NEW YORK — The assembled Immaculate Hearts High School graduates are screaming. Two guys who went to Palisades High School are going crazy. There’s also Jade, who I knew from high school in Los Angeles, and a guy named Jack who I recently met in Los Angeles.
We’re all in a tavern on St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan. Dodgers fans line the curb outside, infuriating passing Yankees fans, but the Yankees are currently losing the World Series to the Dodgers, 2-0, and lost Game 3, 0-4, so it’s not really true. I can’t say anything (spoiler alert!) They will keep losing.
(His fortunes improved on Tuesday, as the Yankees defeated the Dodgers to survive at least one more game.)
From left, Jack Milks, Jacob Pearl and Benji Meppen cheer on the Dodgers from the steps of Taqueria St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan.
(Caroline Urseau/For the Times)
I practice the art of masochism. What do you think? Let me explain. I’ve been a huge Yankees fan ever since I was a kid in New York, until my parents packed us up and moved to Los Angeles. This was perfectly fine until Friday, when it started to get a little uncomfortable. The situation is getting worse day by day.
This is how my week went. I went to Game 1 of the World Series in Los Angeles. I’m really grateful. It was nice to see one of the greatest classic baseball games of all time, even if it ended with Freddie Freeman ruining my night and perhaps the Yankees’ hopes for a 28th championship. I’m telling myself. I went to Game 2 of the World Series (I’m so lucky, praying hands emoji) and saw that the Yankees were absolutely awful — there really is no other way to describe it. there is no.
For Game 3, my editor, who was probably a kind guy, asked me to go to New York and write about the World Series from there. He wasn’t planning on letting me go to the game, but he wanted me to get a feel for the city. (It’s very dark. But the weather is nice. Autumn is beautiful. Here the leaves are literally falling from the trees. Google “Is it normal for leaves to fall from trees? Or is it a disease?” Please.)
Finally, I decided to go to a city where there are fans like me. Yankees hats are everywhere. But that’s not the case, my editor thought, and as a masochist myself, I agreed. It would be interesting to find a Dodgers bar in this sinful city where the bar stays open until 4am and serves booze instead of natural wine. So I passed bar after bar filled with Yankees fans and headed to Taqueria St. Mark’s Place, located on a quaint, quiet, secluded street in St. Mark’s Place in the East Village. Note: Sarcasm. St. Mark’s is a den of hedonism. I once got my ear pierced there when I was drunk. Different story. Move on.
So, as a Yankees fan, I walked into the Dodger bar, Taqueria St. Mark’s Place, and explained to everyone that not only was I a reporter for the Los Angeles Times (cheers), but I was also a Yankees fan (hisses). Must be.
Dodgers fans flock to Taqueria St. Mark’s Place to watch the New York Yankees play.
(Caroline Urseau/For the Times)
The bar is so full that beer spills over well-filled glasses. It’s two stories high, every nook and cranny is packed with people, and there are probably about 100 people decked out in Dodgers gear. They’re dressed like extras in a romantic comedy set in a generic Dodgers bar in Mexico. California and Mexican Chihuahua license plates line the walls, as well as photos of championship-winning Los Angeles athletes. Pau Gasol is featured prominently. Patrons wear more Dodger apparel than Dodger Stadium fans do. The wardrobe has gone too far with this.
Thankfully, I’m ready for this mission. This is a sociological phenomenon that I have studied. I wrote about Nick’s Bar at 33 Taps in Silver Lake two years ago. It’s full of New York expats in Zabars hats and Katz’s Deli shirts, desperately trying to cross Sunset Boulevard over the pedestrian bridge so they can say they don’t understand why Angelenos don’t. Jaywalking.
“Something about sports fans congregating in the wrong city exaggerates the contours of their shared identity,” I wrote beautifully.
The Angelenos on the other side reminded me deeply of Knicks fans. However, unlike Knicks fans, these people actually have something to celebrate right away.
“You have something to prove at Dodgers Bar in New York,” said Phil Barraza, a former North Hollywood resident who opened Taqueria St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan with his wife, Andrea Barraza, in 2015. spoke. “It’s like going to a game at a different stadium. You dress up because you want to show off who you are and what you are. In L.A., you can go to a bar in normal clothes. You have to represent yourself here.”
Dodgers fans crowd outside the packed Taqueria St. Mark’s Place.
(Caroline Urseau/For the Times)
The Barrazas opened this bar, which many patrons say serves the only good Mexican food in New York, to fill the gap for authentic LA-style Mexican food in New York. .
Now that the Dodgers are on the verge of winning it all, Barraza is planning a celebration. He has plastic tarps set up outside his bar so he can pop champagne and spray it everywhere the moment the Dodgers win.
Writing about Nick’s Bar also made me realize that these bars must have some kind of mastermind other than the owner. In my sample size 2, this guy seems pretty quiet and unobtrusive, but other patrons say it’s the glue.
At Taqueria St. Mark’s Place, Corey Kesluk, 36, is sitting on a stool on the far left of the bar. If you didn’t know that Kesluk frequents the bar, look no further than the metal plaque with his name engraved in front of the bar seats. That’s his seat. Every game Kesluk is at the bar, he leads a rousing rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the bottom of the seventh inning stretch.
Dodgers fans will be watching Game 4 of the World Series cheering on their team at Manhattan’s Taqueria St. Mark’s Place, owned by a Los Angeles native.
(Caroline Urseau/For the Times)
“I feel at home here,” Kesluk says. He explained that he earned the shield by coming to the bar two to three times a week since it opened in 2015.
But peel back LA’s bravado and you’ll find that fans here aren’t as loyal to the western city as they seem. After all, they live in New York. One of Kesluk’s favorite things about Taqueria St. Marks Place is the ease of walking. In his hometown of Sherman Oaks, he said he had to drive everywhere, making it more difficult to get to bars.
When asked why he moved to New York, Kesluk said, “I needed a change of pace.”
However, not all fans are immigrants from LA. Sitting deep inside the bar on a terrace area overlooking the lower level, watching the game on a giant screen, is Andrew Kramer, 54, of Lynbrook, Long Island. He is with one of the children.
Claimers are a type that was said to not exist. Growing up in Brooklyn, his father was a huge Dodgers fan. When the Dodgers abandoned New York for sunny pastures, his father remained loyal, unlike other players who changed allegiance.
“Not everyone made the switch,” Kramer said. “That was his team. He loved them more than anything. When he moved, he said he had a fever for a week.”
Kramer’s father passed away last fall, so he was unable to see the series, which was once common in New York.
“We know he’s watching from above,” Kramer says. “Me and his three grandchildren all root for the Dodgers.”
Once the Dodgers scored again and more people laughed at me, I decided to try to get some air and space from the screaming fans. On the corner, a young Yankees fan couple, Dan Brennan and Jim Lahey, are eating slices of Stromboli pizza while taking a break at a nearby sports bar that isn’t filled with Dodgers fans. They don’t have a very good impression of Taqueria St. Mark’s Place.
Dodgers fans cheer on their team at Taqueria St. Mark’s Place.
(Caroline Urseau/For the Times)
“I don’t think that should be allowed,” Brennan says. “They should shut it down. If George Steinbrenner were alive, this wouldn’t have been allowed to happen.”
This comment confuses me. How did I not know about the efforts of the late Yankees owner George “The Boss” Steinbrenner for the New York State Liquor Control Board?
At the counter of Stromboli Pizza, Frank Cranage sells slices of barbecue chicken to customers and laments the rowdy and obnoxious Angelenos in his neighborhood (his feelings).
“That’s crazy. That’s ridiculous. To be honest, I don’t really like baseball, but I’ll say I’m a Yankees fan. I don’t really like California as a whole,” he says. “It’s really frustrating for Dodgers fans. After the game, they come and order pizza. They order it and they say, ‘I didn’t order that.’ One girl accused me of outselling her because I was a Dodgers fan. ”
he shook his head. No love is lost here.
“They don’t know how to order pizza because they don’t know what good pizza is,” he says. he looks up. “That’s a good quote, isn’t it?”
