The Big Game

So, yesterday was the Grand National Championship of the American Pointy-ball Federation, or whatever the hell they call it, which means only one thing in our house: trip to McSorley’s! This is the second year of what is shaping up to be a beloved tradition.  The idea is if you are a jar-headed football fanatic or, slightly worse, a non-fan all year ’round until the Day Of The Big Game when you are suddenly swamped with the feeling of not Belonging — regardless, if you are compelled to waste your time with this particular corporate bullshit in the form of a sporting event, you are somewhere that is not McSorley’s.  That’s because you need to be staring into the candy-colored glow of the biggest flat screen teevee you can find, which is going to be found somewhere else, thankfully, leaving our favorite ale house unusually free of customers.  Basically it was us, random European tourists, one bartender, one waiter, and a handful of hardcore regulars in the back room who had to see the Big Event but couldn’t stand to be anywhere else but McSorley’s.  These stalwarts were squinting at a specimen from the ‘Eighties which boasted a pitiful 21″ screen.  Yes, there is a television in the back, but I’ve never seen it on except for the Stupor Bowl.  Even then it’s so low-key and quiet it’s easy to ignore, and that’s why we were there.  The turnout was so thin last night that while I sat there, idly sketching away, I realized I was seeing some new details.  What was that Astor Place sign low to the ground behind the bar?  And I didn’t remember the Robert Ripley cartoon peaking out from under the chalkboard menu.  Of course, you could be there every night and see some new bit of flotsam, still the lack of people was a rare joy.  We’ll see you there next year.

A wee tipple

There will be more to see at Maxwell’s besides those classic barrooms we all know and love.  In addition there will be several small still life paintings of cocktail glasses, like the one shown above.  You’ll be able to thrill to some of the fabulous cocktail glasses the Baroness and I have collected over the years — that one is from the Rainbow Room.  Actually, I think each one is more like a portrait than a still life.  Each cocktail stands alone in quiet dignity.

Again, the opening is Monday, December 21st, starting at 7.  I’ll see you there.

Attention Art Lovers

You, as any right-thinking groovy person should be, are a huge fan of Maxwell’s located at 1039 Washington Street, in beautiful Hoboken.  Naturally, you pine for a chance to visit, and particularly this month when there seems to be a yawning void in your usually packed social calendar — more specifically Monday the 21st of December.  Here’s the good part: you do have a reason to be at Maxwell’s on Monday the 21st, because that will be the opening reception for a showing of my paintings.  You read that correctly, a chance to see paintings of your favorite saloons, in one of your favorite saloons, as you hobnob with simply the cream of society.  The kick-off time is seven o’clock.   I trust I’ll see you there.

Yo Ho Ho

One current cliché about New York is that we have no connection to our own harbor and the seafaring past that helped make the city.  And like any stereotype, I suppose there is some truth in the notion.  But at the end of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights is an exception called Montero’s Bar & Grill.  It’s been at 73 Atlantic Ave. since 1947 and it’s so stacked with great nautical crapola you feel like you  just ordered your last drink before you ship out on a tramp steamer bound for Pago Pago.  While it isn’t full of sailors anymore, it is blissfully hipster-free.  The regulars are justifiably protective of their little gem, but not unfriendly if you don’t act like an idiot.  I always leave wishing this was my local.

The late afternoon light, bouncing of the water and up Atlantic Ave., and then cut up into a million pieces by all that glass brick makes a pretty picture, so make sure  your happy hour intersects with the golden hour.

Tricolor

Here’s another venerable remnant of Greenwich Village’s Italian past.  Since 1919, according to the menu, it’s Gene’s at 73 West 11th Street, just east of Sixth Avenue.  A small, active bar in front, and in the dining room some old-fashioned “Continental cuisine,” as they used to call a restaurant that served both Italian and French dishes.  Of course any place that brings you an ice-cold relish tray to start is going to be someplace I love, but the food can really be quite good if you like the classics.  I’ve had very good luck just ordering that night’s special.  Gene’s is a timeless example of a neighborhood restaurant that ticks along, seemingly unchanged, year after year, sustained by loyal regular customers.  And it’s encouraging to note they aren’t all as old as the place — they appear to be generating a new crop of regulars.  The bar scene can be crowded, but always convivial, with two big pluses in its favor; a pro barman and no music add up to a real oasis.  Red jackets on the waiters, green linoleum on the floor,  and white tablecloths.  Yes, it is a wee bit reminiscent of a certain boot shaped nation’s flag.

Chelsea Place in San Francisco

This is the front door of Chelsea Place, 641 Bush Street, on the corner of an alley of the same name between Powell and Stockton in Nob Hill, San Francisco.  It’s a delightfully crummy dive which keeps the venerable tradition of the “clip joint’ alive in decrepit splendour.  Red indoor/outdoor carpeting, red paint, red brick — you won’t find this kind of hideous “Gay ’90s” brothel gone to seed decor anywhere like you find in San Francisco, bless her.  The ambiance is enhanced by the teenage B-girls who work the bar.  This dump was a rare find on our last trip west, made all the sweeter as we stumbled upon it after a dinner with the family, at point in the evening when we sorely needed a restorative.  At the bar it was all regulars who couldn’t care less about us invading their inner sanctum, and why should anyone begrudge a traveler with a thirst?  In other words, a neighborhood bar sans hipsters.  There are still a few out there, so enjoy them while ye may.  I like the way the brick turned out in this one, and the chair is pretty good too.

Neary’s

Aaaah, Neary’s.  What can you say about the best bar on the East side?  Doing business in Sutton Place, at 358 East 57th Street, for more than forty years, when you walk in the door you feel like it could still be 1967.  Our arrival lowers the median age by twenty years, and we are not young by any stretch of the imagination.  If this place closes I’m moving to Palm Springs with whatever is left of the regulars.  But until that dreadful day we’ll be ordering the prime rib here for many years to come.  Can’t quit now — Jimmy has recently started actually recognizing us, instead of merely pretending.

El Producto

Okay, this one is done.  Now you can compare and contrast with the early stage posted below.  It was a fun painting to do, and I’m happy with the results, particularly the balance between the tight and the loose bits.    Thanks, Paul, for revealing the many treasures of Binghamton, and especially the Clinton Hotel bar.  When the Baroness and I drive upstate this summer we might stop there for a quick one – and we’ll certainly toast our tour guide.

The Green Door

If all this is about ye olde bar rooms in New York City, and it is, you knew this was coming.  This sketch in oil is from the Ear Inn, as fine example of an untouched neighborhood joint as any you’ll find.  Considering what is happening to what has been for decades a sparcely populated backwater of lower Manhattan, that is a small miracle.  Being so far off the beaten path has helped preserve the Ear Inn’s regulars-only character, but you can’t help but wonder how it might change with Soho creeping ever westward, and all the new office space opening up.   But for now it’s still as it ever was, and always worth a stop.  This picture is of the flipped up hatch at the end of the bar, and the random looking collage formed from an old cardboard drink coaster, a drawing of a crayon labeled “The Ear”, an enameled metal “In” sign, and a price list in a plastic sleeve hanging from a rubber band.  Our old friends Peto and Harnett would be pleased with the composition.

Clinton Hotel bar

Remember this one from such posts as that one below?  Now it’s on its way to being a full fledged painting.  This is the early stage.  Roughly, everything is in the right place and I’ll start fussing with textures and details in various areas until I can stand to look at it without seeing twelve things I want to change.  Then I suppose it will be done, and I’ll post a pic of the finish product for comparison.