NYCH3 #1232
September 19, 2007
Hare: Speedy Gary & Courtney
Start: 96th and Broadway
On In: Barcelona Bar (55th and 8th Ave.)
Scribe: Blackout
What do you get when you put 40 or so sweaty hashers into a tiny bar? A stink-fest, but at least the beer flowed seemingly forever…
This week it was another pleasant September evening, the last Wednesday of summer (which means getting dark on trail, and the switch to Sundays is nigh). A goodly pack was at the start in the Upper West Side, and we were soon sent off. The trail started with some tooling about the UWS, at one point passing Cockstar and the ginormous Great Dane. Soon we entered the park, and most of the remainder of the trail wove around inside it, with an emphasis on weaving (good trail, hares!). We eventually ended up at the south end of the park, where a tricky check was complicating matters, until yours truly led a brave (or foolhardy) pack south across two or three blocks of arrowless terrain. It turns out I had noticed some chalk marks on 57th and 7th or so, and led the way there. Only a minute or two later we stumbled into the on-in, a narrow (and not so deep either) establishment called Barcelona Bar. This location was chosen not for its size, but because hasher Jason is a bartender there, which lots of beer, hurrah!
Unfortunately, the bar barely fit the pack, and the couple of regulars were quickly chased out by the smell. The circle was a bit rough too, since there wasn’t enough room to actually form a circle. Down-downs went to the hares as usual. Hoboken Dave also was made to drink (again) for his sh*tty trail of weeks past…this time he finally admitted as much, finally ending the vicious cycle. There were a number of virgins, as usual too many to get individual names. There were a couple of visitors (names forgotten, but from Melbourne, FL), who after their down-downs complained that our hash style was too competitive…a token FRB, Fast American Dave, was brought up to take a drink. Lauren did something (lost in racket of bar, I have “thumb suck” in my notes whatever that means) that earned a beer. Newish hasher Tom received a drink for ducking into a Starbucks on trail. AOTW was also related to the Florida visitors…apparently Dave Hardy was rather unfriendly to said hashers, and got the plunger for his behavior. Also, Crawlaholic was sent up for a birthday drink.
As mentioned, hasher Jason (with help from Courtney) was working behind the bar, and the beer continued to flow into the wee hours. This particular bar specialized in crazy shots that often involved flames. In fact they were common enough that the bar had a spray bottle with Bacardi 151 for making said shots. A couple of shots I saw made were the Harry Potter, in which a circle of flame is made, then bartender waves around a wand before the shot is taken. Also seen was the Indiana Jones, complete with hat and music playing while shot is taken, and later on the lord of the rings, where all the shots are lined up into a ring, with flaming 151 underneath. Yeah, kitschy I know, but this is Midtown, what do you expect? At any rate, beer and shots were plentiful, enough to give a few hashers the Thursday morning hangover…
On out.