Rendez-vous, s'il vous plait

By Jay  

So, I’ll launch the Dustbin Confessionals by professing my love of the dive bar.  Perhaps this hearkens back to a time in which dive bars were the only places that would serve my 19-year-old self. Perhaps I just had such fun times playing entire Madonna albums on the dive jukes and dancing away with my girlfriends. Or perhaps the smell of stale Coors Light is somehow comforting. Whatever the reason, no matter what poshness I’ve experienced, my heart belongs in a dive.  

I had a few standards in New York that I loved. Holiday Cocktail Lounge on St Mark’s Place is fantastic – small, dark, with stinky loos and a no-nonsense barman. As if all that isn’t charming enough, the black leather booth seats were proudly repaired with duct tape. Ah, yes, many a morning did I find the sticky remnants on my ass. Milano’s is another gem. Located on Houston, it’s a surprising little haven from the hustle and bustle of SoHo. But don’t mistake calm for class: Milano’s is the real deal. The walls are jammed with beer signs, band advertisements, whatever. Dim neon barely lights up the interior – not that you’d actually want to see what’s going on, mind you. Pop in sometime mid-day for enlightening barfly conversation. O’Connor’s in Brooklyn taught me not to drink bourbon. Well, I still do, but O’Connor’s taught me that I shouldn’t. It was my post-tattoo bar of choice back in the day, and I still long for its grit.  

Thankfully, Buffalo has many a dive bar – so many, in fact, that several friends and I entertained the idea of creating a Monopoly using Buffalo dive bars. Although we’re far too lazy to actually do it, I think I found the Park Place of Buffalo dive bars: The Rendezvous. 

ElMarko was raving about how The Rendezvous was THE place to go, albeit briefly. A series of mishaps and bad business decisions closed it before its time. Located on the struggling Niagara Street on the west side of Buffalo, The Rendezvous is now straight-up hood. We stumbled (literally) in one night after pretending to be classy elsewhere and we were greeted by a frisk and a $3 cover. I wouldn’t mind the frisk so much, but $3? For what? Apparently for the pleasure of blasting hip-hop, which I actually didn’t mind at all. Had I been stone-cold sober, I *might* have minded the security guard’s many guns strapped to his body, but happily, I didn’t care. I also might have worried that we were by far the whitest people in there, but no one else seemed to care, so neither did I. The barman was really friendly and accommodating, and as soon as I heard me some Jay-Z, I was good. ElMarko lamented the loss of the interior - apparently, there’d been some great old booths and such – but I was blissful in my ignorance.  

Will I be hanging out at The Rendezvous on a regular basis? Eh, probably not. But it’s good to know of yet another dive that I can crawl into when the need presents itself.

Comments

[Johnny Lager]

Ah, Rendezvous. The death and bizarre re-animation of another Buffalo institution... It had these uniquely high booths so that no one would know who was sitting in them. It was a place designed specifically for the unfaithful. So weird, so wonderful, so Buffalo.

[Jay]

It's straight up gangsta. Imma have to go back with my door knocker earrings.

[Prichinna]

Dive bar monopoly, Awesome!!!!

[Kels]

Jay - You can borrow my gold Ghetto Blaster necklace to complete your look.

[Bridget]

I know O'Connor's well. And also Last Exit on Atlantic Ave. Don't get me started on CBGB's, it was historical dive! I used to haunt a Goth Dive called The Pyramid nestled in the lower east side before it was invaded by hipsters.

[Jay]

Kels, You can wear it when you visit and I give you a tour of the sights... nothing but the best for you, pumpkin!

Bridget, how do I not know Last Exit? I used live really close to Atlantic and walk along it to go to work all the time. Where is it? And how can I rectify my ignorance STAT?