Still Got It: Ding Dong Lounge

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In this city, restaurants and bars come and go faster than you can say "sustainable locavore burger." And even though there are great new additions to the culinary landscape popping up every week, you've gotta give kudos to anyone who can stick it out for over a year. With that in mind, we bring you Still Got It, our tribute to establishments that continue to serve mouthwatering meals and drinks long after the buzz has faded—or if the lingering hype is still justified.

There are certain parts of the city which seem completely devoid of decent places to drink. Oh sure, there are dozens of bars on Amsterdam between the 70s and 90s, but unless you really enjoy rubbing elbows with overgrown frat guys at Jake's Dilemma, you'd be hard pressed to find an uncrowded dive to spend a couple hours. This is a major problem all over the Upper West Side, leading most residents to travel downtown for their drinking. But there is one dimly-lit dive which is doing its best to create the kind of crappy atmosphere we desperately desire in our watering holes: Ding Dong Lounge.

It's the rarest of rare things in the Columbia University area: a relatively cheap dive with oodles of personality that is almost never filled (and certainly never with Columbia kids). There's no food, but during daily happy hours from 4 p.m. - 8 p.m., cans are $2, tap beer is $4, and well drinks are $5. The exposed brick walls of the bar has vintage band posters hanging on the walls (including a very cool Replacements one); it's very dark, filled with ill-placed pipes, a Ms. Pac-Man machine, and a pool table too close to the wall. A few times a month they'll have bands play the space (including an amazing recent double billing of Ed Askew and Gary Higgins), but more often than not, there is a DJ playing a fantastic mixture of punk, classic rock and new wave music just a bit too loud. Some point to this as the bar's fatal flaw, but it is exactly one of the reasons we love it so much: the loud music drives away a huge amount of people, keeping it blissfully local. The bartenders are friendly, the regulars are boisterous, and there is certainly no better place to find yourself shitfaced at 4 a.m. on the UWS.

929 Columbus Ave (between 105th St & 106th St) (212) 663-2600

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By Ben Yakas in Food on March 27, 2011 3:37 PM

Comments [rss]

John

@Stanley, the Ding Dong has been around since 2001,so it's fair to say that the bar is already a fixture. I've lived in the neighborhood for over 7 years and am a "regular". I have seen people from all over the world and the city come to that neighborhood to check the bar out.

DCCox23

With the Buzzcocks at 150db you don't need a bouncer - And a "tip of the hat" to Sir. Nolan, I like my bartenders to be a bit dickish...

WildCatHome

@Stanley, that's why you shouldn't go to bars with fake ID's and cheap friends.

Stanley Joseph

I took a date to ding dong once. I bought us each a drink, and gave a nice tip to the Bill Nolan (the bartender/owner.) After serving us the drinks he came back and ID'd me. My ID had expired. He made a show of taking back our drinks, and giving me back my money with a huge smile on his face.

Another time, he shouted at my friend for not tipping well enough. He told him he "didn't know what it means to work for a living."

I really enjoyed the Ding Dong. A lot of my friends lived nearby, the music was good, and the beer was cheap. However, the problem with Ding Dong is that it will never be able to become a real fixture in the neighborhood. Not because the neighborhood won't accept it's punk rock vibe, but because of the owner has no concept of cultural relativism.

optionshift

Used to live around the corner from the Ding Dong and tried to make it my local, but that "fatal flaw" of the volume of the music (which really is usually a good selection) is just TOO FUCKING LOUD to have a casual conversation.

The bar's also kept totally dark which kinda misleads you into thinking it would be a good place for an intimate get-together, then—BLAM! BUZZCOCKS blaring at 150 dB!