Overview
WCOU Radio AKA the Tile Bar is an inoffensive bar, that's never too crowded, making it the perfect place to take over with friends.
History
Named for its clock, called for its tiles
For many years it was WCOU Bar, named after the neon clock on its back wall, but the tiles on the entrance door were its only identifier, so East Village locals called it Tile Bar, and the bar conceded1. Time Out found the 1984 dive largely unchanged since it opened, apart from a brand-new jukebox of punk and indie rock1, 2. When a new awning arrived, the low-key bar's first visible sign, the owners threw in the towel on WCOU and had "Tile Bar" scrawled across it3, 4. It's still at 115 First Avenue, and Tile Bar regulars are among the gardeners who keep up the traffic-island garden at First Avenue and Seventh Street1, 5, 6.
Sources
Researched October 2026.