[Photo by Steven]
A new bar called Waiting on a Friend recently debuted here at 132 First Ave. at St. Mark's Place.
The corner space had been VBar St. Marks before a conversion to Colibri last September. Not sure who's behind the new venture at the moment. (You can find the bar's Instagram account here.)
We had some reader-submitted photos in mid-to-late August as the place was under renovation...
The bar is named for the song by the Rolling Stones from their 1981 album Tattoo You... one of the reader photos shows a new mural inside the bar of the album cover ...
And, as you may know, the "Waiting on a Friend" video was shot on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue... where Keith and Mick eventually saunter into this corner space, when it was the St. Mark's Bar & Grill. There, the other band members are already assembled (this old EVG post has pics from the shoot) ...
13 comments:
Keith walks like he just came from a methadone clinic in that video
OMG what is a rolling stone? Like, that is a song my grandmother listened to on TV or something.....
it's really refreshing to have a new bar on St Mark's that embraces the history of the East Village instead of bucking it!
I am a huge Stones fan and always loved that video. But at age 40, I am like the youngest Stones fan I have ever known. Hopefully for the sake of this business, there is a sizable cache of millennial Keef-heads embedded within the neighborhood.
@Anonymous 9:41. I'm 46 and although not a huge fan I see your age and think, 'Ah what a youngster' lol!
I hope these guys paint the walls the same salmon color as it was all those years before.
Sounds like something the Stay Classy Will Ferrell Beetlejuice bar guy would do...
That’s funny, there was just a huge party in there a few weeks ago and people were drinking rum punch and dancing on their chairs and tables with the DJ playing every track off of “Now That’s What I Call Music Volume 65,” from East Village originals such as Taylor Swift and Hailee Steinfeld and Cardi B. So don't get your hopes up too much that this will change into anything but a drunken bro bar with a DJ playing the kind of music you can buy on TV, because business looked pretty good just the way it was.
1. The Rolling Stones were not, are not, and never will be part of East Village history save/outside of shooting a video for "Waiting On A Friend." If they are then so is Billy Joel who shot the video for his song "Matter Of Trust" on St.Mark's Place and in a long gone space on the north side of the street whose name escapes me.
2. Does this place have legal permission from the band to call this a Rolling Stones-themed bar i.e. is it band-authorized or are they just posting up photos, album covers etc. and not overtly calling themselves a RS-themed bar? If the latter could they still be in legal hot water?
MrNiceGuy's comment was refreshing. The others, same old same old.
The irony is that video was the beginning of the end for the bar. Prior to that St Marks B&G was a pretty cool local, hip east village bar, but after the video, we were inundated with the bridge and tunnel crowd who actually believed Keith and Mick hung out there. Soon after, the locals disappeared and the bridge and tunnel folks followed shortly after as well. I worked there for years, and I can be seen in the video in the back getting drunk and trying to get my mug into the frame. Another commenter correctly stated that the stones were never a part of East Village history and I kind of rue the day the whole video happened. Peter Bennett
That's a cool history and proto-gentrification lesson by 1:42
And as Giovanni observed, this is just another poser bar appropriating the past that has nothing to do with what they are actually selling, what they really play and what demo they truly want to attract. Can't these entreprenuers conjure up something original without going on some random song title/album generator. This and Coney Island Baby, and there is another I passed by but I forgot what it was.
If this was my bar, I would have named it Star Fucker Star after the Stones overlooked classic.
https://impunitycity.wordpress.com/ (your city)
St. Marks was such a cool place. Great bands on weekends. Sure glad I was a part of the fun times there!
Hi Peter
I went by that famous frontage on St Mark’s Place today April 10 2023.
The stoop is instantly recognizable. The bar however looks a lot different and isn’t a B&G anymore. It’s a restaurant. Cool street. Very picturesque and peaceful.
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