SantaCon 2023 returns for another year of binging, bar crawling and losing iPhones even though it's actually in your pocket where you last left it after all that.
The official festivities begin at 10 a.m. at places you've never been on Seventh Avenue near 42nd Street.
The $15.93 "donation" (read about their charity here) gets your Santa Badge and access to participating bars, mainly in Midtown West and East... and these nine East Village establishments (seven are carry-overs from last year):
- Amsterdam Billiards & Bar, 110 E. 11th St. at Fourth Avenue
- The Laurels, 231 Second Ave. at 14th St.
- Coyote Ugly, 233 E. 14th St., between Second Avenue and Third Avenue
- Solas, 232 E. Ninth St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue (serving as a "Huge Venue")
- Bull McCabe's, 29 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue
- The Phoenix, 447 E. 13th St., between Avenue A and First Avenue
- Doc Holliday's, 141 Avenue A at Ninth Street
- Horseshoe Bar/7B, 108 Avenue B at Seventh Street
- The Grayson, 16 First Ave. near First Street
However, as we've seen in previous Cons, bars not on the official list are often all too happy to participate.
For instance, here are the Santacades outside Downtown Social (ex 13th Step) on Second Avenue at Ninth Street. (Pic today by William Klayer.)
As NBC 4 noted, presumably for non-residents of these areas: "For those preferring to avoid the event at all costs, steer clear of Midtown East and West as well as the East Village."
Ugh.
ReplyDeleteHell resurfaces every time this year.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sunday we'll all be stuck inside because of the weather. It's a cruel, cruel world indeed.
ReplyDeleteI abhor this day with endless disdain each and every year where I remain locked inside my apartment until Sunday morning. I worked in the NYC hospitality industry for over a decade and have served many drunken Santas, both men and women. My experiences with this event as a former bartender and waiter still haunt me. Our EV is the most wrecked neighborhood. I hope people are attempting to drink responsibly and are respecting neighbors who live nearby,. My thoughts go out to all of whom are working amongst the chaos.
ReplyDeleteWho cares? Don't like it, move out of NY.
DeleteOnly people who don’t live here refer to NYC as NY. The thoughts of people who don’t live here on who does live here and what it’s like are often way, way off and this is no exception. I moved to the east village over 25 years ago to get away from frat boys and the very basic women who trail after them, not because I wanted to be surrounded by them or puked on by them.
DeleteYeah, head out early for the cookie walk if you want to do it Saturday. The church is basically the right angle of a triangle with two of the SC locations.
ReplyDelete"Only 20 percent of the $1.4 million raised by SantaCon programing between 2014 to 2022 went to registered non-profits, despite their claims of delivering "over $1.1 million to charitable causes" on their website, according to Gothamist." https://patch.com/new-york/midtown-nyc/naughty-list-santacon-2023-returns-lack-charity-giving-revealed
ReplyDeleteSome people just don’t know the embarrassment gene
ReplyDeleteHide your kids, hide your wife.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with SantaCon as long as the participants behave themselves and do not make a drunken mess of things. They bring a lot of much needed revenue to the bars in the LES/EV that allow them into their establishments, and it seems like the participants have a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteWhen have they ever not made a drunken mess of things? The bars that allow them are the same ones packed with students and tourists because they’re cheap and basic. They’re not bars people who live here care about.
DeleteThis is the time of year that I'm truly appreciative that I work weekends on the UWS.
ReplyDeleteStay away!!!!
ReplyDeletePretty convenient that the damn opossum showed up this weekend, don’t you think?
ReplyDeleteI mean, if you have to TELL people this…
ReplyDeleteSanta spreads JOY: Not terror. Not vomit. Not trash. Would you want those under YOUR tree?
Santa leaves no trace: Put trash/recycle into cans and clean up after your reindeer!
Santa is about PEACE. Not Fighting. Should you find yourself in conflict with a drunken Santa, walk away.. Just let it go…
Santa’s nice to kids: He makes them laugh, not cry…BECAUSE HE IS SANTA CLAUS (DUH).
Santa respects the city: Santa doesn’t piss on the streets, start fights, block streets, climb on cars, or deface property.
It's the most horrible time...
ReplyDeleteYes the most horrible time...
Oh the most horrible time...
Of the year!
"Who cares? Don't like it, move out of NY."
ReplyDeleteRight on schedule. The "move" line. Coming soon:
"Get a grip."
"Get a life."
Sigh.
Let me me do my annual SantaCon rinse and repeat. If this Bromageddon was a POC event, the National Guard would be called out.
HAVE FUN (sarcasm)
ReplyDeleteEveryone knows (or should) that most of this money goes to various entities owned by/affiliated with Jim Glaser and Kostume Kult. Just because someone throws up on the front doors of City Harvest, it doesn't count as a donation.
ReplyDeleteIt's so weird and embarrassing that Doc's is on this.
ReplyDelete"SantaCon makes the Gathering of the Juggalos look like Davos."
ReplyDeleteReminder that years ago in California, Santa Con started as a low-key protest against materialism/capitalism - it was not a drinking "event"
ReplyDeleteSanta Con morphed into the exact opposite - it is now a drinking event to celebrate capitalism /materialism/consumerism