Avenue B Bar Survey

This is a rough draft ONLY.

Avenue B Bar Survey Part One
By Fred Soffa

For anyone who lives in the East Village the proliferation of bars and restaurants in the last few years is striking. Over the past 15 years, it is nothing short of remarkable. Avenue B at night was described this way in 1992 by a very observant resident of 13th St.: “Mona’s, Vazac’s, and every place else was shuttered.” Although, as Manny, a patron I met at Maia Meyhane who grew up in the neighborhood added, there were delis where Ding Dongs meant you wanted to buy heroin. Remarkable might be an understatement.
Yet with any change comes discontent, removal and loss. With additional uses come the attendant discomforts specific to that use. The proliferation of bars on Avenue B has added cars, honking taxis, and late night revelers. To any reader of this newspaper, these new establishments are contentious. To some, they have lowered the living standard of the neighborhood. The State Liquor Authority is being challenged for granting exemptions to the Alcoholic Beverage Control law, regulations that if enforced could radically curtail new bars in many East Village locations.
To add to a sophisticated discussion of this many faceted problem, I decided to conduct a survey of the bars on Avenue B, specifically between Houston and 7th St. Just who is out at these establishments? I conducted this survey in 7 bars (skipping one - sorry I was running out of gas.) I spoke to a total of 101 patrons. Roughly between 5 and 10% of the total patrons at all these establishments, depending on how busy the night. While I do not conduct surveys for a living, I have an extensive background in surveys: collecting, organizing, and analyzing data.
My primary purpose was to determine where the patrons lived. Patrons were asked which neighborhood they lived in. Those two people who declined were excluded. People were happy to talk. I do not think I was lied to, it is rather a simple and even expected question in New York. I also asked what percent of their going out happened in the East Village, but this question was not as perfectly answered. For my own edification I asked what brought them to the East Village to go out, instead of say, their home neighborhood.

Here’s what I found, bar by bar.


Out of Town
East Village 5 Borough incl Foreign Total Surv
Vazacs 5 6 5 16
Maia Meyhane 3 4 3 10
Mama's 3 10 0 13
Croxley Ale 1 9 4 14
Midway 0 6 6 12
Le Souk 0 13 9 22
Manitoba's 5 8 1 14

17 56 28 101


To a large extent, this data set is clear. Roughly 17 percent of the bar patrons on Avenue B below 7th Street on a typical Saturday night reside in the East Village. Not one responder listed the Lower East Side as their residence, so there is no effect here on a wider or narrower definition of the East Village geographically. The bars that were the most heavily populated by East Village residents tended to include in their patron base the friends whom the East Villagers brought with them. The newer bars tended to have fewer local residents. The bars that style themselves as clubs, destinations, or hot spots had fewer local residents, as might be expected: these types of establishments cast a wider net looking for those patrons who desire a very specific experience.
Friends of East Villagers listed being out with their friends as the number one reason they were in the East Village. With respondents not from the neighborhood the number one reason for coming to the East Village was the “vibe”, a combination of “edginess” and an absence of “frat boy types”. The younger the respondent, the stronger the lure of the “vibe” of the neighborhood. Long time residents and older patrons actually described the existing scene as “lame” and “gone”.
The number of out of town and overseas visitors, (incl the handful of Jerseyites and Long Islanders, sorry) was surprising, but in retrospect, should not have been. After all the tour buses lumber up Avenue A, Ginsberg, Spaulding Gray, and a whole host of artists have popularized the neighborhood through their works, the labor union history should not be overlooked, and while a bit off the path, the East Village has a significant place in the history of New York City. That coupled with the high number of distant visitors in this city, very few of them getting up to work early on Sunday morning, many of them here to have fun, would yield a high number of distant visitors going out.
Another group that was a surprise was the number of people who said they worked in the East Village. Lacking virtually any office space or major retail presence, we now see that perhaps the mass of bars and restaurants has become the primary employer of the neighborhood. As an ex-waiter, it is well known that workers in bars and restaurants constitute an inordinate percentage of the patrons of those establishments. The East Village will hew to this rule, just like any other locale.
Yet a quick mental survey of a midtown bar: happy hour workers, tourists, and on a rare occasion, a denizen -- is what we would expect. An Upper East Side establishment also draws a significant percent of it’s patrons from beyond it’s borders: clearly Queens and Brooklyn are alcoholically underserved. Perhaps the uptown avenues have been so loud for so long that the issue is not as flammable. Or, more familiar with these types of establishments we simply consider them the norm for their neighborhoods.
A quick note on age: Virtually all respondents were under 45. Primarily 25-35. Literate. I didn’t ask, but would surmise 80% had seen some college or graduated. Only significant gay presence was at Manitoba’s. There were a lot of hookas, but I am a hooka virgin, so I cannot surmise or infer from this. The one bar I skipped was a large hooka bar, perhaps most similar in type to Maia Meyhene.


A quick and partial tour of the terrain, bar by bar:
((the following needs to be made more regular from bar to bar, and will consist of the following information: Name, address, year license granted, capacity. Room description (patrons and space))
Vazac’s:
Old established bar. Rock and roll crowd. Drinking hole. It was telling that the first person I queried was from England. He’d read of the East Village in his guidebooks. Times change from over the counter drug sales at Vazac’s in the 70’s. The majority of out of towners were friends of the locals. Capacity 125

Maia Meyhane.
Recently converted from a failed “French New Wave Cinema Bar” to a hookah bar. Dark, not too loud. Primarily weekend traffic. Larger parties, including ex East Villagers and their friends, East Villagers and their friends. DJ stand. Capacity 100

Mama’s
A new bar, but an extension of an old institution (an established restaurant). Younger crowd. DJ stand. Significant “L” crowd, Williamsburg, Greenpoint. Perhaps got priced out of the East Village. Crowd goes out more, perhaps, that other patron groups. Capacity 75

Croxley’s
New bar. Sports bar in a neighborhood that could care less about sports. High percentage of first time to East Village patrons. Finance types. The gateway bar to the neighborhood? Capacity 150 w/o garden.

Midway
Did this used to be Scenic, just weeks ago? Live band just finished. More club type, young get dressed up (in clothes to panic your mother). Ruder. More of a destination place, much larger outside smoking presence. Capacity 250

Le Souk
A very large, recent establishment that includes a multi-level restaurant, two floor incl the basement. More of a draw, not let’s go to the East Village, but let’s go to Le Souk, although not exclusively. Hookas. Velvet rope and line of patrons outside waiting to go in. Table service. Clearly a “special” place, not a neighborhood hangout. Capacity 500?

Manitoba’s
Older bar. History in neighborhood. Older crowd, significant gay patronage. Smaller crowd. Seems to be quite the drinking place. Capacity 75


That concludes the snapshot. My intention is to get those mental gears turning. What is a typical bar and who goes there? Is that a real entity? A myth? A composite? Is there any neighborhood in Manhattan that would draw a majority of its patrons from its neighborhood? On a weekend? What sensibility is there in creating a mass of drinking establishments in close proximity?
What sort of perfect storm has created bars on Avenue B? An availability of cheap rent, empty space, and a lack of competition for the real estate leases from retail stores who wouldn’t have enough foot traffic to survive on Avenue B? Zoning laws? A reputation as the “partying” neighborhood? A younger demographic on the census tracts, eager to go out? Are there more bars on 2nd Avenue but we just don’t notice it as much because they have a lesser impact?
This is a complex issue, more complex at a city wide scope than the limits of Avenue B. The second part of this story will examine the questions raised by Jane Jacobs and Saul Bellow, perhaps not with an end in sight, but with the hope to both expand the problem and define it, handle it, in a broad, philosophical sense.