Neighborhood NIMBYs are about to get a new tool in their arsenal. DNAinfo reports that the New York State Liquor Authority is getting ready to launch an interactive map this month that will let you see what your local bars have been up to (along with any bar in the State). Better than having to file a FOIL-request just to find out if anyone else has been whining about that noisy bar on the block! more ›

Hell's Kitchen residents are up in arms over the decline of their neighborhood, which, despite its roots as a gang-and-hooker filled, ahem, hellhole, has been a perfectly nice place to raise your kids for the past few years. Until now, because dastardly legions of drunk twentysomethings are getting drunk and being loud and puking up mango-flavored vodka all over the sidewalk. more ›

The company that manufactures Skee-Ball—the dull, repetitive game beloved by children and inebriated simpletons—is going after the Skee-Ball themed Williamsburg bar Full Circle, filing a lawsuit against the owners for trademark infringement. Full Circle has three Skee-Ball games, and owners Eric Pavony and Evan Tobias also founded a "Brewskee-Ball" League in 2005, after obtaining verbal permission from Skee-Ball, Inc. during a meeting with the company's CEO in Pennsylvania. But now it seems Skee-Ball has had a change of heart. more ›

People are riding bicycles inside bars, and the NY Times is on it. Today the paper of record takes a look at the slightly zany subculture of bicycle roller racing, a pastime favored by competitive cyclists during the off-season. Earlier this month, NY Velocity and the Century Road Club Association held a fundraising race inside the Parkside Lounge, where cyclists competed to see who could pedal the fastest without going anywhere, by riding fixed-gear bikes on stationary rollers. As you can see spirited crowd turned out to drink and cheer on the cyclists as they rode in place (and sometimes crashed): more ›

If you've wandered up Bedford Avenue lately in search of a cheap oversized margarita in a Styrofoam to-go cup, you've probably noticed, and been bitterly disappointed, that perennial dive-bar favorite Turkey's Nest Tavern has been shuttered since last week. It's a real blow to the neighborhood's legions of drunk McCarren park picnickers, and the cranky old men who stare at them. more ›

Ladies above a certain age, be careful out there: the internet is watching you, awaiting your every move. A certain 28-year-old Reddit poster is looking for "bars or hangouts where older women / cougars are known to frequent. I'm not out to get a sugar momma or anything, but I'm just attracted to older women." So, anonymous cougar hunters of the web, what say you? more ›

New bars are always looking for new ways to drum up the finances to open, but one upcoming TriBeCa waterhole's scheme is a new one to us. Until it is fully funded, The Elevens is selling off a limited number of "seats" for $500 bucks. Those "seatholders" are then entitled to 25 percent off of everything they buy for life, the ability to make reservations, access to events and tastings and the promise of a warm welcome. The catch is that the bar will stop selling the "seatholders" once they are funded... more ›

Open those peepers wide, cowpokes, here's your first look at Flaming Saddles, the new "kick ass Country Western Gay Saloon" opening in Hell's Kitchen Monday night with a rootin' tootin' rodeo party. We could try to describe what awaits inside Flaming Saddles, but there's no way we can top the press release, which describes the establishment as a place "where the Bad to the Bone Bartenders strut their stuff (behind and on top of the bar) & always aim to please. Customers are advised that they best pull themselves up by your boot straps, put on their Tight Ass Jeans and boot scoot and boogie on over to the Wild Wild West Side of NYC. Saddle Up for a Yippee Ki Yay MotherTrucker of a Night!" Eat your heart out, Coyote Ugly. more ›

A group of 13 brave souls visited 200 bars in 10 hours, breaking the all-time pub crawl Guinness World Record of 170 set by a group in Chicago, the Daily News reports. Completely defeating the purpose of bar crawling, one member of the group drank a half-pint of beer at each establishment. No word on whether the Guinness World Record committee will acknowledge Randy Daufman, who yesterday consumed 200 beers in one bar, and whose ex-wife is apparently a "no good, thieving whore." more ›

Today, the Post has a "trend" story about how people are suddenly getting their freak on in restaurants all over the city. Under-the-table footjobs, men's room makeouts, and kitchen coitus are apparently happening all around you, although we could have sworn that this sort of behavior's been going on...pretty much since the invention of restaurants. So in the name of science, we bravely conducted an extremely scientific office poll of the best and worst bars and restaurants to play hide the salami. more ›

We're just a few short months away from not being able to drink anywhere, ever on the Lower East Side. Last night around 10 p.m. White Slab Palace, which always struck us as being considerably more low-key than most of the neighborhood fare, even on the weekends, was shut down by the NYPD per a court order. But White Slab wasn't serving to minors, as other bars in the LES have done recently to spur the wrath of the SLA. It was closed for not having a liquor license a few months ago, despite owner Annika Sundvik receiving a permit in the interim, the Lo-Down reports. more ›

We're quite fond of the Greenwich Village live music club Le Poisson Rouge, so we were surprised to hear some grumbling about the bar, which seems to be charging patrons extra for drinks on the rocks (a common practice), but also charging extra for drinks not on the rocks, a.k.a. neat. One unhappy customer recently sent a copy of his or her receipt to Eater, and it shows a $3 charge for Glenlivet with ice, and a $3 charge for Glenlivet without ice. WHAT IS THIS RAPACIOUSNESS AND WILL THEY APOLOGIZE?, we asked the club. They got back to us promptly with an explanation that, well, kind of makes sense. more ›

This weekend, the booze-friendly city of New Orleans played host to shakers and stirrers from the world over at the annual Tales of the Cocktail festival, and New York bars racked up some top-shelf awards at the Spirited Awards ceremony. more ›

The dark and funky hipster bar and music venue Coco 66 on Greenpoint Avenue was the scene of a dramatic raid last weekend, according to reports on New York Shitty and Paper. It seems owner David Kelleran has been operating without a liquor license, and local police tell New York Shitty that the precinct "did a joint operation Saturday with the State Liquor Authority... The owner was arrested and all the liquor was order destroyed by the SLA." According to one observer, $20,000 worth of precious, life-sustaining liquor was poured down the drain! more ›

The ongoing fight over flaming beverages at downtown cocktail lounge Apothéke is going to trial. You'll recall that last year one of the bar's owners, Albert Trummer, was arrested (not once but twice) for his pyrotechnic tricks, specifically his tendency to light the bar on fire in the process of making absinthe drinks. Today Trummer turned down a deal that would have let him go without doing hard time. “I am going to fight this all the way,” Trummer said after court. more ›

There is supposedly a "furor" raging among bar owners "below 14th Street" who say the NYPD is pressuring them to purchase expensive ID scanners to help investigators track personal information and fight terrorism. At least, this is what the NY Post is reporting, in an article consisting of quotes from one unnamed nightclub owner who recalls a "high-level NYPD official" telling a group of bar owners that they "are on the front lines of terrorism... We have to be the eyes and ears." more ›

A Long Island cop has been suspended after a surveillance camera caught him pulling a gun on a bartender while his back was turned in a Farmingdale bar. CBS 2 obtained the video, below, and it's pretty shocking. But to be fair, the service at the South Main Street Pub just isn't what it used to be. more ›

There's nothing that necessitates a drink more than a trip to Penn Station, but the owners of bars in and around the transit hub say homeless people are ruining business with their panhandling. During a Midtown South Precinct Community Council meeting Thursday night, business owners called for a crackdown on beggars, some of which come up with elaborate, long running schemes to garner sympathy. Then again, the homeless people do provide a nice scapegoat; without them, customers will have to face the fact that they're just drinking in the Penn Station T.G.I. Friday's. more ›

Let's not let the news that Brooklyn's Community Board 1 voted (symbolically?) against the concerts at the Williamsburg Waterfront overshadow the other distressing development that emerged from last night's meeting: the locals are poised to go through with this moratorium on new liquor licenses in north Brooklyn. And unlike the State Parks Department, the SLA has a history of doing the community boards' bidding. more ›

Bar and restaurant owners in Manhattan neighborhoods like the East Village have grown accustomed to encountering stiff opposition from the local community boards (in some cases, they even blame anti-nightlife community board sentiment for driving them out of business). Brooklyn, however, has pretty much been a cakewalk for new bar proprietors—even when they bring the threat of hip hop or gun violence, the community boards have seemed reluctant to take action. But is it closing time for new bars in north Brooklyn? Brooklyn 11211 reports that Community Board 1 is considering a moratorium on new liquor licenses! more ›