Mars Bar is dead...long live Mars Bar? When it was first announced that the legendary punk bar on Second Avenue was closing its doors to make way for new condos (with the option to return in the new building) most of us figured that was just happy talk and that once the bar closed that would be it. But rumors are now swirling over on EVG that owner Hank Penza is readying to reopen in a new space in...a matter of months?
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![[UPDATE] Mars Bar Says Thanks For The Memories](http://gothamist.com/assets_c/2011/04/041811marsbar-thumb-640xauto-616464.jpg)
Television Watching:
Results tagged “marsbar”
Rumormongering: Mars Bar II In The Works For The Fall?
Mars Bar Will Close In "Four To Six Weeks" And That Is OK
Turns out the rumors of Mars Bar's last last call were a bit premature. An Observer operative is now reporting that—though the building it lives in has been emptied to make way for condos—the punk institution will close "in four to six weeks." And honestly? Fine, whatever.
Last Call For Mars Bar Could Be Tonight
Earlier this month, we all but confirmed the demolition date of beloved East Village dive Mars Bar, and tonight could very well be the final hurrah for the graffiti and beer-stained institution.
Mars Bar August Demolition Date All But Confirmed
You knew it was coming, but that doesn't make it any less sad. The final days of Mars Bar are upon us. Over the weekend Crain's wrote a story on the sweetheart deal the tenants in the infamous dive bar's building are getting— $10, tax free, for a two bedroom apartment!—that mentioned the structure will be demolished in August and today EVGrieve makes the educated guess that since the building's tenants are being asked to leave on the 30th of June (when neighboring Joe's Locksmith will also be vacating) it is a safe bet that the 30th will also be the end of Mars Bar.
A Visit To Mars Bar, Where A New Mural Mirrors Cooper Square Hotel
The facade of soon-to-be demolished Mars Bar has seen a few changes in recent days. The words Thanks for the memories have been painted above the entrance, and the latest addition is a mural painted next to the entrance, which depicts a sleek, modern building closely resembling the controversial Cooper Square Hotel.
[UPDATE] Mars Bar Says Thanks For The Memories
[UPDATE BELOW] In December, Community Board 3 voted to approve a plan to demolish buildings along Second Avenue, including famous East Village dive Mars Bar, and replace them with affordable and market-rate housing. And it appears the end is coming soon. Reader Michelle Kaminer took this photo yesterday afternoon of the latest message to get painted outside of the bar: "Thanks For The Memories." Then again, if you were actually sober enough to have any memories of Mars Bar you didn't do it right.
Material Girl Takes Over Mars Bar, Lit
Recently Kelly Osbourne became a model for the Material Girl line—replacing Jenny Humphrey!—run by Madonna and her daughter Lourdes. For the shoot, they revisited Madonna's old stomping ground of the East Village, and used some of its mainstay bars as a backdrop—namely Mars Bar and Lit. Of the former, Lourdes says, "there were people drinking there and it was, like, three in the afternoon. There were some interesting people there. I think they didn't even notice that there was, like, a girl in short shorts being photographed." Check out some video from the shoot below:
Last Call for Mars Bar, Will Be Demolished for New Housing
Last night the Community Board 3 housing committee voted to approve a plan to demolish a couple of buildings on Second Avenue and Houston, replacing them with a mix of affordable and market-rate housing. Current tenants would be sold the new units for $1, and the Local reports that the units could never be resold at market rates. Good stuff! But the infamous dive Mars Bar is located on the ground floor of 1st Street and Second Avenue. When news of the development broke Tuesday, the bar's owner downplayed the potential change, speculating the bar would reopen good as new after two years. But as Curbed reports today, "rumors of Mars Bar's demise have been greatly underestimated."
East Village's Mars Bar Could Close For Two Years
According to The Local East Village, BFC Partners are presenting plans to Community Board 3 to build low-income housing on 9 and 11-17 Second Avenue. The project would operate under the inclusionary housing program, where permanently affordable housing would be created with a tenant's option to buy for $1 and $10. And while we're all for $1 apartments in the East Village, is the project worth it if we're going to lose the inimitable dive Mars Bar for two years, only to see it reopen without the decades of beloved, accumulated... shit.
Best of New York, According to New York Mag
New York’s Best of New York lifestyle catalog is out, and among the rightful winners, like Best Old School Lobby: The Chrysler Building and Best Dive Bar: Mars Bar, there are some curious ‘bests’ to ponder.
Video of the Day: Man Lives in IKEA
The guy who spent $369.14 in a quixotic attempt to patronize each of Manhattan’s 171 Starbucks in a single day is back in the news, and this time it’s the corporate giant that’s helping him out. Comic Mark Malkoff will be living at the Paramus, NJ IKEA for the next week while his apartment is fumigated. And of course, he’ll be documenting every waking moment. Here’s the first installment:
Television Watching:
Mars Bars, Awards and Singing Unlike a Soprano
Save Veronica Mars Campaign Does Not Effect Local Mars Bar Availability
Dive On In
Well, the weekend's rolling around again, and thankfully this issue of Time Out New York has rounded up some of the city's finest dive bars. Gothamist loves dive bars, particulary those with good jukeboxes. TONY lists some of our divey faves, including International Bar, Holiday Cocktail Lounge, Siberia (although we liked the old one better), Bellevue Bar, and The Stoned Crow (which isn't really that divey, in our humble opinion), but seems to have forgotten an old standby -- the Mars Bar. We once had the pleasure of seeing a patron puke on the on the bar there only to be followed by the bartender cleaning it up with a mop. Now that's a dive.
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