169 Bar

In the 1950s it was known as the Bloody Bucket, for the drunken sailors who pummeled each other out front¹. The bar itself dates to 1916, and over the years it has served everyone from swearing sailors to artists and hipsters¹.

After the 1960s it was owned by two Polish sisters who had started out as bartenders themselves¹. In the 1990s it was full of lavish religious altars, with a wary-eyed Doberman chained to the bar¹.

Charles Hanson, a Louisiana native, took over in 2006 and turned it into a New Orleans-themed rec room playing soul, jazz and funk until four in the morning¹. Our listing at the time put it simply: relaxed dive bar, now with dancing. In January 2009 the pool table was still in the back room, a disco ball and tinsel hung from the ceiling, and a can of beer and a shot cost $3².

The pool table is leopard-print, and The Infatuation guessed it arrived sometime in the '70s³. In 2025 Time Out found the place more or less exactly as it had left it, cheap drinks and all⁴. It's open every day from two in the afternoon until four in the morning⁵.