Profile

More than just a neighborhood standby, the Raccoon Lodge was a beacon for workers at Ground Zero; the bar re-opened two weeks after 9/11, one of the only operating businesses in the area at the time. A large, high-ceilinged space, lit by pseudo-stained glass lamps and just noisy enough to create a pleasing din, it remains a bastion of maleness (old signs and dead animals dominate the walls; video golf and shooting games create their own play area to the side of the billiards), with nary a cosmo in sight. Scuzzy in all the right ways, this unaffected dive earns its credibility with lowbrow beers, scary bathrooms, hunting lodge-meets-junkyard décor and a not-for-amateurs pool table. A comfortable back nook has a few tables away from the raucous crowd so customers can enjoy the roaring fireplace and stills from The Honeymooners. The cheap drinks are prepared with sass by long-limbed bartenders in skimpy tank tops who aren't above flirting with Wall Street professionals, Tribeca residents, and Downtown tourists. — Jane Lerner