Sunday, November 9, 2014

Looking at NYC's 'fratty heat spots'



An EVG reader passed along a link to a Business Insider piece from Friday.

Per the article:

The data experts at Yelp put together a series of maps that show the frattiest neighborhoods in 10 American cities. Yelp documented how often its users mentioned the word "frat" in reviews, and then plotted those locations on a heat map.

NYC made the top-10 list… and this area in particular is an apparent hot spot as the map shows.

Here is their NYC analysis:

Nearly all of Manhattan's east side, with some areas in the surrounding boroughs, is covered with fratty heat spots likely due to New York's colleges and job opportunities that draw crowds of students and recent grads. The Lower East Side, Murray Hill, Midtown East, and the Upper East Side are popular fratty spots in particular; the bar and nightlife options, paired with slightly cheaper living costs than on the west side, appeal to recent graduates.

41 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's an actual satellite photo of SantaCon.

Anonymous said...

Hah great comment about Santa con! Well played sir or madam

Giovanni said...

Guess which fine establishment comes up #1 on Yelp when you search for keyword Frat in the EV? The 13th Step. And while some of the reviews are hilarious, a few are just downright tragic.

Want to know why more schools are now banning fraternities? This:

8/25/2014
No. No no no.
This place reminds me of a dirty basement frat party. I've been here twice: the first time, I watched a full on bar brawl take place right in front of me; the second, I had my wallet stolen straight out of my purse. This place is trash.

10/14/2014
can i give 0 stars? This place is a fucking mess. it's a filthy, dirty shithole with ROACHES AND RATS!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS??? It's a pitiful disgrace, I was here for dollar beers, good food and good friends and we saw some rats running in the bathroom. We ordered buffalo wings and in the blue cheese there was a FUCKING ROACH?!?!?!? It's absolutely absurd. This place needs to be condemned.

6/17/2014
I'd rather staple my eyelids to a cement floor than come here again.

9/13/2014
Fuck you for trivializing the strength it takes to stay sober you assholes name your bar something else to stand out don't exploit the afflicted you weak uncreative mother fuck

9/9/2014
This place is gross, smelly, foul, and just plain disgusting.
We then go down the stairs and are hit with a strong pungent odor of puke. Yeah, smelling vomit is totally how I want to spend my night..

9/5/2014

The ideal spot for the thirsty and the ratchet. And I really mean it when I say thirst. The only reason why I came here, despite its terribad reputation, was because a friend of mine swore 13th step is a sight to see. In his words, "Judy! You have to go! Last week I saw a chick get fingerblasted on the dance floor, and there wasn't even any music!" ... So here I am, one week later, begrudgingly waiting in line (WHAT?) to get in.

10/19/2014
The worst parts of bars, house parties, and desperate, pathetic guys all sludged together in a downstairs pit wearing Giants and Red Sox hats. Burn it down.

4/13/2014
BLACK PEOPLE STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE
We had to have some white boys call the waitress for us n when she saw that it was for us she ignore and this happened 3 times it felt like racism all over again cause they refused to serve us over the white folks

A white guy said " wow I really think they don't like y'all " so we left

My first time experiencing racism and I felt something I never felt before

Anonymous said...

Not so ironic it also looks like a herpes outbreak.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the travel advisory.

Anonymous said...

Yep...lol...

moe said...

11:32 hey that is actually very funny good job.

Unlike the snark and snide that one often sees displayed as "humor".

Anonymous said...

The 13th Step is Ground Zero for these douchebags and the slam pigs who bang them. I'm seeing cops parked outside more often.

Anonymous said...

LOL!!! So true!

Crazy Eddie said...

I've been pretty tough on the 13th Step too... so, in fairness, I asked Michael Asch, one of the two senior co-owners of the 13th Step, and its sibling bars Down the Hatch, The Stumble Inn, Off the Wagon, et al, for his reaction to Billy's article...and other topics... we exchanged messages via Facebook (Michael previously invited me to the 13th Step's opening on July 6, which I did not attend) ... here's, in part, what he had to say ...

"[I found the piece] completely obnoxious ... and immature. The fact that we are being labeled frat bars and bad for a neighborhood's character is totally uncalled for and, for that matter, just plain ignorant."

Sure.

http://evgrieve.com/search?q=13th+step

Anonymous said...

When the names of all three of your bars make fun of AA programs and people's binge drinking problems you have no right to complain.

There's a special place in hell for people who run these kinds of places but they will just have to wait to get in since there's a very long line out the door.

Anonymous said...

"The fact that we are being labeled frat bars and bad for a neighborhood's character is totally uncalled for and, for that matter, just plain ignorant."

Is he fucking joking?!? Has he even been IN his dumpy bar? Seeing his low life clientele urinating on the sidewalk and harassing people walking by you can just imagine a hell hole it is. But we don't have to because HIS CUSTOMERS are saying it on Yelp!

It's the WORST bar in the neighborhood!

Anonymous said...

East Village today!

~evilsugar25 said...

I miss Telephone.

Anonymous said...

Hair of the Dog and 13th Step are the worst businesses to happen to the East Village/LES in a long time. Pull out.

Anonymous said...

I'll sum up a comment I just made about what the EV used to be vs. the Bro Town it is becoming... Take Back The Damned Streets! Get your azz out there and patronize local businesses. Imagine what the 13th Step would be like if locals showed up? Ok. Forget that. That place blows. But there are plenty of adorable non-fratty bars that will close if we don't show our support. At least make a point of sitting on your front steps every weekend (night). Change the face of the place. Attend block parties. Throw parties. Hang out at Mud. Dine at Caravan of Dreams when they have live music. Go to every MeetUp.com event that takes place here (search for East Village). Make the East Side inhospitable to idiots. Yez We Can. Remember the days after Sandy? Nobody in designer heels with gold chains on their purses. Yum.

Anonymous said...

Fuck the 13th Step. It's an embarrassment to the East Village.

Anonymous said...

I'movin to da Bronx!

moe said...

The bars being argued about are a lot like crackhouses were, well down here more like crack-apartments were. They serve a purpose for their clientele, and the folks that are selling the products there can turn a good profit thanks to the lowly nature of their customers.
Unfortunately, they make life miserable for their neighbors by their very existence.

Anonymous said...

I'll take the drug dens over the frat bars any day. The difference between the drug dens of the past and the frat bars of today is that the frat bars are much, much louder, the customers get in peoples faces in the streets, and these guys fight each other and scream for cabs in the middle of the street.

The drunks yell and throw up and urinate everywhere. At least the drug users and dealers were more discreet so as not to get arrested.

What the frat boys do is legal and tolerated by the cops, and they have no fear of arrest and they just don't care that people live here, for them the world is one big Animal house and they are the wild animals.

Anonymous said...

At some point one of the bros will get killed, either by binge drinking or getting hit by a taxi or something, and all of these blackout drunk bars will become a trending news story.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if deBlasio gives a flying you-know-what the East Village is "FRAT RAT CENTRAL"? It's DEFINITELY "Animal House Redux" at the 13th Step, courtesy of Michael Asch (an appropriate last name).

BTW, I wonder where Asch & his partners-in-crime live? Bet it's not anywhere near where they do business! Noooo, 'cause they don't want to see/ hear / smell that shit, right? They just want to get rich from it.

I bet Asch spends his time laughing at the stooges who enrich him - laughing all the way to the bank with their money in his pocket.

Scooby said...

Anonymous 10:44 - I'm with ya the whole way. This 'hood use to have a specific great vibe BECAUSE of all the things you mentioned. Yum is right. Can't teach people respect - gotta just take control of what you can. Some good ideas, thanks.

Anonymous said...

How interesting that a Google search on Asch's name brings up a piece on Grieve from FOUR years ago on the same topic:

"The fact that we are being labeled frat bars and bad for a neighborhood's character is totally uncalled for and, for that matter, just plain ignorant.""

Oh REALLY?! FOUR years and NOTHING has changed.

13th Step owner discusses frat rap
http://evgrieve.com/2010/07/13th-step-owner-discusses-frat-rap.html

Anonymous said...

Is the article satire? He describes the 13th Step as old world charm aimed at locals! PUH-LEASE!!!!!!!

Hannigan O'Flannigan said...

The 13th Step can kiss my Irish Asch!

NOTORIOUS said...

From Complex's list of the 25 douchiest bars:

"This frat-centric basement bar is damp with shame and sticky with discarded Natty Light. It's also stuffed with bridge-and-tunnel folk who all derive comfort from the vintage photos of the NYC skyline plastering the walls. They are slamming their glasses together, toasting to having escaped the suburbs of Jersey and Long Island, even if only for a few hours. After one too many games of Beirut (that's what classy frat boys call beer pong), the photos will also serve as a reminder of their locale when their internal GPS draws a blank. The 12th step is the mark of an alcoholic who has overcome addiction. The 13th step is for frat boys who wear alcoholism like a Boy Scout badge, utterly resigned to their douchey lot in life. Or, who after one too many games of beer pong, can no longer count."

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/05/25-douchiest-bars-in-nyc-right-now/the-13th-step

Anonymous said...

This is more a study of the number of times people use Yelp to attack bars they don't like, and the people who frequent them.

The Beer Pong Expert said...

Before I begin, I would like to put to rest a dirty dispute: the difference between Beirut and Beer Pong. Let me start off by saying that they are different. Whoever tells you that Beirut and Beer Pong are one and the same probably also told you that he was popular in high school. Neither of these statements are true. A great deal of confusion could be avoided if Beirut was always referred to as the version without paddles. Beer Pong uses ping-pong paddles. Hence, Beer PONG — get it?"

Beirut/ ruit, is a popular drinking game, that some less informed people like to call Beer pong ( beer pong is a totally different game).

Materials: 6-8 foot table
22 solo cups
3 ping pong balls
beverage of choice
water for the water cups
2-4 players

In ruit you set up 10 solo cups on each side of a table. Arrange the cups in a pyramid formation, 4 cups, 3 cups, 2 then 1, all of the edges of the cups touching. Fill the cups with any beer you want, preferablly filling the cups at least half full. Also have two water cups to wash off dirty ping pong balls. After your set up a player from each team can shoot for first shot. After this is won players continue to shoot one team at a time, three ping pong balls into the opposite teams cups. When one team sinks a ball, the other team drinks the cup that the ball landed in. This process is continued until one team makes all of the other teams cups. There are many variations of the game, and other little rules regarding rearranges, bounces, when you pick up cups and so on... depending on who you are playing with.

"The difference between Beer Pong and Beirut is that Beer Pong refers to any variation of the game that uses paddles to hit the ball in the cup, while in Beirut, the ball is thrown by hand, " said Jason Keith, head of the National Beer Pong League.

Crazy Eddie said...

After shopping at the Westside Market (great cheese selections), I walked past it (the 13th) around 7.30 PM tonight on the way home. You know a place is a shit Frat hole when, on a Monday (!) night, they have an intimidating bouncer/door guy stationed out front. During the summer, walking by it on weekend afternoons, the foul stench emulating from it was indescribable. Yet I saw people sitting on the tables outside, ordering food and drinks. Good grief!

Anonymous said...

@Notorious, @7:52pm: Fantastic and utterly accurate characterization of that dump!

@9:58pm: Your frat friends are missing you at the 13th Step.

Anonymous said...

@9:17 sucks when their own customers speak the truth, doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

Every review site has reviews that call this place a frat hole. Let's see the owners say it's not when 2,000 drunk bros decend upon it next month. Yup. Neighborhood joint lol.

Giovanni said...

If the owners of The 13th Step really want to show the neighborhood that they are not just a hangout for rowdy drunk frat boys then they should announce that this year they will be a No Santacon bar and ban all patrons who participate in the annual drunkfest.

Every year The 13th Step has the biggest crowds of drunk Santas clogging up the sidewalk, requiring several police cars and officers to be stationed all day outside your bar just to keep order.

I challenge you to join the other bars and restaurants in the area that post No SantaCon signs and restrict entry banning all SantaCon participants on Dec 13th if you are truly serious about showing residents of the East Village that you are a responsible neighbor.

Anonymous said...

We're forgetting all-you-can-drink brunch at Poco!

Anonymous said...

Don't hold your breathe G, 13th Step will be out on the sidewalk funneling Santa-conners into their armpit of a bar.

Walter said...

Every day I send thanks to the Universal Goddess for having blessed us with a place like The 13th Step. It keeps the a**holes pretty much penned in and away from the places I like to frequent. Of course, I'm not an immediate neighbor and thus not exposed to the puking and urinating I'm told is going on nightly. My sincere condolences to the people who have to put up with this.

Cindy Lou Who said...

So, in addition for comments being moderated, the comments, snark and snide or otherwise, here have to be approved for it to pass and be considered humorous by a sanctimonious commenter. And these are your neighbors. At least the frat boys are just passing through.

Anonymous said...

Cindy Lou, please sober up before posting. It helps us to understand you.

What kind of woman defends fraternity brothers in this day and age, seriously? You're aware that they are gang-raping us left and right, yeah? And perhaps at best leaving vomit all over the sidewalks? If you are down with this why are you here? This is New York fucking City. There are like a dozen southern states where you can get you roofies and date rape on.

Anonymous said...

Cindy Lou Who strikes the nail right on its head!

Anonymous said...

Grievey, you need CL's "sanctimonious" on your byline. That's awesome. And , as for a snide, snarky, sanctimonious commenter being my neighbor, are you kidding? That's the kind I love. Sorry , kid.