Day 96 - I So Happy

November 12th, 2009

Are you suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder.. SAD? Do you experience lower energy levels, weight gain, fatigue, interrupted sleep and irritability each fall and winter?

While most of us despise the winter blues, there are some people that benefit(and dare I say prosper exponentially) this time of year. Those in the light therapy business must be ecstatic when that clock falls back an hour in October. Evidently this therapy box of sunshine gives off bright light that mimics natural outdoor light. Sound like a portable travel size tanning bed. Adorable. This faux sun therapy is thought to alter our circadian rhythms and suppress our body's natural release of melatonin. Biochemical changes will magically alter in our brain and reduce symptoms of seasonal affective disorder.

Bar owners also must yearn for an evening that starts a few hours after lunch. Professional and amateur drinkers both received the memo that intoxicating during daylight hours is frowned upon. If you have an affinity for one of the only legal drugs,you get to indulge in your addiction earlier than you became “that drunk in the beret“ at that Bastille Day party last July.

A few years ago, I reviewed some New York City bars in "Shecky’s Nightlife Guide". I am recommending a few that you might want to visit at night..at 4:00 PM. On a Tuesday.

Temple Bar
332 Lafayette St.
(Bleecker & Houston Sts.)
NoHo
212.925.4242

Temple bar provides the perfect atmosphere and décor for the chic business casual crowd wanting to impress a highly anticipated first date or those in the midst of a scandalous clandestine affair. The long stained cherry oak bar, inviting cocktail lounge, dimmed back lighting and velvet drapes set this romantic stage at this lover’s den. With jazz favorites crooning in the back background, an extensive list of alarmingly strong specialty beverages and seventy different types of vodkas can be savored at this Noho establishment. If you want to nibble on more than your date’s neck, try the tasty salt and pepper Calamari. You can always rely on the complimentary bowls of popcorn. if the high end cocktails have emptied your wallet.

Old Town Bar
45 E. 18th St.
(Broadway & Park Ave. So.)
Flatiron
212-529-6732

Authentic New York at it’s best. For over 110 years, Old Town Bar and Restaurant has welcomed generations of good ‘ol beer guzzling Manhattanites. Grandiose are the 16 foot ornate tin ceilings, 55 foot long mahogany/marble bar, and the giant urinals “fresh” from 1910. Pretentious attitude remains refreshingly minimal at this former Speak Easy. Grab an ale and juicy Bison burger while you enjoy tunes ranging from Jewel’s rendition of “Wild Horses” to the soulful melodies of Louis Armstrong. The walls are pasted with beer signs, political paraphernalia and photos of stars who have filmed here…Liam Nesson, Frank McCourt and Chloe Sevigny. Not only does this bar lure celebrities, it IS a celebrity. The neon sign was featured on Letterman’s Intro when he was on NBC. That’s good history!

RODEO BAR
375 3rd Ave.
(26th & 27th Sts.)
212-683-6500

Tread through the sawdust and peanut shells, grab a bottle of Dixie beer and hoedown to the tunes of this lively southern roadhouse. Great honky tonk bands with names like “Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash” play in a horse trailer imported from Vermont and are enjoyed by a melting pot including Good’ Ol boys, punk rockers, upper east side gentry and German tourists. Don’t let the giant stuffed Bison above the bar prevent you from ordering some top notch barbecued Tex Mex grub. According to the menu, “Rodeo bar employees are the baddest mofos walking this stupid planet”. The only thing missing from this Lone Star barn on Third Avenue is a mechanical bull. Can we at least sit on the stuffed Bison?

To answer that question. Yes. Yes we can.