DC’s Tavern: 'A Respite From the Frat Scene'

If you are wearing a rhinestone-studded Affliction t-shirt, or are getting a spray tan in the winter, please avert your eyes for the remainder of this week’s column. Actually, just hit “back” on your browser and go look up happy hour Jaegerbombs at McBoozkin’s Tavern of Bro-dom (I made that up, don’t really go searching for it).

I have discovered my favorite bar in Hoboken and I’m not sure that I want to blow up the spot.

Okay, fine. Last week I saw a couple of tattooed punk rockers (I’ll assume) going into DC’s Tavern, on Eighth Street. I made a note to investigate.

“People think we’re this big biker bar," said bartender Larry Nieroda during my visit one Tuesday evening. "We’re just a little left of center."

Inside, DC’s is the best kind of dive bar. The walls are a collage of concert flyers, newspaper clippings and stickers (and was that a picture of a young David Hasselfhoff we spied?). There’s no overwhelming beer list to pore through, and the drinks are cheap (I paid $4 for my bottle of Bud). The liquor selection is overwhelmingly whiskey. There’s a jukebox, and the tunes are good. It was quiet, as I visited on a weekday, but was promised that the space fills up quickly on the weekends.

DC’s has been open for the past eight years, “owned and operated by people in punk bands,” said friendly, bearded bar tender Nieroda, who added that the bar’s customer base is a lot of musicians and people in the local music scene.

“We have a good run of regulars,” he said. “We’re a local bar with lots of rock ‘n roll, punk rock and blues.”

In fact, the jukebox is a pretty big draw. It’s old school—“No satellite jukebox here!”—and has a big selection. There’s pool, darts and Big Buck Hunter, too. On Sundays the bar hosts an event called “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” featuring horror films and $5 Bloody Mary pints. Despite the small space, the bar sometimes hosts live bands. They’ve got cheap cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Schlitz and, for the love of God, drinks in mason jars – where else are you going to find such a place in Hoboken?

“We’re the one respite from the frat scene,” said Nieroda.

Or better yet, there’s the straightforward description by another bartender, John Ernst (that would be Jon Ernst III, I am informed): “You should come here if you want a good f***n bar.”

That pretty much sums it up.

I hesitate to award DC’s Tavern with all the frosty mugs it can get, because as I said, I don’t want to see the place overrun with fraternity brothers passing through for vodka Red Bulls on their way to college house parties.

Let’s put it this way: are you the type of person who freaks out if your gelled hair gets messed up? When you go out, are you generally a hot mess that throws up on your Ugg boots? If you’ve answered yes, this may not be your bar. But if these stereo types do not apply to you and you're an actual human being, you will probably have a lot of fun at DC’s. So here it is, DC's receives the Bar Hopper's highest honor: I'm awarding it with ten out of ten frosty mugs.