New Sophie's listing in NYM

I had forgotten about a slow, non-league night this past winter at Sophie's when a photographer came in and started taking some pictures. I quickly learned that the photographer, Shanna Ravindra, was shooting pictures for New York Magazine's online bar/nightlife listings. I chatted with her only briefly, but once she told me her name I soon realized that I had used a few of her shots on this blog in the past, most recently in posts about Musical Box and Julep. For whatever reason, it wasn't until just the other day that I thought to look and see if anything had been posted. Sure enough, Sophie's newest listing was online. I was happily surprised to see that I'm in a few of her shots. Sophie's is a no-frills bar, and she definitely did the best with what she was given to work with. Bruce Bennett offers an apt description of waiting to play pool:

Sophie's has made no concessions to the surrounding neighborhood's nightlife boom. No poetry slams, couches or cappuccino here—just split shifts of professional drinkers and Bukowski wannabes by day and dressed-down locals staring and pairing by night. In this narrow, immaculately decrepit space the only stick of furniture you can trust is the pool table, though if you come during the night shift you'll go through quite a few Yuengling Darks (the cheapest pint east of First Avenue) waiting for your turn to play.