The Holiday Cocktail Lounge

Leon Trotsky lived in the building next door (#77) circa 1917. I am not sure what one of the fathers of the Russian Communist Revolution would think of $4 beers. (he probably would reluctantly approve, after all he knew what rents are like in the EV) And who can resist a real working man’s dive bar, which also happened to start out as a Prohibition-era speakeasy? Regrettably, owner/bartender and local character, Stefan Lutak,  (pictured uptop) passed away this year. Stefan fought with the Red Army and had this to stay about Leningrad: “We were sleeping in the snow, nothing to eat. Two, three, four days, a whole week with empty stomach. Kitchen? Gone! They killed the horses. Then they killed the cooks. We ate leaves, and in November the leaves were gone”. R.I.P Stefan.  Maybe he and Trotsky can share a beer and bitch about Stalin, wherever they are now.

Cash Only

Hours: 6pm-2am

75 St. Marks Pl., nr. First Ave., NY 10003   212-777-9637