Max Fish: It may sound like an oxymoron, but Max Fish might be the world’s most famous underground bar. When this stylish dive leaves the neighborhood, that’s when you’ll know the Lower East Side’s transformation to the Lower Upper East Side is complete. The hipsters who hang out here during the week were probably in high school when this place opened on once-lowly Ludlow Street. Still rockin’ after all these years, Max Fish is a Technicolor hotspot. Starting with the big cigarette hanging over the door and finishing with a pool table in back that’s sometimes moved for various art shows, “The Fish” is filled with oddities like painted skulls, three pinball machines in front, and a crowd that’s just as colorful. Weekends here are filled with tourists and Upper East Siders who dig the scene, never suspecting how much cooler it is without them. |
