1020 Bar
1020 Amsterdam Ave
at 111th St
(between 111th St & Cathedral Pky)
New York, NY 10025 (212) 531-3468
- Nearest Transit:
Cathedral Pkwy (1)
Cathedral Pkwy (B, C)
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: No
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Music: Music Videos
- Best Nights: Tue, Thu, Fri
- Happy Hour: Yes
- Alcohol: Full Bar
- Smoking: No
- Coat Check: No
19 Reviews for 1020 Bar
After most of the bars in the Columbia neighborhood shut down earlier last year, 1020 has become "old faithful" for a lot of undergraduate and graduate students. Once the dive bar that was maybe second or third on everyone's bar lists, 1020 has become one of the most exciting hang outs near campus (even more so than the Heights), which is a sad development for students.
The good things.. it opens late (until 4am or later) and the beers are dirt cheap compared to elsewhere. The selection is not bad either. It's a pretty chill hangout and good place to meet people or get together with friends.
The bad things... it can get really crowded, and the later you go, the drunker people get. Being in a crowded bar full of drunk frat boys is not that fun. Worse, sometimes there are very drunk older men (e.g. random 40-year-olds) who hit on the young college girls, and that is just unsightly and disturbing. The girl's bathroom can also get pretty disgusting as the night wears on, with the lines wrapping around the nearby pool table. 1020 is basically everything a dive bar should be.
If you're short on cash, as most college students are, and you don't like to dress up for nightclubs, 1020 is a good place to hang out. This is a nice place to hang out for a chill night, but after a few months, every night seems the same, and it gets old pretty quickly. I'd recommend venturing out of the neighborhood rather than settling for this bar.
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1020 Rap:
(intro)
1, 2, 1, 2, wait!
10, 20, 10, 20, yup!
(begin rap)
1020, somethin's funny
it ain't my money,
'cuz I'm no easter bunny!
uh, uh, uh,
2010, my name iz Ben,
I flow upon the mic,
and you think it's all Zen.
no, no, no,
1020, like my eggs runny,
if I have to have a day,
then I hope it's all sunny.
(outtro)
It's a bar.
M'tan Valley.
Columbia kidzzzz.
Represent.
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To use a tired metaphor, 1020 is a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I hate it, then I find a reason to love it and then I make the mistake of going back on Thursday, Friday or Saturday and...we're right back where we started from.
The closing of virtually every watering hole in Morningside Heights has made this otherwise unremarkable bar a total mob scene during the college weekend (Thurs-Sat). There is a regular line of up to 10 people at prime hours--I kid you not! When you get inside, you can hardly attract the attention of the frantic bartenders. Once you manage to secure a beverage, good luck raising your arm to bring the glass to your lips without spilling half of it or elbowing some fratster in the back. But everyone knows space is at a premium in Manhattan! This place used to be a sort of alternative option on the weekend but now...you'd have to pay me to go there.
However! All is not lost! There is one shining light salvaging this bar, one glowing rainbowy explosion of fantastic known to a select few as: Tuesday Trivia Night.
From 8 to 10 on Tuesday you can get your ass kicked at trivia, drink $3 pint, meet friendly folks and actually sit down while you're at it (unheard of on the weekends!). Bring your friends! If they don't like trivia, at least there's actually room to play pool because...its Tuesday! You can even order a pizza and eat it while you play trivia! Or play darts! Chat with the friendly bartender if you want! Have a ball!
Tuesday night at 1020 is one hot ticket to funtown. Just don't get mixed up and go on Thursday.
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Definitely my neighborhood dive. If you are older than 23, just don't go on Fri/Sat night because it's filled with Columbia kids. It's a great mid-week drinking place where I love meeting friends or just walking in and striking up a random conversation with a grad student.
Wish they didn't play random shit on the big screen in back - just kind of distracting.
wait staff is pretty nice.
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Friday and Saturday this place tastes like Linkin Park and date rape, but by all means, you should be going the other 5 nights. Nice 4-7pm happy hour with $2 pints of Yuengling, some Brooklyn Brewery selections, Red Hook, etc. Darts, TVs, pool. Cozy and divey and that ideal level of banter that vacillates between the inane (i.e., the merits Perez Hilton) and the absurdly pretentious (i.e., the merits of Hegel's legal philosophy).
For some reason this is a Red Sox bar, which rubs me the wrong way (as an Indians fan, not a New Yorker), partic during the postseason. But all-in-all I love this place. Nice large-group areas (for 8-12?) in the front and back of the joint.
And a shout out to Paul and Mike, who run Trivia Night on Tuesday nights at 8pm there... check it out. Free to play and prizes all around!
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This is my dive joint right here! Well, this would be my joint if I didn't live 50 blocks away.
I went to this spot on a Sunday night, and didn't have to deal with hordes of Columbia students. Note to my collegiates: if you drink away Sunday night, you won't feel guilty about getting stuff wrong on Monday. You can just shrug. But if you do all your homework and THEN fuck up, how you gonna feel?
1020 Bar in 25 words or less: Old-timer bartenders, drinks pouring cheap and easy, HIGH CEILINGS, big booths, less than three jerks in the place (not counting my party). MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
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This bar is the guy's ideal first date: cheap, easy, and relaxed.
I'd love to call this place my dive bar if only I didn't live in Brooklyn. It's definitely a place to go whenever visiting the Columbia friends.
On any given night you can cozy up in here, play some darts, watch a game on the screen. I'd avoid Saturday at all costs, though; it ends up smelling too much like a frathouse.
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1020 is THE dive bar of the Upper West Side, with cheap drinks, trivia nights, and a big screen TV to top it off in the back. Not to mention it's only two blocks from Columbia Univ. in one direction and only one block from the 110th/Cathedral Pkwy. subway station in the other. This is the perfect place to share a drink with your friends on about almost any night of the week.
when schools in session, STAY AWAY! The place is full of Columbia kids (when i say kids i mean 18 year old frat boys). But if you can hit this great dive when the "kids" are out, it's the best in NYC. Pool table, darts, comfy booths, and some nice homeless poets (Cody, also known for singing on "soul train") that bus tables for booze. If you happen to run into Cody in the bar, buy him a beer, it's always his birthday.
Red Hook on tap
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This place is a great neighborhood bar. I've been there twice, once with a large group and once with a couple buddies, and this place is great for either. They have great deals on weekdays, such $3 draft beers and shots. And not just one type of light beer or anything, we're talking quality stuff here: Brooklyn Ale, Yeungleng, Blue Moon, Stella, etc. They have a dart board, pool table, and a couple of tvs. Really great booths along the right side, perfect for you and a couple of friends. With a group, head to the back where you'll find a projection screen, usually showing a sporting event, and a kind of secluded 'VIP' area with low couches and a coffee table. Really great place and I'm definitely going back.
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College students, beer, beer, and more beer.
And yet, somehow, the beer pong (beirut) tables have managed to stay away. I'm not saying that's a good thing. It's an observation.
I like 1020, and save for my conscience which immediately makes me feel guilty after frequenting the same place over and over in a city that offers so much - I'd probably spend a lot more time here.
Oh, and 1020 has improved my darts skills immeasurably.
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The best thing about freshmen at Columbia? I get older, they stay the same age. A-gigity gigity.
Unfortunately, they're probably not able to drink at 1020 but on any given night during the school year, there are probably some seniors at this bar. And rightly so because this is a great neighborhood bar... booths made for 4 although you can squeeze more, a pool table in the back, and a friendly bartender. This is the kind of dimly lit bar seen on TV shows when characters just want to let their perfectly coiffed hair down and have a casual beer with their equally mega-attractive pals.
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If you see a large Puerto Rican guy working at the door, and he's either nodding off or looking really angry, tell him Thea says hi.
Spent way too much time at this place during college. Like Cheers, but infinitely drunker. I'd like to blame it on my friends who were bartenders and bouncers, but really, it's just me.
Don't use the women's bathroom! Looks clean, but ladies- it's just not right in there.
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Late on a Monday night, I walked up to the unattended bar. One of the people shooting pool looked up, carried his cue over and said, "yeah, guy?" Bingo. My kind of dive.
Cheap beers, including a bunch of $2 happy hour brews the likes of which I've not seen since moving east. A pool table. A dartboard. TVs with, at this late hour, old 80s movies playing. Also the lowest credit card minimum I've ever seen at a bar in this town -- $10.
It was summertime, so students weren't really anywhere to be seen. Maybe a few others in their 20s. BYOWomen.
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A neighborhood bar so great, I'm horrified that I have lived 2 blocks from it for a year before discovering it. The beer is cheap, the music is pretty good, and the bartenders are friendly. Full of Columbia students on a weekend night, but still remarkably pleasant. I have seen a few small cockroaches on the walls during my visits, but they haven't scared me away yet.
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Sometimes you just want to perve on some college kids. No big deal.
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Beer is always cheap, atmostphere is (almost) always chill, and there's usually a good bad movie playing in the background. The cute Columbia grad students are a bonus.
Friday 5 to 7 $2 draft beers. From here it is all down hill. A mixture of Columbia students and regulars from around the corner, the atmosphere in this cave-like bar is no place to take a date, find a date nor intrduce to someone you are trying to impress. Friday at 5pm + BYOF (bring your own friends) + $10 = good times.
cool atmos...
went for a few drinks..
college vibe..
and CHEEP beer...
sounds good to me..
the end..
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