New York City Bartenders & Patrons

I have never driven 100 miles to go to a dive bar, but I did yesterday.

I am talking of course about jumping on the Jersey Turnpike and zooming down to Philly for the grand opening of Lil's newest Coyote Ugly Saloon franchise. I live 4.1 miles from the NYC original, and 98.2 from the next closest, in the City of Brotherly Love. Here's the report and the 25 photos. If you are too damn lazy to read the next 150 words or so, here's the scoop: It was worth every penny of the tolls to get there.

It was raining like mad as I got into the car with the blonde Garden City Goddess (GCG) yesterday. My plan to enlist her in the roadtrip was sheer genius, because she's been to all the roadhouses in New York with me, and has the eye of the expert. I know, why bring sand to a beach, but she is, like me, Irish, a drinker, and loves dive bars.

After checking into our fleabag motel in the Washington Square area (kind of like Chelsea, but not as cool), we hit an Irish pub for some grub. The guy on the phone at Coyote promised there would be food... but I didn't want to walk in with an empty stomach and not be able to get any wings. After scarfing down some starch, our dopey cabbie got lost going to Old City, and we needed a second cab ride to find the right spot. Rolling up, 40 people were on the sidewalk waiting to get in. Wow.

This place is NOTHING like the CU on First Avenue, from the outside, to start with. Tall old stone pillars, stained glass windows, big wide steps. It was a very old building that awaited us, at least 100 more years old.

But this line, in the rain, was a drag! Screw the line, and the guest list, I told GCG. We walked right up to the bouncer at the front of the crowd.

"We're from New York," I told him.

"Who's list are you on?" He asked me. However, there was no list, that I could see, in his hands. So I started rattling off names of people I knew from New York. We waltzed right in.

The space inside is so big, you could fit about 2 of the New York bars inside this one, and have room left over. The first 3 things I noticed:

-Stages left, right and center, each with 3 or 4 girls dancing on each. High ceiling too.
-Club music, no country at all, unless you count Kid Rock or Charlie Daniels.
-Lots and lots and lots of guys. A sausagefest.

We fought our way to the back bar, just in time to see the Philadelphia 76ers dance team (don't call them cheerleaders, I found out they hate that) jump up on the stages to dance. I have to say, after seeing their dance team do two shows last night, any Coyote is a better dancer. But it was cool to see them dance, they were OK.

As GCG and I pushed to the back bar, a friendly face appeared, it was such a relief. Coyote Kim from NYC was tending bar with 2 rookies from Philly. She was swamped. Her pals looked overwhelmed. Kim had a big smile and she was glad to see us. Sixty seconds later, another New York bartender, Cyndi, popped up. Wow, two of my favorites! They filled me on the Philly scene, and we started drinking away.

I like this bar. It is definitely not like New York, which is the only other Coyote Ugly I have been to. (There are others in Vegas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago). It looks like they had about 30 bartenders, which is more than double the number back home. Most were dancing like crazy, with a few behind the two bars. There is one long one along one wall and a big one in the back. The girls were all about 21 or so. Every one of them with the best abs you've ever seen and all were energetic about being there. Smiles everywhere.

I wasn't seeing any of the New York connections we're all used to, and I found out why. Philly has some wacky liquor laws. Or maybe they are Pennsylvania state regulations. Whatever they are, it impacted on the fun. The bartenders can't do bodyshots or drink shots with the customers. So there's none of the familiar battle cry we're all so used to hearing, "Who's Buying Me a Fucking Shot?!" The bartop itself is about 3 feet wide, which really cut down on the bartender-to-customer interaction. The customers nor Coyotes can't dance on the bar itself, so stages are built directly behind the bars. A strange set-up.

But like I said, I liked the bar. A lot. If there are any others like it in the Philly area, I don't know, but Coyote Philly will kick their ass. I chatted with some of the new hires there, and they all seem psyched to work there. I even met the "girls manager" who apparently is just in charge of the talent, and she said they're still doing some fine-tuning. It seemed like there was a schedule to get all the dance routines spread out over the night.

I was watching the bar with GCG, waiting for something to remind us of New York. It happened when Kimmy and Cyndi got up there after The Devil Went Down to Georgia came on. They pushed aside some of the no-talent customers who were shaking their moneymakers, and it was about 8 or 9 Coyotes in a row. The week of rehearsal paid off, they nailed that song. The vets were the best, but the rookies looked great!

We stumbled for the door, as the 2 am closing time creeped up. Outside, about 30 people were STILL waiting to get in. A polite doorman opened the door for us, and the night's capper happened. A bouncer hailed a cab for us! We couldn't believe it. GCG thought it was very nice, but what I liked was when he thanked us for coming, and reminded us to come back again real soon.

If only it wasn't 100 miles away...

I am going to Philadelphia on Thursday to attend the Grand Opening of the newest Coyote Ugly Saloon. Details to come soon...

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On Monday I took Amtrak to Philly for a really great night. I went and attended the tryouts for the new bartenders to work for Coyote Ugly Saloon in Philly. This was a night that was going to be a good one, I told myself. I brought my camera, of course!

The festivities were held at this place that usually has rock shows, the Electric Factory, not far from the downtown hotel I was staying in. It was freezing cold outdoors, and not much better inside. I was disappointed the bar there didn't have PBR, as they'd advertised. So it was Bud suds.

I was stoked to meet The Dog from Phillytown.com, and his 2 sidekicks. They were puffing away on big cigars. We were in a balcony bar overlooking the mostly empty theatre. The tryouts were not starting on time. They had a good vantage point. I kept trying to get them to sit in the front row with me, but only The Dog ventured closer to the action.

Looking down, I was happy to see Liliana, the Coyote owner, and Jacqui, her longtime bartender, manager, and friend. If Lil is the general, then Jacqui is the colonel. They were making last minute adjustments onstage. It was almost show time, and the place was ready for the judges. These were all Philly celebrities; and unless you're from Philly, you never heard of these people. A few pro sports types, cheerleaders and radio personalities.

I guess more than 200 girls had turned out for the tryouts earlier in the day. Lil and the rest had narrowed it down to around 80 for tonight. These would then go down to around 30-40. The routine was simple. They brought out 5 or 6 girls at a time, introduced them, asked them why they wanted to be Coyotes, and then they danced.

Overall, in the Looks Department, there were enough gorgeous girls to stock 10 bars. They were mostly knockouts. A few had their stripper moves down just right, while a few definitely has been watching the Coyote Ugly movie many times.

The night rocked. The tryouts took about 90 minutes. The bar hired some amazing women.

There was an after-party at a neighborhood tavern in South Philly. I spoke to a lot of the girls, they couldn't wait to become bartenders and work at Coyote.

The grand opening is on Thursday, March 13. I'm going back there for it. I want to see who's working!

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