The Cock is looking to move from Second Avenue to 25 Avenue B, in the current home of Idle Hands. This is one of the items on Monday night's CB3/SLA committee meeting.
Ahead of that, residents are meeting with reps from The Cock tonight to discuss what's in store for Avenue B. The following flyers went up yesterday…
According to the Block Association, Allan Mannarelli, a managing member of the one and only Superdive, is an owner of The Cock. He is expected at tonight's meeting.
Some residents fear a return to the bonkerish partygoing along here last seen in 2004-2006... a stretch that Eater dubbed "Hellmouth" back in 2006.
Monday's committee meeting is at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Board 3 Office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and The Bowery.
24 comments:
I see lots of jokes coming.
If I were a resident of that area of Avenue B, I'd much rather have the Cock move in as a neighbor, rather than a new untested bar. Because the Cock has already had ain't run at its current 2nd Ave location, it is relatively easy to get a sense of its typical noise levels and patrons. One striking difference between The Cock (or any gay bar) and a given straight bar is that gay men, when they drink, don't engage in the kind of overly rowdy antics found in the behavior of some inebriated straight men. Gay men also don't get into physical fights or threats of physical fights as do some drunken straight men who frequent bars. My days at The Cock are long past, but it seems to me that all that ever moves from inside to the sidewalk are guys taking a cigarette break. And although it may be a bit of throw-back seedy inside The Cock, that element of the bar doesn't make its way onto the sidewalk. Finally, it neither attracts long lines of gays waiting to enter, nor (perhaps worst of all) crowds from NJ or Long Island.
Ah, yes, the new hot and trendy and it neighborhood -- the LAB.
If the Block Association blocks The Cock, that would be a Cockblock.
Is this the same place that was once on the corner of 12th Street and Avenue A? We had a bar up here called The Cock a few years back, and the place was loud. I live two buildings away and had many sleepless nights because of the music.
@Anon. 9:16, you don't know your Cock history very well. That place opened back around 1998 on the corner of 12th and A, where Za'atar is now. They went in front of the SLA committee claiming they were going to be a full restaurant, had architectural renderings, menus, petitions, the works. Three weeks after they got approval, they opened as a bar, no food, live sex shows, massive sound system that forced half the residents in the building to break their leases and move out. The landlord went to CB3 begging to get the license revoked, the 9th Pct. did likewise. It took years for the state SLA to respond and shut them down, after which they moved to 2nd Ave. They were a nightmare, one of the worst of the worst, and there was nary a straight boy to be seen on their premises. Why they were ever even allowed to reopen is a mystery to me, and always will be.
Of course, the current location used to be The Hole. So the Cock moved into the Hole, but now it will rest in Idle Hands.
I live on 12th street just down from where the Cock was located prior to its second ave spot. I don't recall any noise problems but I did not live directly above the bar. I believe bars must provide sound proofing on the walls and ceiling otherwise all the bars would be shut down in the city. I hate to stereotype but I agree with the first person's assessment of gay bars. I never saw packs of drunks leaving the Cock as I do with the sports bars nearby. Wooing is not a gay thing apparently. As long as they don't put in large windows to the street and leave them open like so many bars and restaurants do now I don't see a problem.
I also rarely had problems with the Cock, but on the occasions when the back door opened at 4am, the noise was unbelievable. The people who lived above it had a lot of complaints. I think 12th Street didn't suffer because the patrons didn't tend to come down the street, they stayed on Avenue A. And also it was there in an era before people stood on the street smoking and yelling into phones.
Allan Mannarelli is not a good bet if you want a quiet addition to the neighborhood. The Cock was a noise nightmare for those of us living across from it on 12th and A as was Superdive a half a block north. There was no crowd control at either bar. Mr. Mannarelli talked a lot about being a good neighbor but he never was. Beware.
I live on the top floor of 12th and A and my apartment throbbed with he noise from that dump, and it reeked of cigarettes as if people were right in my apartment smoking. Complaints did nothing. It was a hell hole.
So, as I read it from this great thread of the damned (truly feel for you all), there is a moral equivalence to both the Cock and Superdive. They both did and will “suck”. Big time. Allan Mannarelli is evil. End of story.
"It took years for the state SLA to respond and shut them down".
They were never shut down. They stayed the full 10 years of their lease and only moved when my landlord refesed to renew. And I thank god they are gone now. What a nightmare. Woken up out of a dead sleep night after night by that horrible music. Ugh.
Worst problem was one that could have largely been simply avoided, no one homo or hetero needs the kind of outlandish stadium-quality/quantity bass disco or whatever you choose to call thaf sound that we are talking about. At the low frequencies where they were pumping hundreds if not thousands of watts, that stuff is a vibration rather than a sound, nothing will soundproof against that.
Those of you who will of course deem any criticism homophobic or sexist or racist or whatever is the latest PC nonsense, try sleeping with this horrible noise first.
@Gojira, I'm confident I know more about Cock than you ever will. Sorry, I was not present at whatever SLA meeting(s) took place at the time in 1998, so in terms of whatever statements were made vs what was created -- no, I know nothing of that history. However, from having been a patron, I know more of the history of the bar than it seems like you might, judging from your comment, which seems stuck in the late 1990s, as though nothing has since changed. When the bar was at 12th and Ave A, yes, the parties were loud and popular. Since the location moved to lower 2nd Ave, The Cock no longer attracts the same larger crowds. In addition, 25 Avenue B where Idle Hands currently runs, is a one-story building, so there is not the same threat to building tenants. Finally, because the Cock has been in business for so long, it's a known entity, and the business it brings will not be a surprise to the neighborhood. I'm not advocating for more bars anywhere, but if 25 Ave B is going to be a bar, a little diversity, rather than another dull sports bar, can be a good thing.
So that's all for Idle Hands? Last time I went there I got a sense that things were grinding to a close...
Anonymous 8:37 AM paints an idyllic portrait of gay bars: gay men never do this, they never do that (they are unlike NJ or LI men). What utter balderdash!! Bars attract people who drink, and sometimes people who drink get rowdy. Most (many) bars play their music (juke boxes) at full tilt. Let's not romanticize the situation. Neighborhoods need to keep pressure on new bars (no matter what they promise). Past history shows that it is rare (and sometimes takes an interminable amount of time for the SLA to withdraw a license. The people behind bars usually have high priced lawyers working on their applications. They are adept at pacifying (or seeming to) issues brought up by neighbors. I, too, have gone to gay bars. I don't recognize the portrait painted by Anonymous 8:37. I wouldn't go so far as to accuse this person as being a shill for the bar owners, but it sure sounds like it.
Open til 4 am...lots of smoking and loitering outside the current Cock...I live nearby and don't really mind, but I would hate to live above it.
There are no apartments above 25 Avenue B. So, can you all please stop your tedious whining about some noise that bothered you 12 years ago. Thanks!
The only difference between straight and gay bars is the people who get sexually molested and raped in gay bars are men instead of women. Sorry but having known many gay friends attacked in this way over the years it's the truth. Testosterone and alcohol don't mix, they explode.
@ Glenn, there are apartments next to, across and all around it thought. So, not only does that noise carry, from inside and out, but the increased people traffic and noise from them is a bother to many.
This corner has become fucking hell in the past couple of years for some reason - Mama and Poco's with their open doors and annoying patrons, and now this restaurant with crowds outside, etc. Real annoying shit. People live here, man.
Yeah really. Cornerstone isn't too hot, fills up that whole corner. I don't think that we should allow Mannarelli to proliferate. He's bad news and that block is bad. I especially can not believe Poco. The block association/activists have worked tirelessly to try and cool down that strip. Peace to residents. Dignity and respect for the neighborhood.
Uhm, there are apartments across, next to and around noisy bars all over New York, Paris, London, Beijing, Cape Town, Hanoi, Berlin, Rome....and?
@Glenn:
Did you go to the meeting to state your opinion in support of this business? Did you go to the meeting and state that to the block association members who have a history of being very reasonable with nightlife establishments flooding the blocks and avenue they live on? Did you go to the meeting and hear what the people who live around this place think or are you just posting you opinion on a blog, where you never have to come face to face with the people who may be impacted by this. If you did I applaud you, if you didn't then shut the fu**ck up! Or perhaps move to Paris, London, etc
The members of the Block Association that called for the meeting have been around in most cases longer then you and definitely don't want a hipster biscuit joint or yuppie dog spa, they want real daytime retail that serves everyone's needs. Maybe you should take some time to get to know your neighbors and the members of the BA, instead of assuming they are a bunch of yuppies. I can assure you that yuppies, yunnies, frat bros' and soro hoes are not involved with the local block associations in the hood. Why don't you go to the Community Board Meeting and sign in to speak and tell them "I want a fag bar there and I don't care if the noise bothers people" and see if that helps The Cock get approved. Are Bedlam and the Phoenix too far for you to walk?
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