Night 15: Slaughtered Lamb, Barrow St. Ale House, Duplex

Having had such a successful evening exploring the bars of West 4th St. I meet up again with Cricket, Orbital, and Hoos to continue on from where we had left off. The next establishment on the street is The Slaughtered Lamb, which pretty much has the feel of what you would get if Disney decided to open a bar in the Village. It is decorated with little thematic displays like the head of a wolfman and is unclear as to what kind of crowd that is trying to attract, which may have explained why there was hardly anyone there. My sub-par $6 vodka tonic and the bad eighties music outweighed the charm of the friendly and cute staff. The Slaughtered Lamb stands out as the place to go to if your boss is making you entertain out of town guests and you want to make sure you aren't given that privilege again.

Turning off on Barrow St., we next come to the Barrow St. Ale House, which has the look of an old English pub, particularly on the outside with a wooden sign of a horse's head. Inside, a long chalkboard of drinks on the wall and the video game deer hunter complete the look. My $5 vodka tonic was good as was the collection of classic rock tunes being played. The staff was nice if unexceptional and the crowd had that former frat boys and sorority girls now working in finance feel, which if
you were looking for, you could have just stayed in midtown.

Next we wander out and make our way to The Duplex on the corner of Christopher St. and 7th Ave. The Duplex is a piano bar, which is kind of like a karaoke bar, except that the waitstaff play the piano and sing, and the musical selection is dominated by Broadway show tunes. I'm not sure if the music attracts the gay men, or if the gay men determine the music selection, but either way the two come together. I'm often amazed at the Duplex at how many songs I can never have hear of, but apparently everyone else in the room knows all the words to. All that being said about the ambiance, my $6 vodka tonic was very good. The space at the Duplex is pretty cool and the gay showtune singing crowd is friendly as is the waitstaff. The one thing I can definitely say about the Duplex is that I'd rather hear these tunes here then on Broadway.