NY Bar Review: Lucky Mojo in L.I.C
A couple of weekends ago some friends and I got on line for P.S.1’s very first”Warm Up” Party in Long Island City. I was feeling optimistic about it, especially since I was able to convince my one modern-art-hatin’-mainstreamer friend to come and was hoping that we’d all get drunk, enjoy the sunshine, people watch, eat some burgers and enjoy awesome music.
Only the first thing happened, and it didn’t happen at PS.1.
We got there on the early side and stared blinking in the brightness and standing around space which had been install-ated to look like the rooftops of a Polynesian village. There were a few American Apparel-bots milling around the place, but it was largely empty and to me, there is something sinister about the sunshine, a large empty industrial outdoor space and throbbing techno music. I was able to enjoy the art inside for a bit, (and the beauty and majesty of the building which, really, I think everyone should see) but my friends and I rapidly tired of what I call “that Staten Island sound.” I don’t understand why the MOMA/PS1 people didn’t book bands for this particular show, since hip bands attract scads of people and if you’re trying to get people to come to your event you might want to add something to the lineup other than 4 DJs all playing the same, unchanging, vocal-less backbeat for 9 hours. But ,some people seemed to be enjoying themselves, and besides, I digress.
The only thing to do when in a foreign borough and disappointed with your destination is to make the best of it, alcohol-style. But alas! At Warm Up, shitty beer in a plastic cup cost six dollars a pop! Burgers-the gross, preformed patty kind-would run you $8. Not wanting to drop $20 just to get a buzz we decided we go to a local bar, drink a few beers and wander back over when the idea of listening to DJ Peteywilly or whomever became appealing. Armed with an iphone and a sense of adventure we left the museum.
No sooner had we stepped through the gates of PS1 and back on to the street then some girls in halter tops and espadrille wedges thrust a flier at my boyfriend. Thinking it was probably an “invite” to one of the city’s hottest foam parties, he deflected, but something caught my eye. Actually, three somethings:
The number 99
The symbol for cents (which WordPress can’t insert, for some reason)
and the word “Beer”.
You read that shit right: 99c beers, at a little place called Lucky Mojo. And it wasn’t like, cans of Schlitz. Full pints of domestic American beer (not amazing, but come on, I’m not too good for a few Bud Lights). This is place you want to go if you want to make PS1 “Warm Up” fun.
The place itself has a bit of a split-personality disorder: Part dive bar, part “blues” club (as evinced by the vintage Muddy Waters, Leadbelly posters all over the place)it also had a bit of a New Orleans thing going on; beads-presumably discarded from the sweaty, naked torsos of enthusiastic coeds-hung from the ceiling and the walls, and a giant, looming, hideous purple and green Mardi Gras mask adorned the wall of the stairwell that leads you up to the second floor where there is another bar and a roof-deck. Basically the place is a Tulane frat boys dream which would generally translate into my worst nightmare but the crowd was mellow and not too trying. We may have our differences of opinion when it comes to things like jam bands, tribal tattoos and the cinematic oeuvre of Ben Affleck, but we were united in the pursuit of cheap alcohol and thus was born a solidarity that no man’s opinion of the movie StepBrothers can tear asunder.
A couple of hours, 19 Beers, a veggie burger and some wings (25cents before 6 pm) (not for me) later, we had racked up a bar tab of $30 between 4 people. We tipped the waitress handsomely and staggered out into the daylight.
Verdict: Lucky, indeed! This place is worth heading to LIC for.
514 51st Ave/ Long Island City/ NY/ 11101
99c beers
25c wings
Everyday before 6 PM
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