New York City Bartenders & Patrons

Theresa rocks the house Tuesday nights.
The very best thing about running NYCBP is the people I meet. Since I started the site in 1998, it has led to more friendships and relationships than I can keep track of. One that I value very highly is with journalist and broadcaster Eddie Goldman. He usually writes about boxers and fighters. But when it was rumored that Yogi's, that venerable dive bar we love on the Upper West Side, is possibly doomed, he had to act. Today he e-mailed me this story, which I am proud to present here.


The Future of Yogi’s
by Eddie Goldman

I have been going to bars for some four decades now. I’ve been to sports bars, college bars, dive bars, hotel bars, redneck bars, Irish bars, Black bars, Latino bars, Asian bars, titty bars, and countless other variations. I’ve been to bars in numerous states in the US, as well as in Canada, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico. I’ve seen a few things in my time and also done a few things, most of which I remember.

Number one on my long list of favorite bars is Yogi’s, at Broadway and 76th Street. I first went there in the 1970’s when it was McGowan’s, an Irish bar with few Irish regulars that had become a local jazz bar. It also had one of the most diverse crowds I have ever seen anywhere, with a New York mix of ethnic groups, nationalities, ages, and classes. It was a wonderful step up from the college bars around Columbia like the West End, which had been my main haunt back then and was where I had learned how to drink.

McGowan’s and a similar bar, Clifford’s on 72nd Street, are no more. McGowan’s went through its Dark Ages as the Bear Bar before being hit by the redneck Enlightenment courtesy of the rotund impresario, Tommy McNeill. Clifford’s is no longer any kind of bar, and I even forget its exact address. I miss them both, and the people who frequented them and worked there.


Jenn & Patience are together every other Friday night.
But Yogi’s succeeded in combining the camaraderie of those old places, while exposing me and no doubt many other Yankees to the soundtrack of redneck and blue collar America. Between spending many a night at both Yogi’s and the Village Idiot, I converted to country music, yesirree I did.

Now, as I’ve grown a bit older and am less adventurous than before, and don’t have a lot of time to scour Manhattan for new bars, I prefer spending what drinking time I do have at places I know and love, such as Yogi’s, Doc Holliday’s, and, when I can make it down there, The Patriot.

The Idiot is still sorely missed, and we really don’t want any of these other landmarks to be swallowed up by some real estate sharks or android corporations. Thus, when rumors began circulating that the days of Yogi’s were numbered, I was more pissed than I get after two pitchers of MGD.

But I also hate rumors about as much as Toby Keith hates the Taliban (or, conversely, as much as Merle loves the workin’ man). So I didn’t comment much on this except to express some generic outrage at creeping gentrification and the turning over of more of the city to such monied creeps.

Now I have some data, y’all.

Tuesday morning, as it turns out, I happened to be downtown. While strolling down First Avenue, I noticed a rather large, familiar figure walking uptown. Out of the sunlight came the man himself, Tommy McNeill. I hadn’t seen him in some time, and the last couple of times I had was in his bars when he was drucking funk. Tuesday, however, he was as sober and calm as the summer air.

After some brief, bemused greetings, I asked him about the future of Yogi’s. He said it looked good, but that there were still obstacles. He explained that although they have a valid lease for some time to come, the Duane Reade store almost next to Yogi’s wants to expand (like there aren’t enough Duane Reade stores already in Manhattan, like 79th and Amsterdam, 69th and Broadway, etc.).

He said that Duane Reade was trying to pressure their landlord to get them out. But he added that they had “won round one.”


Saturday nights are for Megan fans.
Still, this fight is not over, and he is already looking for a new location very nearby the present one to relocate Yogi’s if necessary. Tommy said he wants to get the crowds coming out of the Beacon Theatre, which he acknowledged sometimes irritates the regulars but is good for business. He doesn’t have an alternative spot pinned down yet, and of course hopes to stay right where Yogi’s has been for over a decade.

Whether a new Yogi’s near the current one can duplicate the unmatched ambiance, mood, and fragrance of the original one is unknown. Hopefully we won’t have to find out.

For now, it does appear that there will be a Yogi’s for the foreseeable future. But just in case, make sure to stop by the original one when you can.

Just buy your antacids and rubbers somewhere other than that place a few doors down.

Eddie Goldman sites:
No Holds Barred blog
No Holds Barred podcast
No Holds Barred on MySpace.com

Thanks, Eddie. If you care, on Friday night we are having an NYCBP Village Idiot Reunion, to be held at Yogi's. The bartenders are Jenn and Patience. Show your support for dive bars by being there.

Labels: bars, upper west side