary of the band that's being worked on that I'm anxious to see!

Here's a Lucinda Williams album that I've never seen.

And here's one of my favorite albums of all time, the first release of The Flying Burrito Brothers. A great album!

There's a large back room in the bar.

Red vinyl booths line the brick wall on the left.

There's a Spiderman pinball machine for those of you who play the silver ball.

And a red pool table is the centerpiece of the back room.

And a glance out the front windows at Avenue A, and it's time to call it a night. Thanks to Shawn and Mike for joining me on this trip and we'll see you all tomorrow!

The Hi-Fi Bar
169 Avenue A (@11th St.)
212-420-8392

Further Reading: EV Grieve, Village Voice and Hostels.com.

I love rock and roll,
put another dime in the jukebox, baby.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!
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Bonus Cardboard Box Man Sighting From Goggla!

Goggla spotted this Cardboard Box Man lurking on Avenue B! Aaaahhh! Be careful out there everybody!

Tompkins Square Bagels

I’ve been meaning to go to Tompkins Square Bagels ever since they opened. My friend Shawn Chittle made a documentary on the shop and the owner, check it out here:

The owner, Christopher Pugliese hired local artist, Jim “Mosaic Man” Power to do the sign out front and the the bagel and sandwich restaurant was first reported on EV Grieve, who continued with follow ups right up to the opening. Well, in honor of these three gentlemen who support TSB, Christopher named sandwiches after each one of them. And so today, I’m meeting frequent guest star on TWM, The Duncester to try all three sandwiches and check out Tompkins Square Bagels. I feel a bit Hannibal Lectorish as I head out to eat, Shawn, EV Grieve and Mosaic Man. I’m hoping there’s fava beans and a nice chianti on the menu!

It's not far from where I live, so we'll hoof it over to the East Village.

And here we are. I like the way the front is open, it makes the place look inviting to the neighborhood.

The Mosaic Man's unique one-of-a-kind mosaic sign hangs over the store. Really nice to see local artist's employed to do signage to a store as opposed to something generic. It's touches like this that keep the flavor alive in the East Village.

It's a lot bigger in here than I thought it was going to be. The front has a large counter and cooking area.

And the back half is large as well, with a counter overlooking the bagel making area and tables and chairs. There's a garden area in the back that they're getting ready to fix up for the summertime.

There's a large wooden communal table in the back to enjoy your food and drink. Nice to see magazines on a table instead of iPads and iPhones!

Here's a shot from the back of the shop.

This glassed in case houses the fresh and local food for the sandwiches and salads available.

There's a familiar face at the cash register...

It's owner Christopher Pugliese, holding a piece of art from neighborhood artist, VH McKenzie. I love this piece of art, which says, "Just Say No" to Starbucks, 7-Eleven and Subway. Three businesses that have been bulldozing in on the East Village and hurting local businesses. You can read about the making of this art and the thoughts behind it here: "The Chains Are Coming..."

All the art on the walls is works from local artists. This month's featured artist is PJ Cobbs.

Christopher points to one the pieces on display, the artwork is colorful, 3-D scenes from different neighborhoods in New York.

It's a friendly atmosphere in here, here's Chris with a regular and a bagel maker himself, Kim.

And speaking of bagels, Chris was nice enough to allow me to see the entire process of how a bagel is born here. It starts down in the basement, after the dough has been hand-rolled and refrigerated.

As you can see, these aren't your everyday run of the mill bagels, these are works of art. Beautiful!

Chris opens up the specially made bagel vat...

And the bagels go in.

After about a minute or so, they float to the top and swim around in the vat for a bit.

Then they're taken out and place on wooden boards.

And here, Jonas puts the bagels into the oven. And not just any oven, this is a special bagel oven that Chris bought and brought from Florida. It's a one of a kind oven that rotates on the inside and cooks the bagels perfectly.

Here's Jonas with a tray of the finished product. They take their bagel-making seriously here and it shows!

After seeing the bagel-making process, I met Chris' partner in the restaurant, James Peterson. James owns his business, Green Army Interiors and literally built Tompkins Square Bagels from the ground up.

And at this point The Duncester shows up and it's time to sample the three specialty sandwiches of the house.

The Grieve, The Chittle and The Mosaic Man, three sandwiches named after three men that have definitely made a mark in the East Village and deserve to be on this board. Now, let's check them out.

The first up is The Grieve which is chicken cutlet, mozzarella cheese with peppers and onions. Very tasty and zingy as the blog and the man it's named after.

Here's the Chittle, smoked turkey, bacon, swiss cheesewith lettuce and onions. Chris told us that out of the three, this is the best seller.

And last but certainly not least, The Mosaic Man, Virginia ham, smoked turkey, provolone cheese with lettuce, tomatoes and spicy mustard. Delicious and the taste is as colorful as Mosaic Man's artwork. One thing Chris told me he really wants to do with Tompkins Square Bagels is create an atmosphere where everyone is welcome and feels at home in here. From the veterans of the neighborhood to those that have just got here. I have to say, that he's certainly done that. It's refreshing to sit in a local shop with artwork by artists from the neighborhood and eat sandwiches named after three men who have made a difference in the East Village. The Impov Comedy Troupe from Chicago, The Second City has always taught that when you're onstage, you should try your best to make everyone around you look great and not worry about yourself. Then when everyone else is shining, so are you. Christopher and Tompkins Square Bagels have embraced the neighborhood in the short three months they've been open and by featuting local talent and saluting others, they're shining like a pair of shoes done up by Don Ward! Stop in and have a bagel when you're in the neighborhood, you'll be happy you did. And you'll also be having the best bagel in town!

Tompkins Square Bagels
165 Ave. A ( @10th St.)
646-351-6520

Further Reading: EV Grieve, chomp chow chew and The Local East Village.

It's not the DMV cause it˛ˇ doesn't make you wait.
It couldn't be a taco cause it isn't very crunchy.
It couldn't be an Olson cause it isn't Marry Kate.

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

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Bonus Wndows on the World Art From Danny The Freelancer!

Yesterday in the comments section, the restarurant, "Windows on the World," came up. Sadly, as we know, the restuarant went down with the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. TWM commenter, danny the freelancer, sent in this art from a pass from a series of Go-Go parties that were happening back in the day. Very cool, thanks, Danny!