Most Dingy Dive Bars in the Village

Find the official version on WSN's website when the vice issue comes out... Whenever that happens.

Over Spring Break I went searching for something that perhaps I had no right to search for—the New York City of the late 70’s and early 80’s. I was looking for the era of sexy Nan Goldin photographs, when the East Village was a scene of angry punks and real grit; teeming with AIDs and raw sexuality and leather jackets (worn by real punks, not the Urban Outfitters kind.)



Nan Goldin

Back when St. Mark’s was more than just a tourist trap. I’m talking about the drug-filled days when NYU hadn’t penetrated and expanded into every corner of the Village … When gentrification was just a distant future; before the glam-tastic spoiled rich kids moved in. And I went looking for a remnant of this lost era, in the dirtiest, darkest dive bars I could find.



David Wojnarowicz, Nan Goldin

Mars Bar.
“Real people getting real drunk for real reasons. Scrape up a stool and don't be stand-offish. Breathe deep, smell the...humanity, and don't think. Drink!” –kntkeeslem on Citysearch



1st St and 2nd Ave
Enormous painted red letters, looking like they were scrawled over its graffiti-covered doorway by a drunken anarchist in the 70’s, read “MARS BAR NYCITY USA.” The sign is epic in its lack of design or aesthetics. It’s handwritten, crooked and almost as demanding as the punk music inside. Upon entering, I realized that this is the kind of dump where someone has probably been knocked unconscious during a bar fight, or dragged themselves into a corner like a shivering rat four hours later, and/or died in the filth-stained bathrooms mid-puke/pee. It’s all about grime, grit, grease, pills, and gasoline-potent liquor. I suggest going anytime past midnight, which is when the old punks past their prime crawl in. Don’t squirm when the bum next to you leans over to rasp something incoherent, his breath reeking of booze; acting like a squirmy suburban kid might be the worst thing to do. Just nod, relax, and get in touch with your inner inebriated garage-punk bum.

Double Down Saloon.
“You puke, you clean.”

14 Avenue A (between 2nd St and Houston)
The Double Down welcomes its guests with a hand-painted sign in its window exclaiming, “Shut up and Drink.” Other favorites at this messy-walled joint are “Buy our shit”, including the famous “Ass Juice” drink. No one I asked knew what exactly was in Ass Juice, and the bartenders won’t give away its secret recipe, except that it’s made of five types of liquor. There’s a jukebox, pool table and old rocking horse in the back covered in stickers and graffiti.



You can ride this rocking-horse while watching disturbing, obscene cartoons flashing on the TV above the bar. Although the walls are covered in dodgy paintings and graffiti, the Double Down is a more moderate type of grimy, for those who are too shy to venture into the bowels of Mars Bar.



Lakeside Lounge.

162 Avenue B (Between 10th and 11th St)
If either of these places are too much grit and filth for you, but you still like a good, cheap Happy Hour, low ceilings and an old photobooth (and live music) head over to the Lakeside Lounge. The Lakeside Lounge is not as scary as Mars or Double Down, but still holds a certain kind of dingy underground-bar feeling. Weekday happy hours fill up with locals and the occasional drifty grease balls, so you're not missing the grit.


Although it’s not quite the same as the way things used to be three decades ago, you can still find some fear and filth in these holes in the city. I didn’t find the gritty-romantic Nan Goldin-esque NYC I was looking for, but learned that the down-to-earth side of Manhattan still exists in some places. Rub elbows with aged punks, piss in a toilet that hasn’t been cleaned in decades (miss & don't care), and then stumble out into the streets of the Village at 3am screaming “God Save the Queen,” smelling of smoke and cheap shots. Don’t let the long lost NYC down—get out there, grab yourself an Ass Juice, and gulp it down like a grit-ball. Hipsters can stay home.