Holiday Cocktail Lounge Open Again... For Now

Quintessential St. Mark's Place dive bar Holiday Cocktail Lounge has reopened after going dark around the beginning of the year, EV Grieve reports. The nightspot has been the Holiday since 1965, when it was bought by Stefan Lutak, who's now in his '90s and was recently hospitalized. Vanishing New York finds that while he's doing better, the fate of the Holiday is still uncertain. Vanishing also finds Lutak's history of the bar on one wall: "A lot of 'Punk Rockers,' drinking beer and making noise, began crowding all the time in front of the Deli. People were getting very nervous. One night I invited them all into our bar and they come all the time now and behave very well." For the time being, the Holiday's open only on Friday and Saturday nights, so if you want a fitting place to drown your sorrows over Love Saves the Day's closing, you'll have to wait until the weekend.

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By John Del Signore in Food on January 19, 2009 3:39 PM

Comments [rss]

Janine

Downtown Beirut

What street was that on again?

What about that blues bar?

Janine

how is roman?

I miss him.

his mother hated me.maybe cause i was om=bnoxious and forgot but when she was there i wasnt aloowed in.

stefan probably doesnt look any different

where the hell is thom claire anyway

Janine

i mean i learned to smell there

Janine

i mean obnoxious

i learned to spell there

Bozack

First "Downtown Beirut Bar," then International (though now re-opened) then Bar 81......

Holiday Cocktail will be missed if and when it closes. Stefan's sons live far away from the city and commute in to open the bar. I bet they own the building - if that's the case, they'd make bank selling the place.

ides_of_march

Downtown Beirut, haven't heard that place mentioned in a long time. Brings back memories.

BillyParker

Where will people go to get drinks after shows at Coney Island High?

Kyle T

The bartender he looks kind of sauced

but he always knows what's going down

it's how you carry yourself at the holiday cocktail lounge

neckbeard

the first time i was ever in that bar, stefan started yelling at me and accusing me of sneaking into the bathroom to drink contraband beers when in reality i was just pissing a lot because i have a small bladder.

and yeah. the first time i went to that bar was 100% because of the bouncing souls.

jibbly

Coincidentally the first time I heard Bouncing Souls was at the Times Sq Virgin, which is also going the way of the dodo. Kind of pointlessly significant that both the tiny and the mega are disappearing from the city...