Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Photo of the Day

The Bars of 204th Street...
some dead, some merely on life support.

McMahon's: Life support

McDwyer's: Life support... but oh the good times we used to have here as young FU undergrads who didn't know any better.

The Sandbox: Dead, thankfully. Sketchy, sketch, sketch.

R.I.P. DOD's. Even though it's been reborn as a dentist's office,
doesn't it still kinda look like a bar?



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Has Fordham lowered its admission and/or graduation requirements? When I went there, no respectable student or grad referred to the school as "FU."

Boogiedowner said...

I'm guessing you haven't been to a Fordham sporting event in the last 30 years? It's a catchy little ditty that goes to the soccer tune of "Ole." Mets fans used to serenade the oft-injured Jose Reyes with a similar chant (using his first name instead of Ole, or FU). Really any two syllable word would work, but I digress on sporting chant barabarism.

I appreciate the participation in the blog, anonymous, but you must have attended old FU when the professors were still wearing academic robes in the classroom, and Hughes Hall was still be used by the Prep...Kind of a silly thing to take offense at.

The real question is what self-respecting undergrad would enter McDwyers; you might have a case there.

Go FU!

Anonymous said...

theres a new bar on 238th street off Broadway...patrons will still puke all over the streets though...bunch of heroin addicts and lowlives over there...

Jordan Moss said...

When I first moved to the Bronx in 1992, there were more than 20 Irish bars on Bainbridge (sort of a replica of what McLean Ave. is now). I could sort of kick myself for not photographing them all but we probably have many of them in the Norwood News archives. Some names: Roaring Twenties, the Phoenix, the Black Thorn, the Oak Bar, the Derby Pub, Big Paddy's. On a weekend night the sidewalks would be mobbed with young people. I remember seeing Black 47 -- an awesome Irish Bronx-identifitied band still at work but mainly in Manhattan -- at Roaring Twenties.
Neighborhood's like Norwood are constantly in transition. Old-timers complain (and have overly rosy remembrances of how things used to be) but it's the story of the city.

Boogiedowner said...

Hey Jordan:
Sounds like a blast! I do wish Black 47 would still play in the area, but I guess Manhattan is where the crowds will flock to see them. Thanks for the comment and shedding some light on old school 204th Street...
Erin

ograt said...

I live in the area and walk by these bars from time to time, McDweyers, McMahon's, Shea Emerald further on Jerome - are they all the same or is one more open to to a college student type ( as opposed to a neighborhood old-timer)?

Boogiedowner said...

Ograt:
Not sure how actually "open" to a college type these places are, but a bar's a bar right? We certainly were welcomed in McDwyer's/McMahon's back when I was in school (but that's like 7 years ago). Lou and I have gone to Shea's Emerald a few times, and we actually really like it there. We were definitely the youngest folks there by a long shot though.
Erin