Best Dive Bar in NYC

[Ozzy]

There used to be a place in the basement of an apartment building on the west side of the village called Chumly's. You really could be standing right out front of the place and not know it was there. I think it's history was it started as a speak easy in the 30's and after that as an underground gay club for a while in the 70's. I used to go there in the mid-late 80's cause a GF lived in the building across the street. They had something like 200 beers on tap... supposedly the most of any bar in the city.

It was down on Barrow st....

 

[Monk]

Chumly's still exists. For a while, the neighbors stopped them from using the courtyard entrance, so you'd have to use the street entrance, but the last time I went by there, it was open again. It's at Bedford & Barrow, between Seventh and Hudson.

My favorite (although I like the Subway Inn too) used to be Puffy's Tavern in Tribeca. But about a year ago the owner sold the place, and the new owners got it into their heads to rennovate. No one bothered to explain to them that a cleaned up dive bar is an oxymoron.

Years ago I liked Canon's up on 108th Street and Broadway. But they closed about a year ago -- the family, which also owns the building, decided they could make more money renting the space out.

Does anyone remember that dive bar that used to be across from the New York Times building on 43rd Street? It was called Goughs (pronounced "gofs") and a lot of NY Times staffers were regulars, although mostly it was the pressmen (when they used to print the paper there). It was one of those places that hadn't changed since the early part of the 20th Century, with old sports posters from the teens and 20s still up on the walls (never been moved since they were originally placed there). That place was torn down in the 1980s.

Another rennovated dive bar that used to have a lot of character was Yankee Tavern a block from Yankee Stadium on Grand Concourse. They also served a really fatty corned beef sandwich there. You needed several beers to keep it down!

 

[justlooking]

the novelty of the place--that there was a bar hidden in a subway station--was half the fun.

the new one doesn't do it for me at all.

DITTO

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

Another rennovated dive bar that used to have a lot of character was Yankee Tavern a block from Yankee Stadium on Grand Concourse. They also served a really fatty corned beef sandwich there. You needed several beers to keep it down!

Years ago, I used to love the one on Girard Ave (?) near the courthouse. Went before a game this season. Wow. Renovated. They sucked all the character out of the place. Try McGlacken's on 149th if you want a real pregame dive bar.

 

[blondekelly]

How about Rocky Sullivans on Lexington bet 28th and 29th, after leaving there you can pick up one of your favorite SWs.

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

How about Rocky Sullivans on Lexington bet 28th and 29th, after leaving there you can pick up one of your favorite SWs.

are you suggesting the gentlemen on this message board sleep with harlots?!!

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

Speaking of the village, how can I forget Kettle of Fish? Excellent tap selection.

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

Milano's is one of my favorite bars in NYC.

Me too. Although any bar with The Pixies on the jukebox can't be all bad.

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

There used to be a place in the basement of an apartment building on the west side of the village called Chumly's. You really could be standing right out front of the place and not know it was there. I think it's history was it started as a speak easy in the 30's and after that as an underground gay club for a while in the 70's. I used to go there in the mid-late 80's cause a GF lived in the building across the street. They had something like 200 beers on tap... supposedly the most of any bar in the city.

It was down on Barrow st....

The secret entrance is on Barrow, but there's a main entrance. Last few times I was there had an uninteresting frat boy crowd. Never returned.

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

the novelty of the place--that there was a bar hidden in a subway station--was half the fun.

the new one doesn't do it for me at all.

But it's good for one thing nowadays, and that's as an afterhours venue. I don't know of anything else in the neighborhood that let's people in after 4.

The owner is an asshole extraordinare.

 

[Ozzy]

The secret entrance is on Barrow, but there's a main entrance. Last few times I was there had an uninteresting frat boy crowd. Never returned.

A few years ago (maybe late 90's) it was featured on a "pub crawl" in the Daily News. That along with the Slaughtered Lamb and a few others in the Village probably brought extra added attention and the frat crowd that may never have known about it before.

 

[justlooking]

Believe me, the first time I went there, more than 30 years ago, the frat crowd was already there.

 

[VirKodo]

Barrow Street Ale House. Haven't been there in years but they had cheap beer, decent greasy burgers, good company and a pool table in the basement

 

[Ozzy]

Believe me, the first time I went there, more than 30 years ago, the frat crowd was already there.

Would that have been when the supposed underground gay club was there.

Is there anything else you want to confess to us?


Or is that gay club story an urban legend like those tranny brothels. I was told that by someone in there who seemed to be a long time regular.

 

[Ozzy]

And is there anyplace you haven't been?

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

Would that have been when the supposed underground gay club was there.

Is there anything else you want to confess to us?


Or is that gay club story an urban legend like those tranny brothels. I was told that by someone in there who seemed to be a long time regular.

Is there anything else you want to confess to us?

 

[justlooking]

Would that have been when the supposed underground gay club was there.

Is there anything else you want to confess to us?


Or is that gay club story an urban legend like those tranny brothels. I was told that by someone in there who seemed to be a long time regular.

Gotta be an urban legend. Chumley's has been a bar since I've been a barfly.

 

[Mr. Wet Wooly]

I believe Chumley's was an old speakeasy during prohibition. The term 'eighty-six' began there because the Barrow St. door, which everyone exited from when the cops busted in, has an address number that is 86. Some drunk guy at the bar told me that, so it must be true.

 

[UG Staff]

It's not in a basement.

 

[Gavvy Cravath]

I believe Chumley's was an old speakeasy during prohibition. The term 'eighty-six' began there because the Barrow St. door, which everyone exited from when the cops busted in, has an address number that is 86. Some drunk guy at the bar told me that, so it must be true.

Wow, a few months ago, my "Word-a-Day" dictionary defined eighty-six! I often wondered about how it came about. Etymology fascinates me. I do believe that a former speak-easy was mentioned as a possible starting point for this term. I think there was another possibility as well...a naval term, I believe.

Gavy