7B Horseshoe Bar aka Vazacs

About

Bar on the Corner of 7th Street and Avenue B

Story

31 beers on draft
numerous bottled beer
enough liquor to quench any drink desired
Rock and Punk Juke Box
Pinball, Buckhunter, Golden Tee...

History

This spot in Alphabet City goes by three names: “Vazac’s”, the original name when it opened up as a catering hall in 1935; “the Horseshoe Bar”, after the bar that wraps around the room with thirty-one beer taps; and “7B” after the corner it’s on. With it’s red brick exterior, castle like doors on the corner, and large, multi-panned Tudor windows, one reviewer described it as a place that Model-T Fords could be pictured parked outside of.

In 1962, American writer Dawn Powell used it to mark the eastern edge of New York (though she called it Vasac’s Avenue A bar) in her last novel, The Golden Spur. Apartments were created on the second floor a few decades ago and an ornate staircase in the back now leads to nowhere and has since been used for storage.

In 1974's The Godfather Part II, Pentagelli is nearly garroted here before the executioners violently kick open the old doors and escape, and it was here in 1986’s Crocadile Dundee that the Australian meets a New York City prostitute. The bar is used for the exterior of the Life Café in the movie Rent because the real place wasn’t considered grundgy enough anymore. Scenes from Angel Heart and The Paper were also filmed here, and it’s a favorite spot for shoots for New York City crime dramas like Law & Order.