[ad_1]
For Peter Gonzalez, returning regulars to Johnny’s Bar this week, the hole in its owner’s Greenwich Village, was a hopeful milestone for the neighborhood council that has held on for the past 30 years – through gentrification, the Sept. 11 crisis, the fitness boom and more. However it was disorienting.
“It’s really uncomfortable for people to be sitting in the bar in front of you because we’re so used to being away,” González said.
Relieving restrictions in bars this week is another sign New York CityProper re-opening from the shade of Covid is perfect.
As infections dwindle, Mayor Bill de Blasio recently named July 1 as the goal to completely reopen the city. Let his bitter political opponent, Governor Andrew Cuomo, not pass he announced this week he wanted most of the shops, restaurants, museums and the like to be close to full capacity by May 19, calling it “a significant milestone and transition moment for New York State”.
Even if Broadway is still closed, tickets for shows expected to resume in September this week have gone on sale this week.
In the meantime, there are other signs of life, though not necessarily a return to normal Covid. One executive noted, for example, that his rotation cycle class was once again overcrowded. Like him, he thinks people won’t be in Manhattan for five days a week, but there are more and more of them sometimes. The Lincoln Tunnel – as clean as the nuns ’arteries a few centuries ago – is once again drowned.
On Wednesday evening Le Bilboquet, the Upper East Side bistro was also inside, as well as a new row of outdoor seating. It looked like a set of dazzling guards waiting in front of the door and in the rain reject the claim that all who had the means left the city of New York for Palm Beach, Florida, or Hampton, Long Island.
“It’s quiet,” said the master, underestimated as he walked around the crowd.
However, scenes like this are still inappropriate. A few blocks away, in Midtown, when many office buildings are still empty, there are also bars. A caretaker at the Park Hyatt hotel, for example, on Billionaires’ Row, said he would not reopen his lounge until July. The Italian restaurant Marea was moving away from the amber-colored bar that overlooks Central Park and asked them to return on Friday.
On Monday, when the bar restrictions were lifted last night, the scene was hidden in the Corner Bistro, a pleasant West Village facility. There were only three customers sitting in a corner of the bar, next to the less inviting Plexiglas page.
“Until business travelers and tourists return, it’s all neighborhood work,” said the bartender, who is not only good at mixing drinks, but also skilled at checking patrons ’vaccination cards. The nearby High Line Park is once again looking forward to a day full of foreign tourists. Some of them can go for a burger and a beer.
Johnny, on the other hand, has always taken care of the locals. It’s a high-efficiency drinking establishment: a thin jewelry with a narrow bar, so narrow that it allows customers to reach for bottles, a whiteboard to record drinks left for friends, a pay phone, a regular toilet, a few Christmas light chains and, of course, a jukebox.
Recently in the evening, the tunes departed from the Wu-Tang Clan, The Police and Jamiroquai Weezer performed a ballad of the Muppets and then Billy Joel’s ultra-New York “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”. Some of the men sitting at one end of the bar were discussing who was the greatest songwriter. Two women were absorbing and taking whiskey. Another complained of hypertension. A Puerto Rican gentleman was dressed as a cowboy and looked as if he were wandering the dusty plains.
“The bars in New York are family-run,” said González, who came to the Village a few years ago from Corpus Christi, Texas and fell in love with a group of dancers. He got stuck around. “A lot of people in New York don’t have families.” It was Johnny’s “or you’re going to see it shrink.”
Like other bars and restaurants, Johnny’s situation has been constantly changing since the city was blocked in March last year. One of the bartenders said they would slip the money out of the front window, which was much appreciated by pedestrians for surviving after they started drinking drinks. “People here feel safe,” he added.
He set up a sidewalk tent and was also forced to serve hot dogs – “de Blasio dogs,” as many now call them – to meet the requirements of the Covid era, because any establishment that serves alcohol must serve food with him. In a hopeful sign, González removed the hot dog machine from its place above the empty bar on Sunday and brought it home. It was no longer necessary now that the food rule be abolished.
However, things are not normal. Now those who sit in the bar have to sign a diary and the whole show ends at 11pm – not the usual 3am or 4am.
“Some say it will take another year to get things back on track,” said Oscar, a 29-year-old drummer, who was keeping his martini company with a beer last evening. He wanted to reopen the surrounding jazz clubs. In the meantime, he said he spent only a large portion of the last year, and – like other New Yorkers – “self-medication”.
Now he has Johnny.
[ad_2]
Source link
