Attention Midnight Cowboys

Can you believe this city has gone so long without having a mechanical bull? Robotic wildlife is finally coming to its natural habitat as a $25,000 bull is now in place for the opening of Johnny Utah's on West 51st.

NY Mag reports that the bull costs $10,000 a year to insure, which might be why their ultra-premium margaritas cost $51. While it may take a couple of those margaritas to get on the bull, we wonder if they check how sober a person is before riding.

Mechanical bulls are big on TV: On an episode of Sex and the City, Miranda rode one (but it was while the girls were visiting LA) and Ugly Betty rode some sort of mechanical bull/horse in a Medieval Times-ish establishment.

Photo of a mechanical bulls via Tom Harpel's and Buddy Stone's Flickr.

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By Jen Carlson in Food on July 16, 2007 12:55 PM

Comments [rss]

zodak

i rode the bull there. you only get to ride for 30 seconds then the operator spins you off onto the cushion. the plus side is that there are tons of girls there: pictures!

guest

I've done it. Overrated.

guest

nah, urban cowboy was in houston. midnight cowboy was here. plus people gonna ride it for sex appeal. midnight cowboy was the appropriate headline.

Spirit of 76

Uh, don't you mean Urban Cowboys, not Midnight Cowboys? "Urban Cowboy" was the film with John Travolta and Debra Winger that popularized mechanical bulls. "Midnight Cowboy" had Jon Voight as a male prostitute.

Toby von Meistersinger

I recall seeing an ad on NY1, maybe about ten years ago, for some country themed bar and I think that they had one of these featured in the ad. It was a funny spot and seemed more like a SNL fake ad, but it was real.

guest

No, you goofballs, wrong movie. The mechanical bull was not from Midnight Cowboy. You're thinking of Urban Cowboy. Debra Winger and John Travolta.

guest

New York lawyers are salivating.

JMH

I don't get it. What's the big deal?

guest

$10,000 a year is nothing. Think about what a bar makes on one good Saturday night.

I also heard that there is a bar opening on the lower east side with a mechanical bull, and its being opened by the dude who owns Dark Room and Fat Baby.