Marty After Dark - Almost Live...From New York

Entries in Bunga's Den (1)

Wednesday

Sep072011

September 8, 2011

Okay, I’ve been a little behind on my blogging here, but there’s been good reason. Work has been absolutely nuts, I had to work late Tuesday and then double back and be in by ten in the morning Wednesday and the whole thing started snowballing Monday night. Monday night was Labor Day and I had the night off from work. For that night’s post, I was going to walk to 14th Street and see if I could get six people to pose for a photo and do my “Six Pack” feature. But as I was getting ready to go, what sounded like a bomb went off and it shook the building I live in. It scared the living shit out of me and about three minutes later I heard another blast go off. Then within a couple of minutes I heard sirens wailing outside. I didn’t really want to go out, I was scared of what was waiting, but I walked down the stairs and looked out my front door. When I looked outside I felt sick.

Firetrucks lined the streets, there was smoke in the air and throngs of people were spilling out on to the sidewalk. I could see flames a few feet away in the street. All I could think was that this was September 11th part two. I asked a couple people what was going on and no one knew. Instinctively I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures. I remember thinking, “If a smart bomb went off on my block, this will be one hell of a blog. I hope I live to see all the comments!”

And so, the rest of the evening is documented in the pictures below. To quote Alice Cooper, “Welcome to my nightmare!”

This was the view from my stoop. A little unsettling to look out and see this unfolding right in front of my building.

By now a lot of people are out here and no one is sure of what's going on. I can see a fire a little ways down and every now and again you hear a blast go off.

I just heard someone say a transformer blew up and it was under a car, hence the loud explosion noises.

It's smoky out here and a little nerve-rattling. A little too close to September 11th for this to be going on.

Water from this hydrant is spilling out into the street.

I went up to the firemen and asked if it was safe to be here. The one on the left said it was, but added, "If I were you, I'd get away from this for awhile." I thought that was a good suggestion.

And so off I went from my smoky block...

Out into the night.

And I ended up in front of one of the bars I hit last year on my bar crawl, Bunga's Den.

And there's a familiar face behind the bar, friendly bartender, Mark. Mark was a semi-regular on the bar crawl last year, not only was he on the Bunga's Den post, he was also featured here and here. Mark works every Monday in here, if you're in the neighborhood, stop by and have a drink and say hi.

The bar hasn't changed much from last year.

There's the lit up bottles behind the bar.

Alana was seated next to me and is a flight attendant who lives in New Mexico and is in town seeing friends. We had a nice chat with topics ranging from porn stars on planes, to Joey Buttafuoco to Mexican food.

After a few beers I walked back to my block to see what was happening.

Oh shit, it looks like it's been roped off.

A cop just told me I can't come back on the block, even though I live there. He said it would be opened up again in about an hour, Con Ed is working on the scene.

The cops are turning a blind eye on people drinking beer on the sidewalk until they can go home. I thought about joining them, but didn't really feel like standing and it still stunk of smoke there.

So it's back to the bar I go...

And Mark has a cold beer waiting for me. What a guy!

Okay, now it's closing in on midnight and the block is open. There's trucks and crews working and I see lights, so maybe we didn't lose any power. That would be great!

Fuck, the building is black. No power. I went in and it's hot and smells like smoke.

Oh well, at least I'm not the schmuck who parked over the transformer that blew up. I think this baby's totaled.

And of course people are taking pictures of it. It was probably all over facebook minutes later.

Three words came to mind while standing in my dark, unpowered hot apartment. Washington Square Hotel! It's Biff's hotel of choice when she comes to town, so I know it's nice...where the fuck has Biff been lately anyway? Biff? Biff...Bueller...Bueller...Bueller...