Monday, March 19, 2018

Cocktail specialist looking to take over Double Wide on 12th Street



Cocktail specialist Greg Boehm is on tonight's CB3-SLA committee docket for a new liquor license for 503-505 E. 12th St. — the current home of Double Wide.

Boehm, the founder of Cocktail Kingdom, a manufacturer and distributor of professional barware, is a partner in the cocktail bar Mace on Ninth Street and Boilermaker on First Avenue.

According to the public documents on the CB3 website (PDF here), the unnamed bar-restaurant would have proposed hours of 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday; until 3 a.m. Thursday-Saturday. (The outdoors space in the back would be open from 5-9 p.m. daily.)

The sample menu on the questionnaire features small plates and "not so small plates," with items like oysters on the half shell, moles frites and a tuna baguette...



... a contrast to the current menu at Double Wide, which serves chicken-fried steak and Frito pie, among other things.

The questionnaire describes this as a sale of assets. If this all goes through, then this would mean the end of Double Wide, which opened here between Avenue A and Avenue B in late 2011.

Two previous bars in this space, Mundial and Totem, were especially problematic, according to nearby residents.

CB3's SLA committee meets tonight at 6:30 in the Public Hotel, 17th Floor, Sophia Room, 215 Chrystie St. between Houston and Stanton.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Another nightmare bar for 505 E. 12th St.?

Last night's CB3 recap: Residents 1, Bar Owners 0

Here comes the fear again: 505 E. 12th St. back on the market

Illegal work continues at former Mundial space on East 12th Street

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I live on this block and really hate that there is a bar on it and don't want another one taking Double - Wides place. I will attend the meeting tonight and encourage any of my neighbors to do the same. We can stand up against this we just need to let our voices heard or be subject to the voice of this new bar's drunken clients at 3 AM.

Anonymous said...

Why do you live in the East Village if you hate that there is a bar on your street? There's a bar on every street! My apartment is surrounded by bars. It can be annoying, but that's life in the East Village. You can always move to the suburbs.

More bummed that this place will become another cocktail bar. Double Wide is an easy place to get a beer and a burger.

Anonymous said...

Yeah but you’re saying that to someone that lived on 12th St BEFORE they’re were ANY bars on 12th st! Why would a resident who’s lived in their apt for 30 yrs on a quiet side st want a dime a dozen frat bar across the street moving in?

Anonymous said...

@11:51
So I am suppose to leave my home of decades to make way for another bar owned by a person who does not live in the neighborhood but hopes to profit opening his 3rd bar here? If you believe that life in the East Village has always been swimming in bars you are wrong and obviously are new here. Residents of this block and other blocks have every right to speak out against anything that threatens their quietly of life. I suggest you move to the Suburbs if you can't appreciate a neiiglhbhoor with a sense of community.

Anonymous said...

@11:51's argument is baseless and has been rehashed here many times. As if you just have to take it because of where you live. dumb.

Anonymous said...

Double Wide is such a shit show. I have to deal with the noise from the front of the bar. I don't know how the people who live in the newly renovated apartments above it ever sleep, and I know it is insane for the people who have to deal with the noise coming out of the back. I hate that there is any bar here, but would this place be more upscale? Might it be quieter? Am I hoping for too much? I noticed that business has slowed down at Double Wide in the last few months. I am not sure why. I am happy to see them go, especially after that brawl on the sidewalk a few months ago. I hate dealing with the noise and the drunken a-holes that go there.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone who lives at 505 have contact info for the owner of the building? I want to reach out to them. They need to have some accountability when it comes to the noise that comes from this place.

DrGecko said...

The menu says "moules frites" (fried mussels) but Grieve's source reports that they're really "moles frites," which might be fried Mexican sauce, but is more probably some kind of fried shrew, which does seem like it's on the culinary cutting edge. And definitely would require a large amount of alcohol to cope with.

JQ LLC said...

It looks like the night mayor is either sleeping on the job or it's turning into a free-for-all for liquor permits.

I might not be a resident but what's going on in the East Village is happening in other towns in the boroughs that are getting the hip cache, like Ridgewood. It is not normal to have bars right next to each other. Or every corner you turn. Or every time you blink. It's oversaturation.

The night mayor wasn't kidding when she said your town was ripe. Now she has jurisdiction over every town. Next stop, Pottersville.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXQhTmNDTGo

https://impunitycity.wordpress.com/

sophocles said...

1:47 pm: I believe it is Avenue A Corner Owner LLC, 134 West 25th Street, Floor 2, New York, NY 10001.
The roof deck was constructed without a permit, according to a DOB violation dated 7/18/2017.

#DONTEVERCALLMEBRO said...

"You can always move to the suburbs."

The infamous "move to" line makes its appearance. Probably (but not always) from some fly over state Bro/Woo Hoo type newbie. Isn’t your expiration date coming up? Why don’t YOU move BACK to Suburbia?

Anonymous said...

If you are looking at the applicant's other bars, Mace and Boiler Room, neither are "rowdy frat bars," they're pretty chill cocktail bars. SO maybe people can chill the hyperbole on both sides of the argument here.

MrNiceGuy said...

I was at the CB meeting last night. They approved their license, contingent that they do not use the (incredibly loud) backyard space. The principle who was in attendance tried to bargain for later hours by not using the backyard space, but the CB didn't budge. He said he'd need to confer with his partners before agreeing to the terms.

Double Wide is a dive bar in the truest sense of the word (that's not a bad thing, but maybe not the best type of bar to have on a Street instead of an Avenue). Mace, on the other hand, is a very nice, upscale cocktail bar. The crowd isn't nearly as rowdy and I genuinely believe that the owners will be better neighbors. This is their first bar with a food program, and I think they're struggling to find their feet with that. Given the size of the kitchen space, along with the owners' background (they own a cocktail supply company), it's safe to say this will always be a bar first and a restaurant second. If they keep the noise level down, I think it'll be a win for everyone in the neighborhood, regardless of whether they're food-focused or drink-focused. Time will tell.

Anonymous said...

I've lived in the East Village since the 80's. My first apartment was on 12th and A. There were plenty of bars around the village. Some are still there. That intersection has completely changed. I lived over the funeral home, that's no longer there. It used to be a nice, Puerto Rican neighborhood - although it was never quiet when the weather was warm.

So there are more bars in the neighborhood now. I miss the old days too. But that's 30 years ago you're talking about. Are you even the same person you were when you moved to 12th St? Things change. The East Village has been a scene for at least 15 years now. I get more mad at the car honking at 4AM than the people hanging in front of the bars. Sorry your neighborhood got more popular with the B and T crowd, but I remember it being the same in 1987. It was just a more dangerous, or more edgy neighborhood. Do you want to bring back the crack heads, or the heroin buckets, or the gangs? Because that's what kept the bars away.



Anonymous said...

I don't know about you guys but a couple of drinks without some food and I get wasted. This is the danger of bar with little food. I hope they do not follow trend and install French door / window on the facade, we don't need to hear that.

Anonymous said...

I live diagonally across the street and the noise from Doublewide is outrageous. The patrons stand out front talking and yelling, and the bar continually keeps the doors open when the weather is warm, making the situation even worse, even though the owner swore from the start she would always keep them closed. I hope this new place is really a classy, quiet place for adults to grab a drink and not a draw for rowdy kids. I also hope they don't play music. Doublewide didn't play music all the time, but when they did, it was loud. The place is not sound-proofed at all.

1Kprojectspace-de Ekster said...

Dear Mace, I wish you would please unplug your walk-in at this time. It is making it difficult for me to stay home and stay safe. The walk-in refrigerator in the backyard creates a 24 hr nuisance of noise and vibrations.
This has been ongoing. This creates a great deal of stress and interferes with my ability to have optimal health. there is low frequency noise and vibrations and intense reverberations bouncing off of the two hollow sheet metal structures next to my window. See here: https://imgur.com/a/zHwh052
Again, Please consider finding an alternative to your perishables in the walk-in. Surely you can write losses off your taxes. And surely it is not cheap running 220 appliance round the clock.
This has been a nuisance for over a year, only to be eclipsed by subsequent nuisance of your exhaust fan.
Your neighbor Raclette, gave away all their food last Sunday and shut everything down. Please consider being a good neighbor, so everyone has the ability to stay home and stay safe. The walk-in is not suppose to be in the backyard anyway. Something to do with the air contaminants it creates for residents dwelling above. thank you for your consideration. I passed by the 9th Precinct today, they said yes, do the mediation with the NY Peace Institute, which I already initiated last week. I hope you will consider participating in the mediation. thank you. ECB Violation #: 39016886H, 39016887J, 39016888L Comments: THREE OATH SUMMONS ISSUED FOR WALK IN REFRIGERATOR INSTALLED AT REAR YARD WITHOUT A PERMIT.
Noise nuisance exhaust fan:
ecb summons 00284424Z