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St.
Patrick's Day 2006 |
[LEISURE]
March
17, 2006 |
It's
about more than the green beer and corned beef |
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I know that this will fall upon the ears of my fellow Irish
Americans as sacrilege, but I have never really been a fan
of the St. Patrick's Day celebrations. The hordes of amateur
fake Irish with painted faces drinking green beer and getting
the words wrong to songs never really appealed to me.
Yes, sure I have done my fair share of celebrating. Normally
though it would be at a house party or a non-Irish bar. I cannot
fault the Irish bar owners for charging covers and such. I
know that this, much like the day after Thanksgiving for retail
shops, is the day that they can make the lion share of their
annual income. It's the transient patrons that I can do without.
This year, as fate would have it, I was not in Hoboken for
our parade, which happens on the first Saturday of the month.
There were two reasons for this. One was that my friends Sean
and Wendy who would normally have a party decided against it.
They have a new, still fairly young Rottweiler and trying to
handle her and our drunken friends would have been too much.
More importantly it was the day that my family was celebrating
my goddaughter's sixteenth birthday. She lives in Connecticut
so I'd be nowhere near Hoboken all day. To be honest, as the
day went on, I was glad to be missing it but dreaded driving
back home. I'd be arriving in Hoboken right as everyone who'd
been drinking all day were stumbling from one bar to the next,
waiting on line and being boisterous.
Here in the NYC area St. Patrick's has grown into more than
just one day. It is very much now the entire month of March.
Starting with Hoboken, moving on to Morristown and West Orange
the next week, NYC on March 17, Pearl River that following
Sunday and many, many more. This year I've decided to keep
low key.
My 'celebrations' have seriously consisted of watching documentaries
on the history of Ireland, St. Patrick, The Maze prison, the
conflict and struggle for peace in the north and so on. No,
I'm not going to give my opinions about the war here. This
is purely about what I did this year for St. Patrick's Day.
Yesterday being the actual day, I made it a point to avoid
going into NYC for reasons that I mentioned above. I actually
canceled a lunch with my friend Ana because she works on 46th
and Park. To try and find a place to eat on the Eastside of
Manhattan at 12:30 in the afternoon is just insane.
Last night I met my friend Mitch and his friends Adriana, Sarah
and Martin for drinks at Mulligan's (159 1st Street, Hoboken).
Now I know what you're gonna say. Why am I going to an Irish
pub on St. Patrick's Day? Well the truth is that since Hoboken
had their parade almost two weeks ago, this day is centered
on NYC. So Mulligan's was no more or less crowded than any
other Friday night.
It was a fun crowd. I hadn't been in this building since back
when it was called 159. In fact, the last time I was here was
about 12 years ago when Hoboken was trying to enforce a 1:00
AM curfew. It failed. Now comes the no smoking ban in April
and a threat from city officials that they will enforce the
loitering laws which will make it impossible for smokers to
smoke. We'll have to see what happens when it happens.
On this night I noticed some of the changes such as the large
back room for those that wanted to play pool. The back room
where we used to dance (more or less) to the sounds of the
early nineties still had a dance floor and a DJ. Now there
was also a decent sized bar and a few pub tables. The place
over all was a lot more warm and pub-like now.
After a very enjoyable and long night of fun, a bunch of us
ended up at the Spa diner for a late-night snack. This is one
of only two diners left in Hoboken and, much like the Malibu
Diner, the food is seemingly only 'good' after seven beers
and five shots over the course of six or so hours.
I walked off my heavy cheeseburger and fries back along the
near mile to my apartment. It was a night of new friends and
fun. What better way to celebrate the true spirit of St. Patrick
which has nothing at all to do with green beer, beads, leprechauns,
corned beef or rowdy drunkards puking in the street. Those,
by the way, are very American 'traditions' that only in recent
years have infected cities in Ireland.
Slainte! :0) |
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