Aonghais MacInnes, a member of the Lost City Flickr Pool, recently sent in this fascinating, absolutely wonderful photo of the 3 Roses Bar, a dive that used to exist on Canal Street. I never experienced the 3 Roses, I'm sad to say. It appears to have disappeared by the mid-90s. But it's hard to imagine a more perfect image of a dive, what with the obscuring shadows of the fire escape and the three fantastically seedy signs.
Aonghais MacInnes, who took the shot in 1986, has this to say about the joint: "This bar was across from the Post Office on Canal Street, and it was the kind of place where you could walk in, throw up on the bar and the bartender would hand you a towel to clean it up and then pour you a drink. And I am totally serious."
beautiful. Too bad it's not a little larger!
ReplyDeletedid this place have a big old neon american flag on the wall?
ReplyDeleteDon't know, Julie. Never got inside.
ReplyDeleteNext to Uncle Steve's!!
ReplyDeleteYes, it was in SoHo not Chinatown, on the north side of Canal, near Wooster.
ReplyDeleteHe is right about the ambiance! Before we lost all the jobs in the 70's and 80's with AT&T, Post Office, printers, truckers (all 3 shift work, the midnight shift's lunch break was @ 3:00 a.m. I kick myself that I did not keep a diary. It was legendary, hilarious, outrageous. We were reminiscing about it during the July 4th as we do whenever we get together.
ReplyDeleteMy father hung there as did an artistic crowd back when Canal street was hip and livable. I think the sign shows up in a few classic photographs, i.e. Weegee.I thought that someone bought the sign back in the early ninties and moved it to new digs on Canal near West B'way.
ReplyDeleteThis bar was across from the Post Office on Canal Street, and it was the kind of place where you could walk in, throw up on the bar.I'm very thankful to the author for posting such an amazing post. Continuing to the post, i have to say that, this is a fantastic blog,
ReplyDeleteThree Roses is mentioned in the song "Let Me Cry" by the Swiss electro band "Yello".
ReplyDeleteI bought the storage room in NY State that has the original sign. Anyone want it?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: I want it! Can you contact me at lostcitybrooks@gmail.com?
ReplyDelete