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Elvis Guesthouse Brings Selfie Corners & Shower Curtains To Avenue A
By
Nell Casey
Published Mar 14, 2015
Modified Mar 14, 2015
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By
Nell Casey
Published Mar 14, 2015
Modified Mar 14, 2015
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The team behind comely Williamsburg venue Baby's All Right are opening Elvis Guesthouse tonight, a new bar-club on Avenue A in what used to be Arrow Bar. Zachary Mexico and Billy Jones shuttered their subterranean bar earlier this year and have now rebuilt the space in the image of a Far East guesthouse, complete with a shower-type room with its own transparent shower curtains. If this is sounding like a good spot for a sexy bath house hookup, just wait 'til you see the Kama Sutra wallpaper in the proper bathrooms.
If you're wondering what Elvis has to do with guesthouses, direct your attention to a legend that the King faked his own death, fled to the Middle East and opened up his own bar. So is the team made up of Elvis truthers? "We’re more into the idea of infinite possibility, and of questioning the ‘reality’ of what people refer to as ‘facts,’" explains Mexico. "If we have learned anything in the Information age, it’s that history is not objective, and that dominant narratives need to be questioned." Besides the name, you won't find any touches of Graceland here, but there is a Selfie Corner for...selfies...complete with a colorful background of roses and special lighting for that perfect Instagram.
Though some musical acts came through during the soft opening, the bar will mostly be home to a rotating cast of DJs, starting with Chances With Wolves for the bar's first official night. "Like Baby's, it's gonna be a mixture of everything with an emphasis on having fun," says Mexico. "While it isn't primarily a live venue, Girlpool, Ultimate Painting, and Yumi Zouma have already stopped by and played sets. There will be DJs at night, parties, metal bands from Manila, underground producers from Outer Mongolia, etc."
"Dmitri Bartlett is running the drinks over here—he’s been the beverage director for Roebling Tea Room and River Styx—before that he used to run a speakeasy in the back of a video arcade in Tucson, Arizona," Mexico reveals. "He has an upbeat and freedom-loving spirit." And the ability to brew beer, apparently, as the team tells us they're in the process of brewing their own ale, which will be called "Concierge," naturally.
85 Avenue A; website
Tagged
alphabet city
east village
elvis guesthouse
new restaurant and bar radar
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Nell Casey
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