The daily paper gave its 20-year-old intern, James Cahalan, the assignment of hitting 30 Manhattan bars and bodegas without even a fake I.D. on him and then reporting on which ones served him. An “astonishing” seventeen of the locations, all of which received underage State Liquor Authority violations within the past year, gave Cahalan no trouble at all, either failing to card him, scanning his I.D. and shrugging, or just letting him drink despite knowing his age. Among the places he was served are the bars Cosmic Cantina, Salt Bar, Pranna, Alphabet Lounge, Crash Mansion, and Kate’s Joint.
Aside from these spots, mostly NYU hangouts and dives, Cahalan hit some Village bodegas, which everyone already knows would serve Mike’s Hard Lemonade to a toddler. Though the reportage is fairly impressive, this “assignment” sounds more like an awesome journalistic tradition: get the overworked intern wasted and make the company pay for it! Hopefully Cahalan completed his 30-bar mission in a single sloppy night, because you know how those deadlines can be.
