The Monster

על המקום הזה The Monster

The Monster at 80 Grove Street has been an anchor of the Greenwich Village gay scene for decades, and it works because it offers two completely different experiences under one roof. Upstairs is the piano bar: a warm, unpretentious room where a pianist runs sing-alongs every night and the crowd — mixed in age, ethnicity and background in the way that the best piano bars tend to be — sings along with genuine enthusiasm rather than performance. It is one of the last piano bars functioning in Manhattan, and it is very good at it. Downstairs is a proper dance floor: lower ceilings, better lighting rigs, drag shows several nights a week, DJ nights that run to 4am on weekends. The combination means that the Monster draws people across the full range of what a gay bar can do — from the couple who come for a quiet drink and a sing-along to the crowd who want drag performances and a dance floor. The location on Grove Street, a block from Sheridan Square and the Stonewall Inn, places it at the physical heart of the historic West Village gay district. It is not the most fashionable bar in Manhattan but it is genuinely loved, which is rarer and more durable.