Niagra Rain Falls

We spent about six hours wandering around the East Village today - finding new things, peering into the windows of restaurants and bars we might want to try, walking in and out of a million clothing stores with 60% off sale signs in the windows (most still beyond our budget), seeing cool murals on the walls we pass by, basically doing what we love doing in New York - letting ourselves get lost on its streets. We started with brunch and ended with dinner (later posts). But on this cold and rainy day, we stopped by for an early happy hour at Niagara (facing Tompkins Square Park, on Avenue A at 7th Street). It's an iconic sort of East Village bar with its exterior mural of the legendary Joe Strummer. This mural's been repainted since our last visit to this mural.



Guinness for just $3. Thank you happy hour! Guinness is always good. But there are those moments when it's just perfect. Today was one of those days. A lovely day for a Guinness.


The perfect drink at the perfect bar at the perfect moment on a pretty perfectly melancholy day. It was so early (at 5:00 PM) that we were the only people there. And that's just how we wanted it. The bar is grand and has that throw back to the old days feel, though you're not quite certain why - perhaps the bumper sticker on the cash register "I Miss the Old New York" helps to make you feel like you're not at some new trendy bar, perhaps it's the sounds of Roy Orbison, perhaps its the mural of Joe Strummer on the other side of the wall that makes you think of what those ruckus days were like.


We loved these photos.







It was a perfect way to wrap up a wonderful day in the East Village. We can only imagine how insanely crowded and rowdy this bar gets late at night (they're open 'til 4:00 am), especially on Fridays and Saturdays. We would probably hate this bar on those nights. But today, this was selfishly and appropriately our bar.