New York City Bartenders & Patrons - nycbp.com

Yogi's

2156 Broadway, at 76th Street

Enter the Bear's Den

Right in the middle of the Upper West Side is a little roadhouse that is always rocking with beautiful bartenders serving cheap drinks.

While outside the residents may be strolling by in luxury labels and toting Prada bags, inside the bartenders are slinging drinks in Goodwill T-shirts and slapping wet dollar bills on the bar. The bartenders at Yogi's are the same staff as The Patriot, both are owned by Tommy McNeill. I guess getting sent to work uptown at Yogi's is considered a break from the madness downtown at the Idiot.

This is the place to hang out with the bartender, watch the game on TV, and eat the free popcorn and peanuts. Beer is cheap, and so are the jokes, but these bartenders are awesome. The girls are all friendly and good with the buybacks.

There are two times of year not to miss a night out at Yogi's (which is open 365 days a year). Every March, for about 15 dates, the Allman Brothers play at the nearby Beacon Theatre. This gets the bar so jam-packed, they need 4 bartenders to handle the crush. The other time to be here is every Fleet Week, which is around Memorial Day. You can't get in past all the sailors and Marines who are lined up to get their PBR intake. It's a blast to drink with these young servicemen and women.

Because I am incredibly lazy, I asked Eddie Goldman to write something about Yogi's. "What can a customer to Yogi's expect to see?" Here is what Eddie wrote:

"Always remember that Yogi's is not a country-and-western bar. Rather, it is an Upper West Side bar that plays country-and-western music on the jukebox.

And if you don't like it, find somewhere else to sip blue drinks with some boring, amoral yuppies. In the mid-90s, I would have never believed that I would dig country music. Now I don't believe that it took me so long to appreciate Johnny Cash, Hank Jr. and Sr., David Allan Coe, Alan Jackson, Merle, Willie and Waylon and the boys, etc.

Yogi's attracts a cross-section of its neighborhood, plus lots of tourists, including some from around the world, and even some from Texas -- Texas!!! Girlz are encouraged to dance on the bar, and perhaps depart minus an undergarment or two. Beer is cheap, a-plenty, and all over the bar, floor, and bathroom, so wear something you don't mind getting stained. Patrons include everyone from Columbia types to professionals to cops to a hearty few who have been going there long before the bar's current format.

It is a total dump -- just the way we like it.

Enjoy the company of the all-female bartending crew, admire their on-display cleavage, but just look and don't touch -- unless you get really, really lucky and make it home with one of them (only the gods among us ever have). Try to find a couple of bartenders to bond with and come back for regularly. That has been hard of late, since there has been some rapid turnover.

Over the years I have made some lifelong friendships there, and also met some assholes and pretenders and jerks. But I have been going there too long to stop now. When I first went, when it was McGowan's in the 70s, I was one of the youngest patrons there. Now I'm among the oldest. Maybe that's why I laugh extra-hard at those young pukes there who act like they are something special.

Plus, one of its worst aspects, that it smelled like a cigarette cemetery, and it made you smell like you had lived for a year in an ashtray, has now been corrected by the new city and state anti-smoking laws.

Yogi's ain't for everyone. And some patrons have been burned out by going there for a long time. So take it in the doses that are right for you. But once you go, be prepared to stay; you just might not want to leave when you planned."

Thanks, Eddie! If you want to see a lot more photo of Yogi's, be sure to check out the Camera Club, because Erik Madden practically lives at the place.

Be sure to mention that you saw the bartenders on nycbp.com, and tip 'em well!

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