The Ear Inn
This old mariner's tavern is one of the city's oldest bars and a designated New York landmark. Far from shutting down during Prohibition, it became a speakeasy and the upstairs served as a brothel, a smuggler's den, and a boarding house at various times. Today it's an old school dive bar full of tchotchkes. The beers on tap are good and the bartenders are gruff, no-nonsense types.