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The Parkside Lounge 317 E. Houston at Attorney St., Manhattan A deer head on the wall. A bottle-blond bartender in a Zeppelin t-shirt. Signs for two-dollar corndogs and Moosehead beer. It took a glance back out the window, at hoppin’ Houston Street, to remind me that I wasn’t back in Michigan. The Parkside Lounge also has the second-biggest neon sign on Houston, and the only piano-patterned tile walls anywhere. Besides being a damn fine place to drink beer and shoot pool (on a purple table, no less), the Parkside is home to a cozy, Manhattan-scale back room., which features various bands and variety acts all week and, on Monday, is host to the loosely defined Bluegrass Night. Five bucks gets you in the back, and goes straight to paying the bands. The night I went, the bluegrass bands drew an older, National Public Radio crowd. This, I imagine, can vary wildly depending who’s on the bill that week, but it seems certain that, most nights, you can count on the Parkside to be an oasis of warmth and unpretentiousness in an otherwise chilly neighborhood. phone: 212-673-6270
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