The bar was mocked in some quarters for its trying-too-hard nightlife entrance. For instance, as BoweryBoogie first noted, they sent out a press release pointing out their that brand new bar is a dive bar.
Ray’s joins New York City’s roster of iconic dive bars, delivering to the Lower East Side an artfully simple watering hole reminiscent of 1950s Americana.
Ray’s hopes to be a tribute to the concept of the local watering hole, where your bartender knows your drink and is your confidante.
“The vibe of Ray’s fits squarely into what I believe makes a downtown bar great,” said collaborator Justin Theroux. “Not fussy. Quick drinks. A place you can carve your initials into the table. The kind of downtown bars I used to work behind for years.”
Apparently Ray's is modeled after local stalwarts Lucy’s, Sophie’s and Josie’s.
Today the Post takes some shots at Ray's in a piece headlined "Justin Theroux’s new NYC pub is a lame excuse for a dive bar."
[T]he place teems with buttoned-up bros and Soho scenesters, with eye-popping prices (a shot of Evan Williams and a PBR is $12), fake-looking decor (even the Townes Van Zandt posters look brand-new) and clean, red leather bar stools (OK, they’re pretty comfortable).
Then they go low!
Ray’s has the cringe-inducing air of a brand desperate for cool points — think Target’s re-creation of CBGB ...
The Post also quotes Molly Fitch (Molly!), the owner of the International (and the Coal Yard before) on First Avenue. "Anyone who runs a ‘dive’ doesn’t set out to achieve such a low standard," she said. "I don’t think we’re a dive bar, just a neighborhood joint. We’re a bit worn in, like an old pair of comfortable sneakers."
Grub Street was kinder in a recent write-up:
Dives are as defined by their regulars as they are by their owners. Ray’s hasn’t had time to grow any barflies, obviously. The patrons the night I went were young and appeared to be gainfully employed. That some of them ordered buckets of KFC [ed note: wut?] from 14th Street and were eating it at the bar lent the joint an appealingly low-rent air, however. While there, I ran into a couple bartenders I know, and we ended up discussing who stood the best chance in the NFL central division this fall. I rarely talk about sports in bars. That got me to wonder if, in this, too, Ray’s was working its counterfeit dive-bar magic on me. Is there something about wood paneling and Dale Earnhardt posters that sucks all pretension and pose out a person? Possibly.
And...
Still, Ray’s is not a dive. It’s just theoretically impossible. But it may be a good lo-fi bar. No one is going to feel uncomfortable or underdressed when they walk in. And, given a decade or two, with minimal housekeeping, it may even start to look genuinely lived-in. For the time being, it’s got heart and chill and good intentions.
10 comments:
Ouch!
I'll give it a try in ten years after the dust settles in.
He would have been better to buy an actual "dive bar" to hang out with his friends than attempting this phony nistagic one.
The remark about "wood paneling and Dale Earnhardt posters [sucking] all pretension and pose out a person" is good textbook example of irony.
at this point the LES mainly resembles a midwestern college frat row
at this point the LES mainly resembles a midwestern college frat row
Sure. Cos the first thing I think of when I think of dive bars is something owned by a Hollywood actor.
So that’s what Justin Theroux is doing with the palimony he probably received when he split up with Jennifer Aniston. Talk about having a midlife crisis.
rachel is not cool
Isn't calling the bar Rays a big rip off of the real Rays?
4:08pm He should be sued by Ray's because he's using their name in NYC where they're based and still very much do business and no one who owns the place is named Ray so why that name?
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