May 4, 2011
Okay, it’s Tuesday and that means time to play, “Where’s My Swizzle Stick!” If you’re new to the blog or have serious memory problems, every Tuesday I go to a bar, order a double gin and tonic in a tall glass (which, if properly made should have a swizzle stick included) and then rate the swizzle stick. I’ll also note the price and quality of the bar and drink (thanks to Gene Rubbico for that idea!)
Tonight I’m going back to a place that holds a special place in my heart, Otto’s Shrunken Head in the East Village. It was the very first bar that I went to on my 365 Bar Crawl last year. Let’s go see if Lani’s working!
It's nice, so I thought I'd just walk there. It's a bit of a hike, but what the hell. Eastward, ho! Sorry for calling you a ho.
It looks like the Cardboard Box Man's family reunion down here.
Irony = Filene's Basement on the top floor of this building.
Fancy psychic window!
Okay, we're about a block away, almost there.
And we're here, Otto's Shrunken Head!
It's Dark Water Tuesday tonight and Father Vincent is your host. Stupidly I forgot to get a picture of him. You'll just have to go for yourself to see him.
Wow, it's crowded in here and people are sparkly. Acid flashback alert!
I found a seat in the middle of the bar. Oh, bartender!
The lovely and beautiful Nell served up the drink...but oh no, it's a plastic straw instead of a swizzle stick!
Nell quickly resolved this problem by inserting a sparkly black swizzle stick (okay, it was a straw, but what the hell, she gets points for trying) plus a little drink umbrella and an orange plastic monkey. Almost the equivalent of a Michael Nesmith swizzle stick! Very nice!
Some of the lit up bottles behind the bar and if you look closely an obligatory bar room mirror shot.
DJ Kage 23 was spinning the tunes and some of them included, Paint It Black, Rock the Casbah and Now I Wanna Be Your Dog.
Some of the beers on tap at Otto's.
A tiki woman on the wall.
Gumby!
Photo booth!
Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark!
Swizzle Stick Rating
Okay, it was really a black collapsible straw, but the fact that mini umbrellas and a plastic monkey added made this an acceptable swizzle stick night. The double gin and tonic was twelve bucks, but I got a buy back after two drinks, so this was a very good swizzle stick night on the town. To Otto's!
The collection so far.
Otto's Shrunken Head
538 E. 14th St. (Near Ave. B)
212-228-2240
Further reading: Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, New York magazine, Village Voice and Photobooth.
You might also like: Eenie, Meanie and Moe.
Seven Shrinky Links
Shrinky Dinks
The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Incredible Shrinking Woman
Head Shrinkage
Shrinkage
Sigmund Freud
Karen Carpenter
32 Comments
Reader Comments (32)
Tiki bar Susie LOVES Otto's Shrunken Head...what an amazingly cool Bar Marty. I enjoyed it so very much on our first visit on your wonderful 365 bars blog and thank you so very much for taking us back there. The decor is so very cool and tiki bars are becoming fewer and further between. I purchased a book about tiki bars and most of them across the US are disappearing...a very sad fact.
Hahahaah funny Marty we must be friends.
had no idea you were going here and I posted a tiki bar pic on my blog this morning!
but then again if we were friends I'd have known where you were going...hummmmm
dilemma. HA!
never mind:)
I love this place:)
@Tiki Bar Susie: I knew you'd like this post! Sad about the disappearance of Tiki Bars!
@Gidgie: Nice coinkydink that we both posted Tiki Bar pictures! Check out Gidget's blog entry here: http://twe.ly/Smkb
That drink looks like it went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras !
Points to Otto's & Nell for trying to decorate your drink. Otto's ... Blarney Cove ... Horseshoe Bar ... Manitoba's ... Whitman's ...... lots of stuff within a few blocks there. One of the great NYC neighborhoods!
To Nell !
You know that customer service is priority #1 when there are drink monkeys to calm the savage swizzle-afficienado.
I was just re-reading your original Otto's post ... I think I got slightly crossfaded just from viewing pics of those Tiki Drinks :)
Best pics of the night: the "Psychic" window and your Gumby photo booth shots.
That psychic window is very Tom Waits-esque!
No glass swizzle stick, but the monkey was a nice score. You’re acquiring a nice collection, Marty
"Marajuana is the flame, heroin is the fuse, LSD is the bomb. So don't you try to equate liquor to marajuana, Mister, not with me. You may be able to sell that jazz to another pothead, but not to somebody who holds some sick kid's head while he vomits and wretches on a curbstone at 4:00 in the morning. And when his legs get enough starch into them so he can stand up and empty his pockets, you can bet he'll have a stick or two of marajuana. And you can double your money he'll turn up a sugar cube or a cap or two. So don't you con me with your mind expansion slop. I deal with kids every day. I try to clean up the mess that people like you make out of 'em. I'm the expert here, you're not."
I remember watching that with my parents; afterwards Dad gave me a drug lecture. If you think Joe Friday’s rant is funny, my Dad told not to go on “marijuana trips” with those Hippies in Washington Square. That was 1967 It would be another three years before I proclaimed: LSD is Da Bomb!
“I want my LSD, golly gee!” Joey Ramone
That last Photo booth pic, looks like: Gumby Porn. I hope Mary Ann doesn’t see that…
When Jerry Garcia died, he woke up and found himself on a stage on which a number of instruments were set up. A door offstage opened and in walked Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, John Lennon, Otis Redding and Buddy Holly.
Each musician picked up his favorite instrument and began tuning up.
Jerry walked up to Jimi and said, "Man, so this is what heaven is like."
Jimi looked at him and said, "Heaven? You think this is heaven?"
At that moment, Karen Carpenter walked in, took her seat behind the drums, and called out, "Okay guys, 'Close to You.' One, two, three, four!"
@GENE: Otto's has the best and friendliest bartenders! To Nell and to Lani, the first bartender on the 365 bar crawl!
@roadsidewonders: I got crosseyed from drinking those Tiki drinks! Glad you liked the Gumby photo!
@Harry: "Marijuana trips." Ha ha ha! Too funny! And I'm not worried about Mary Ann seeing that photo, she's probably so high she can't find her own stash, much less read this post. Great Karen Carpenter joke!
Nesmith's audition was good, never seen it. Karen Carpenter had the best pop voice of all women singers during that time. So Marty, where was Lani? You know she was at the top of the list of pretty bartenders last year.
one of my DJ's plays that Jack Webb bit..
I love it!
Too bad the floor of Otto's is so dirty. Gumby looks petrified perched on that ledge.
@Al: Nell told me Lani was in L.A. playing music. Good for her! Her band (Stark) is great!
@Gidgie: LSD is the bomb!
@csp: Gumby is no stranger to dirt, he lives in my apartment after all!
Well, dang it, looks like Harry stole my thunder today in declaring LSD 'Da Bomb'...speaking as the veteran of many a psychic rollercoaster rides myself, and hats off to Nell for fixing you that absolute classic Tiki bar drink. I just love drinks with little rubber guys and little bamboo umbrellas in them...and Marty, since you read that story I sent you, 'The New Improved Testament', you know who else likes them too....and if he doesn't get his little rubber man or his little umbrella in his drink, you'd better be wearing a hat with a lightning rod in it and you'd better duck! Amen!
I remember a time back around '67 or '68 (I was a jr. highschooler then) my cousin and I were building a plastic submarine model in my bedroom, and my old man was downstairs watching a United States Army officer on T.V., in a special public service program, explaining to the veiwing publiic how LSD made you clinically insane for about 12 hours or so. When it was over, my old man ran upstairs and went on one of his patented bi-polar wild eyed rants, all but accusing my cousin and I of eating acid by the handful. At the time, it appeared to me that HE was clinically insane. I didn't even know what pot LOOKED like until I went in the Army! You couldn't have met a straighter arrow than me back then...honest!
@MAD: You might want to be careful with that rent-free courier. Too soon?
First of all, nice photo booth shots! You look very: (a) pensive, (b) tired, and (d) wacky. And in that third one, you kind of look Civil War-ish. Marty, you may be drunk, but you carry a big Gumby. Anyhoo, I love me some Otto's! Truly a place that gets along with everyone. As a matter of fact, Otto's was featured on Bourdain's No Reservations a few months back and they didn't even kick HIM in the balls. See? Otto's plays nice.
P.S. Nice monkey.
@Jaws: I do remember that from the story! Your dad sounds like Jack Friday on crystal meth!
@csp: Not soon enough!
@Biff: I would've liked to have seen that No Reservations, I'll have to Google it when I get home. And it is a nice monkey. Would you like to touch it? I'm happy as a little girl...now is zee time on Sprockets vhen vee dance!
I vuld like to touch zee monkey.
hooray for ottos! i remember it from the bar crawl, your first night out. good looking drink and swilzzer! that dragnet clip is da bomb! lol! i liked the surprise link at the bottom! is that a new daily feature?
Hey, Marty, i'm not sure you can get a picture of Father Vincent—what are the rules for photographing vampires? Is it the same as mirrors?
@Biff: The monkey is all yours!
@rita r: I think you're the only one who noticed that. Yes, it's a new daily feature to look forward to! Someone alert the media! Oh wait, I already did and as usual they're ignoring me. Sons of bitches!
@Ned Sparks: Ha! I wish I knew! I don't even know how to take a close-up without it being all fuzzed up!
too much in this post for my addled mind to comment...i sure all has been said...'cept great elmore james clip...
A drink a day keeps the shrink away.
Edward Abbey
rr
@rr: A hat tip to Harry for the Elmore James video, he suggested it. I love and live that quote!
Poor Lynn sleeping in the spare room, while Otto gets to sleep with the husband!
@onemorefoldedsunset: I shudder to think of what when on in that bedroom when Peter and Otto were all alone and Lynn was fast asleep! I suspect Otto got a cookie when it was all over and that's why he kept coming back for more abuse!
Well nice that she at least tried to add a little more flair. LOVE your photo booth shots! Sorry to be a lame infrequent bar goer, but what is a buy back? Cute little Otto.
@kari: Glad you liked the photo booth shots! A buy back is when the bartender gives you a drink for free. Usually it happens after the fourth or fifth drink if you've been tipping decently. So it was cool to get one after just two. Otto's has really friendly bartenders. Nell is great and so is Lani!
LOL @ “Gumby is no stranger to dirt, he lives in my apartment after all!”
@Jaws the Cabbie: Didn’t mean to steal your thunder….sometimes the jokes, just write themselves......
@rr and Marty: Old Elmore has Mojo to spare, eh?
@rr “A drink a day keeps the shrink away.
Edward Abbey”
Great quote!
Who was it who said? “A productive drunk is the bane of moralists.”
@Harry: Re: Elmore James: I agree!
"Who was it who said? “A productive drunk is the bane of moralists.”
I'm guessing Foster Brooks. (No relation to Albert or Super Dave.)
@ Harry; It was my high school creative writing teacher who said that.
Any Charles Bukowski fans?
"There was nothing really as glorious as a good beer shit - I mean after drinking twenty or twenty-five beers the night before. The odor of a beer shit like that spread all around and stayed for a good hour-and-a-half. It made you realize that you were really alive.”
@Harry: Ha ha ha! Nice quote!