WILLIAMSBURG’S SWEEPING OLD spaces may have been designed for industrial work, but they were really made for bars.The Woods is tucked away in an old brick building that used to house a metal shop, but when the workers would call it quits after a backbreaking day on the job, did they look around at the high ceilings and exposed brick walls and think one day people will drink here? Read more Read it in print

APPARENTLY, IN-THE-KNOW drinkers are calling Los Feliz “the tequila mansion.” This multi-level spot offers three distinct bars. At street level, you’ll find a trendy restaurant with a hopping scene while the subterranean spaces both invoke an air of mischief. The first floor down lets you enjoy some tacos and jalapeño margaritas in what can best be described as a tequila cave. Read more

IT’S THURSDAY NIGHT on Bleecker Street and Zack Borer mills around The Bitter End with a glass of water, waiting for his turn to take the mic.The singersongwriter recently played a side stage at a Dave Matthews Band concert, where he estimates he hit a few thousand ears. Tonight, he’d be happy to pack 75 people into the bar. There’s a $10 cover with a two-drink minimum, and about 30 people listen as a female pianist finishes her set. Like clockwork, she thanks the audience and the next act begins to set up. Zack is on after that, one of four acts in a single night. Read more Read it in print

ENOUGH ABOUT THAT new wine bar that opened down the block; it wouldn’t be New York without gritty drink holes. Blue Ruin and Local 269 are two of the city’s newest dive bars, and they want to beat that fancy vino spot to a bloody pulp with a two by four. A visit to both was in order, to see which one would do better in this drunken rumble. Read more