Posts Tagged ‘Bar’

Joe Boruchow at Johnny Brenda’s

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Joe Boruchow - Stuffed Animals

Joe Boruchow kinda fascinates me. I mean, he shows at both Wexler Gallery and The Bean Cafe on South St, he’s got this pr thing down as his new works pop up on artblog and philebrity as soon as he releases them, and he’s one of the last working Philadelphia paper and paste street artists. He makes his art visible to everyone. Way to multitask, modern artist. Tonight, Friday, March 19th, there’s a celebration for the release of his graphic novel, Stuffed Animals: A Story in Paper Cutouts at Johnny Brenda’s, where there will also be a performance by his band, The Nite Lights. (more…)

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Performing Art in Bars

Monday, March 15th, 2010

“Because anything that can happen can happen in a bar.” A great tagline, and a true one. Blue Box Productions created a comfortable and environment to enjoy what is usually the stuffiest of performing arts, theater. Sticky is the name of the ongoing one act play series that is as lovely as it is libationary. Blue Boy producers David Marcus and Libby Emmons have been keeping live theater fresh and alive since Sticky began in Philadelphia in 2000. It started at Bar Noir in the Rittenhouse/”French Quarter” area of Philly. Now in 2010 Sticky is stronger than ever, moving up the coast to the Bowery Poetry Club in Soho in New York City. This show has a simple concept : 6 10 minute plays set in a bar, performed in a bar. I know I’ve craved a beer or cocktail during most plays I’ve seen in theaters. At Sticky drinking during the show makes me part of the production design. (more…)

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Sly Fox Keep the Glass

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Tonight it the Sly Fox U Buy The Glass Night at the Abbaye. A supremely affordable $10 will buy you a keepsake pint glass as well as free refills from 7-9 P.M. Featured Sly Fox beers include the Abbey Xtra, Dry Stout, and the Seamus Red Ale, which I recently sampled and thoroughly enjoyed. Who am I kidding? I love almost everything that Sly Fox brews. I’m totally biased. In addition to hanging out and drinking, U Keep the Glass Night also offers the chance to win a whole bunch of swag from the featured brewery. Then you can have a sensible late dinner while you keep drinking. Good times.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 7-9 P.M.
The Abbaye 637 N. 3rd St.

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Something To Do – Drink Beer

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Hooray Beer! If you’re a lady, like I am, you’re invited to tonight’s I.P.A. (In Pursuit of Ale) meeting, held at BAR on Sansom between 13th and Broad starting at 8 P.M. The event is simple, you show up, mingle with other women at the bar, pay as you go, and drink and talk about beer. Every time I’ve gone I’ve shown up solo and met interesting people who either have the same love of beer or want to develop their palate. It’s a good time. Curious and want to know more? You can always hit up fearless leader Suzanne Woods at beerlass@gmail.com.

I love that Ms. Woods’ is all about spreading the love of beer to the fairer sex. Sorry dudes, but you know you’re the target demographic.¬† In my completely biased opinion beer is the best adult beverage to drink, but women avoid it. I know people who like cocktails because they’re more hollar for your dollar, or wine for the perceived health benefits, but beer is affordable, diverse, and is arguably both healthy AND can get you tore up if you are so inclined. As my brewing partner always tells the ladies who we have to cajole into drinking, beer has less calories, and dark beer has less than light. Words of wisdom to guide you tonight. Don’t fear the beer.

I thought there were some non-gendered beer happenings tonight but looks like I had my dates mixed up. Don’t fret though, I.P.A. frequently hosts mixers. And I don’t think they’ll exactly kick you out of BAR if you show up, gents. It’s not about keeping you out, rather inviting the passionate or curious in.

BAR Sansom between 13th and Broad 8 P.M (Although, I have to say, I have no idea what this BAR is and neither does the internet, which makes me nervous. Whatever, you can always go to Time if it turns out there’s nothing there.)

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Shhh – Secret Bars

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Philadelphia has no shortage of restaurants or bars or gastro pubs or any sort of new hybrid of all of these things that may come out as this article is being written. Places in this town will open and close before I even realized it was there. (Seriously, what is the name of the latest restaurant on 12th and Locust?) Drinks will be either expensive or cheap, and food will be some sort of fusion of every culture that has ever existed with an American spin. Oh, the restaurant industry.

But sometimes though you can find a hole in the wall restaurant that serves beer or cocktails; an unexpected gem in the culinary journey of life. The food in these secret bars is usually more authentic and the drinks are inexpensive. For instance Chinatown is steeping with secret bars. You can get some of the best food of your life and get $2.00 beers or $4.00 cocktails. Mah Lai Wah’s, Joy Sin Lau’s, Sang Kee’s Peking Duck house are all places I love and love to get my drink on.

Another place that you may already be familiar with is Midtown Diner. Now I know that they have closed most of their locations but I believe there is still one on 11th and Sansom. The food is reasonable and they will bring with beer right to the table, you don’t have to sit at the counter. 12oz steak for $10.00 and a $3.00 miller high life, yes please!

In West Philly you have the Salt and Pepper on 47th and Chester right up the street from Clark Park. This take out joint will serve you some of the finest hotplate specials you can imagine –seafood+fries, chicken fingers+mac and cheese plus breakfast sandwiches, and although the beers there are carryout, there are tables inside and out where you can sit and eat. And the beer selection is out of this world. It‚Äôs no Foodery so you probably can‚Äôt even get a beer above $4.00. The food is good and the beer selection is great.

The newest place for me that I’ve found is actually a few blocks from me. Thang Long a neighborhood Vietnamese place on Sergeant and Kensington has fantastic giant bowls of soup and you can buy a half a chicken meal for $6.50 (P.S. Рthey get the chickens very fresh next door, at the chicken butcher). And of course super cheap beers to go with your meal.

So! It’s not fancy but these places get the job done. Better food than you can get in a bar and cheaper drinks than you can get in a restaurant, a win/win for me. Do you readers have a favorite secret bar? Let me know why it’s special—oldoldwoodenship@yahoo.com
Jenn Sharon

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Memory Lane – The Griffin and the Skank buses

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Once upon a time there was a bar in Old City called The Griffin. This bar had high pressed tin ceilings and beautiful copper walls, a long bar area and wooden booths for extra seating. It also was the home of the D.J. stylings of Lunch Money Productions on Thursday nights way back in 2006. The drink specials were great (Editors note – $5 pint cocktails if I remember. And I’m fairly sure I don’t remember.) and the company even better. But if I had to choose one memory of my time at this bar it would have to be the onslaught of Skank Buses!

The Skank Buses are those strange school buses that appear in Olde City and Northern Liberties at night. They are filled with (hopefully) 20-something college students from outside the city that are unloaded on Philadelphia corners to run the streets and into bars. The half block corner by The Griffin near 3rd and Market was a popular dumping point for these buses. Young men and women would get off of the bus and head right into the trashier old city bars (you know the ones).  We called them the Skank Buses because the ladies always dressed inappropriately for the weather and sometimes in costume, yet these college students were a force of numbers once they got off of the bus.

Sometimes, instead of going to the usual bars, some of them would stray from the pack and come directly into The Griffin. They would come in stumbling, falling, drunk and looking for more shots and a bathroom. Although most times these local students were something to be laughed at, occasionally things weren’t as funny Рwhen you look out of the window and see a girl crying on the curb of Bank St. Or one other time when the bus parked outside of the Griffin and all of the kids got off . . . except one. This time ambulances were called for someone. I guess they partied way too hard ON the bus .

Even though this isn’t a memory of actual hijinks inside of the bar from me or people I know or knew, I don’t think my Thursday nights at The Griffin would’ve been the same without those crazy buses!

Jenn Sharon

(Editors note: You didn’t even mention the omnipresent vomiting! Or when the skanks would invade for like a 10 minute dance party before abandoning the joint. Or the fact that The Griffin closed due to a mysterious fire *cough*insurance scam*cough* or the weird secret passage to the bar next door. Good memories though.)

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Terry Mcall at Atlantis: The Lost Bar

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Terry Mcall

Terry Mcall

The sculpture display at Atlantis: The Lost Bar is called Gear Forms and it is right on the money. The glass and metal gear pieces fit the bar nicely. Most wall mounted mirrors are flat and two dimensional but these tough looking cylinders stand out three to five inches from the wall. These few inches make a big difference because it gives the impression that the wall is sturdier than what it is. The three mirrors, 10”, 13” and 17” in diameter pop out at you instead of becoming a part of the wall. Even though they are the size of regular mirrors they are in no way regular themselves. The colors give the viewer a nautical feeling. All the navy blues, fire engine reds with the silver and gold imply porthole rather than window.

The artist Terry Mcall is my kind of craftsmen. Rugged and stylish is always a good way for an artist to go. The piece Black and Red Flange seems like it was a spare part of some industrial plumbing that was assembled to make a simple room look tough. There are about ten of these mirrors and I’m wondering if they’re anymore. Can Terry Mcall churn out ten of these in a week or fifty a day? I don’t know but I do know I want one Рor two or three.

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Memory Lane – Mom’s and Second Chances

Monday, December 21st, 2009

What's that out the window?

What's that out the window?

With the holidays around the corner, and I think nearly all of us really do take this time to reflect and appreciate good times and good friends. So in the context of ArtinBars this is a tale of two bars and one bartender that I am thankful for.

The story begins way back in July 2000. It was my birthday; and a bunch of my friends from Tower Records where I worked came out to Tattooed Mom’s to help me celebrate. We were there most of the night. Enjoying the music and drinks and birthday vibes! As the night was wrapping up we got the check of course, and everyone threw money at the person holding the check, he counted it a few times and laid it neatly in the center of the table then waved the server (the lady that wore the sunglasses all the time) over to grab it.

After that, I left. I think everyone else did too. I spent the next 15 early morning post-birthday minutes walking with my friend Brian to my Center City apartment.

Probably about a month later, August 2000, a few coworkers and I went to Tattooed Mom’s after work. We all ordered drinks, and my friend Brian and I didn’t get drinks and the other 2 people at the table did. Minutes upon minutes passed, still no drinks. We looked around . . . it wasn’t busy and our server, the same server from my birthday was nowhere to be found. Finally the server came over with a check for the two drinks, slammed it down on the table and told us to leave. The four of us looked at each other with shock! We asked why, and she started pointing at me and Brian. She explained to us that we were part of the group that stiffed her a few weeks ago. That ‘we’ racked up a large bill and didn’t pay any of it and that we were no longer welcome at Tattooed Mom’s. Brian and I were stunned. On that birthday night there were about 10 people at our table. Of course I didn’t pay for any of my drinks (but who does on their birthday?) others covered that. Plus Brian and I were one of the first to leave and there was money on the table when we were saying our goodbyes and leaving.

Dum Dums

Dum Dums

I felt terrible. Someone stole the money from the table, and stiffed the poor server. Now she was mad, I couldn’t come back to Tattooed Mom’s and none of this was my fault.

Fast forward to 2004: I’m now working mornings in Old City which leaves my afternoons free to hang out at my new favorite spot: Sugar Mom’s. After several Wednesday afternoons there, I built a friendly rapport with the Wednesday bartender; Josh. One day Josh is telling my friend and I about an event at Tattooed Mom’s that we should attend. I sighed. I decided to be straight with Josh. I told him the whole story, and why I’m not allowed at Tattooed Mom’s. Josh told me that he has worked at both of the Mom’s for years, that I am a great patron, and to stop by Tattooed Mom’s the next time he was working there and everything would be fine. I almost cried! But I didn’t. I did however count the days until the day we agreed upon. On that day I nervously walked from work to 5th and South, walked in, sat down and was greeted with a smile and a beer. I’ve never had a problem there again.

I am thankful that I was given a second chance at one of my favorite bars in Philadelphia and thankful to bartender Josh, who gave me that chance.

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Celebrate Repeal Day

Friday, December 4th, 2009

Tomorrow, December 5th is Repeal Day! As in, the 76th Anniversary of when they repealed the Volstead Act, and 21st amendment was ratified, ending Prohibition, legalizing alcohol, and making the world a happier place. I was shocked how few events I was able to find around town, (I’m hoping foobooz will bust out a list soon and I can augment this sorry gathering) but here you go:

Bridgid’s will be in the midst of their very own beer week and will celebrating with a keg of Dogfish Head 120 minute. 726 N. 24th St.

Memphis Taproom will have all beer on draft for just one dollar but only from noon till 3 P.M. I suggest going for brunch early and then making the most of the three hour period. 2331 E. Cumberland St.

I found another one, but it’s at a terrible, terrible bar, and I refuse to even mention it. If you like terrible bars, you can google it yourself.

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Memory Lane – Venture Inn

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
ventureout

The Venture Inn on Camac. Don't miss it!

Sometimes a bar is just a bar. You go there with friends, or because it is close by. Other times a bar may have a drink special that you love. But more often than not, the true magic from your favorite haunt comes from the distributor of libations, the keeper of recipes and tabs . . . the bartender!

The bartender can make or break a place for me. Of course I don’t want a rude bartender; forgetful is also a frustrating trait. On the other end of the spectrum too chipper or no personality at all is weird. And when you find that special barkeep you will go back to that institution again and again. And if that person leaves, you probably won’t go back again for a very long time.

So is the tale of the Venture Inn. Some folks may remember my very first ArtinBars post about a forgotten love between me and the Venture. The truth about the Venture is it is an old gay man’s bar, and I never had any business there at all. But after going a few times with friends, I noted that the bartender Anthony was very nice, and let’s just say he was heavy handed with his pours. Over time I started going a couple of times a week with my partner in drinking crime, Brian, but only on days Anthony worked because the other bartenders in the place were kind of rude. The three of us built a very awesome bartender/patron camaraderie. After a while the other regulars got to know us, and Alabama Slammers (Brian) and Red-Headed Sluts (Me) would appear before us without even ordering. Those were just the drinks assigned to us by this little community Wednesday and Friday nights on Pine and Camac.

Anthony the bartender set the tone for true awesomeness and fantastic memories. I have at least one hundred stories from my time at the Venture Inn, all of them different and fun. Most of them include TOO much fun. But what’s wrong with that? So you see dear readers the bartender is the most important part of the bar experience, they set the climate for the night. When Anthony left the Venture Inn, I only went back once. It wasn’t the same.

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