Superdive is open tonight

Previously.

Is the keg party over? Superdive closed last night; plus, have they even really been trying?

Superdive was closed last night. A look inside found the place awfully empty looking. A few bar stools, but not much else near the front.



Sure, they may have just been closed for the night, but why not post a note on the door if everything is OK? A Superdiver has left notes before for bargoers when the joint was closed for "renovations."

I called the bar -- (646) 448-4854 -- and got a recorded message saying that their mailbox is full.

Anyway!



Let's see... Holiday decorations still up. Six weeks later, the front door window is still smashed, held together with some tape. Only open three nights a week...

Plus...the bar was hit with a violation for working on the place without a permit and reportedly allowing people to gather in the basement (Mad Dog Room!) without a certificate of occupancy.

And, of course, four months after opening, the owners put the bar up for sale...

One Superdive watcher has always been curious why they only accept cash... particularly when some kegs are upwards of $400... And why did an official at the last CB3/SLA seem surprised when he or she heard that the bar was still open...?

Meanwhile, it looked as if someone was working on the basement one day last week...




Previously on EV Grieve:
CB3 didn't approve a liquor license for Superdive; "a nice neighborhood Internet café-bookstore" becomes a bar with keg service at tables

East Village bar roundup: An issue with Professor Thom's liquor license and Superdive's Mad Dog Room

Lots of EV-related bar news....

A follow-up on the Professor Thom's post from the other day. Eater has the news:

"They'll be closed down until Feb. 22. Turns out they forgot to renew their liquor license with the SLA in time..."

And also via Eater — as well as NY Barfly — comes word that Superdive is having some sort of issue ... Per Eater:

A quick search reveals they've been hit with a violation for working on the place without a permit and allowing people to gather without a certificate of occupancy. Since the building's ground floor certificate is still legal (PDF), one can assume the DOH is referring to the bar's newish basement space, called the Mad Dog Room.

Meanwhile, I will continue to ignore those e-mails about a Superdive Dead Pool ....

Look, no Superdive!

The last time I looked at Google's Maps of the neighborhood, I had nearly two-year-old views of late summer 2007. Now, it seems as if Google has caught up to the spring of 2009 (based on the movies being advertised at the Loews Village — "17 Again!")

Anyway, it's really amazing how much has changed just since late last spring...for instance, do you recall a kinder, gentler time along the 200 block of Avenue A...?

Spring 2009...



And...




For further reading:
Traveling the East Village streets of late summer 2007 (and who wants to go see "Mr. Bean's Holiday"?)

Google Streets (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Superdive now only open three nights a week

Now just open three nights a week for the winter...



..and the front door seems to have taken a shot...errant flip cup?

Noted

To plan your holidays.

As for New Year's Eve, Eater reported on Superdive's special:

For the low, low price of $75, party goers will get seven hours of endless kegs of beer, premium cocktails, Champagne, music, dancing and last but not least, kissing!

"Partying Like You Never Graduated in New York, New York"

Superdive is decked out for the holidays...



... and there's a new review of the place on something called trazzler.com:

Partying Like You Never Graduated in New York, New York
There was this place in college. You remember it. A house devoted to the pursuits of alcohol-fueled debauchery, where the couch was always damp, where the basement-level parties were like classes in beer-bong technique. A shame the city condemned it. Your beer pong game never recovered. Enter Superdive, the next generation party house, where the kegs come tableside. That’s right: keg service—from a list of 750 beers (the Keg Master will need advance notice for more eclectic choices). The bar looks like the offspring of a ski lodge and a fraternity house. Claim a booth with your party people, order some suds, grab a plastic cup, and release your inner-undergrad. Once you’ve plugged your iPod into Superdive’s sound system, or jumped behind the bar to mix your own Mind Erasers, you’ll understand what could happen here: anything. Keg-stands are “not encouraged.” Which the same as saying they aren’t discouraged.

Business as usual at Superdive?

Oh, the magic is back... Superdive was closed Friday night for a private party...



Which reminds us of the heady days of this past summer...



Aug. 22


Aug. 16

200 block of Avenue A, after 8 p.m., Nov. 19

Walking on Avenue A between 12th Street and 14th Street last night around 8:15, noticed modest crowds at Drop-Off Service, Common Ground and Destination (below)...



...and at Superdive...

What East Village bar will be expanding nationally today?

Yesterday came word that Nevada Smith's and Superdive are considering expanding their bars nationwide. True or not (at least in the case of Superdive), nothing shows financial health more than rumors of going national!

Kind of related. A new Beauty Bar outpost is opening in Chicago early next year.

From Eater: Superdive is for sale (Update: "Superdive will live forever"; may roll out nationally)

Eater is reporting that Superdive is for sale. As they note:

The asking price: $350,000 key money (the price to just take over the space) and a $10k per month 10 year lease. Now the listing doesn't necessarily mean the Dive will close, nor must it change hands.

The owners could just be testing the waters to see if they can unload it at that price. Potential new owners could keep it running as is—$20 all you can drink beer specials and all—or they could turn it back into a coffee shop, something it still somewhat resembles.

Meanwhile, one small matter for any new owner to consider: According to the SLA Web site, Superdive has former tenant Rapture's existing license, which is only effective through April 2011.



So anyone who takes over will have to go before the CB3 to get a renewal. This one will be filed under "renewal with complaint history." Good luck.

UPDATE: The Superdivers responded to the Eater report with the following:

A) SUPERDIVE will live forever.

B) SUPERDIVE will never close.

C) SUPERDIVE is looking for additional locations as well as weighing national expansion



Previously on EV Grieve:
CB3 didn't approve a liquor license for Superdive; "a nice neighborhood Internet café-bookstore" becomes a bar with keg service at tables

Superdive is adding another all-you-can-drink night

As you may have heard... per UrbanDaddy:

Fresh off the beautiful disgrace of Champagne Tuesdays, the Alphabet City bandits are debuting a Wednesday night bash called Kegmaster's Select. A $20 cover gives you VIP access to every drop of booze and beer in the place, including hoppier samples from the favored brewery of the week. If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you might even venture down the stairs in back to explore the sketchy new basement space below, newly dubbed Maddog. It should be as far under the radar as you ever want to go.

And a belated thanks to the perhaps anonymous reader who submitted the photo...

Superdive is helping fight hunger

Tonight, Superdive is hosting a Drag Bingo Night....



Proceeds benefit the S.A.F.H. soup kitchen on Ninth Street.

Champagne Tuesdays at Superdive: "I'm pretty certain that everyone in the bar had just recently moved to New York"

Well, you know, we haven't made it over yet for Superdive's Champagne Tuesdays just yet... A reader almost got in.



However, blogger Fired 'n' Fabulous was there. Here's an excerpt of her report:

As soon as I stepped foot into the bar, I instantly wanted to turn around and run as fast as I could in the opposite direction. It was so crowded, and the hodgepodge of people was really just...weird. Ya know in the movie "Clueless" when Cher walks through the school campus with Tai and explains all the different cliques? That's what it felt like (minus the cool kids). Probably the most annoying group of people I witnessed were the Upper East Side frat boys with their faded T-shirts, backwards caps and flip flops. They were totally out of their comfort zone, and this, no doubt, was their first time making it down past 42nd Street. Guys, do a favor for all of us and stay uptown where you belong.

I'm pretty certain that everyone in the bar had just recently moved to New York, and this was their first big night out. It had to be. They were just so gosh darn excited about everything. And there was one guy behind me that was talking extremely loud to a group of people about "having sex all day long." Whoa, cool man. Is that his get-laid tactic? Does he think that's a turn-on? Let's hope for his sake that's not the only Ace up his sleeve, or else he's gonna have one lonely winter.

Photo via.

The Superdive Diaries: In which a reader endeavors to see a midget pirate serving champagne

An EV Grieve reader decided to check out Superdive's new Champagne Tuesdays last night. This is the report.

I arrive at Superdive shortly after 10, eager to experience the
"cultural elitism and intellectual camaraderie" of its inaugural Champagne Tuesday. The cover strikes me as outrageous, until I realize the suggested donation at the Met is also $20, and Superdive boasts guys in white track suits humping the air with one leg off the ground while making a motorboat sound, which the Met most assuredly does not. I am eager to part with my $20.

The bar is filled with black and white balloons with ribbons. I can't see much but I'm sure everyone is dressed nicely and discussing philosophy. Then my world comes crashing down. I am denied entry due to the bar being "at capacity." I'm told to try back in 30 minutes, maybe an hour, but it does not sound promising. It seems less crowded than the grand opening, but there's nothing doing. I'm also told the bar will be closing early tonight, 12:30 at the latest. I am Jack's inflamed sense of rejection.

I stand by, hoping for a break, or at least a chance to observe the makeup of the Champagne Tuesday crowd. A group of nine girls and two guys exit, mostly in work attire. One fellow kicks over something metallic sounding and states "I didn't do that." The crowd is happy-drunk, and well behaved. A woman in leather pants exits and gains admittance for one of her friends who had been waiting outside. It's clear I will not get in, and I retire up the block.

At Superdive tonight: Unlimited champagne served by a midget in a pirate costume

The buzzy, pre-opening, OMG-are-they-really-serving-kegs? days of the summer are over for Superdive. Now it's time to do something really stupid to get people talking again! (Guilty!) UrbanDaddy has the Superdive scoop, of course.

Tuesday nights. Unlimited champagne. Sabered open for you. In a bathtub on wheels. By a midget dressed as a pirate.

Let's just let that marinate for a minute.

Welcome to Champagne Tuesdays at Superdive, a new bastion of cultural elitism and intellectual camaraderie, debuting tomorrow in your favorite beer-scented pit of depravity in the East Village.

If ordering a keg to your table, doing a keg-stand on said keg, or generally gallivanting about in the Wild Wild West of dive bars just was too tame for you, here's your chance to let your hair down a little more. Twenty bucks and an appetite for champagne and destruction gets you all the bubbly you can drink, and, yes, that champagne will be sabered and served to you by a little person named Nick wearing a pirate outfit.

At this point, you might be asking yourself why a tiny pirate wielding a tiny saber meant to chop the top off of a champagne bottle is manning a mobile bathtub full of bubbly bottles. And you also might be asking yourself why you would be purchasing champagne from this tiny Jack Sparrow.

Well, because it's Tuesday.

Noted

At Superdive. Missing out on some NFL action.

Flashback:

Superdive is closed today and tomorrow for renovations

Noted.

Three stars for Superdive

Time Out reviews Superdive this week.



Let's see what they have to say:

Rowdy frat bars don’t usually pique our interest. But Superdive so perfectly replicates the Alpha Beta experience that, fine, we’ll do a reluctant keg stand. But just one.

And!

It’s like a fictional frat house, with a lack of decor so striking — a couple of couches, a long ugly bar, a few tables hosting beer pong — it could’ve been achieved only by drunk dudes who slept through the campus-center poster sale. The crowd appears to have stumbled out of an Abercrombie catalog and on most nights packs the place full. In fact, on weekends you’ll want a reservation — an absurd requirement for a place that postures as the ultimate dive bar.

And!

Like it or not, Superdive’s management has achieved what they presumably set out to do: bring pledge week debauchery to a Manhattan bar. A bartender summed it up best: “If someone pukes, we probably won’t kick them out.” We’re intrigued and horrified at the same time.

New York's Neighborhood Watch

From this week's New York magazine:



Previously on EV Grieve:
Observations from last night's noisy bars meeting

For further reading:
Stop the SuperNoise - Community Meeting (Blah Blog Blah)