Notorious, celeb-fave dive bar Siberia is back…
Another spherical, bartender!
1 / 4 century in the past, Siberia, the notorious bar run by Tracy Westmoreland, stood as a quintessential Big Apple dive.
Known for its onerous drinks, cold beer and environs he once lovingly described as an absolute “s–thole,” it was a favourite for a who’s-who of high and low New York characters, including Anthony Bourdain — who called it “heaven on Earth” — and late-night host Jimmy Fallon, to title just two.
Now, after a period of hibernation since the closing of its second iteration in 2007, the free-wheelin’ watering gap has sprouted back up like recent beer from a long-dormant faucet.
Siberia proprietor Tracy Westmoreland readies for a shift at his newly reopened bar. Emmy Park for N.Y.Post
Westmoreland is seen in 1996 after the opening of the first Siberia in the fiftieth Street subway station. Jennifer Weisbord/N.Y.Post
To the delight of its legion of followers and thirsty revelers, Siberia’s third life reopened last month, deep below the road in an intimate space in the 57th and Eighth subway station.
“Siberia is a bar that welcomes everybody,” Westmoreland told The Post of his secret to success, in between sips of a Captain Morgan and soda.
“It’s a place where famous writers would sit next to down-and-out strippers. If you’re cool, come on in, and stay out if you’re a bigot, a–hole or racist.”
Just don’t count on a pristine paradise: At Siberia, past and current, the grime and nautiness are its calling card, and the colour purple is a jarring fixed.
“People are going to have to be good here. People would literally be having sex on the bar,” Westmoreland recalled to The Post, including that the new place can be “the sanitized, kosherized version.”
Not that it is going to be overrun by, say, business bros in fits.
“We’ll get the freaks,” he declared.
The new institution options a nod to the earlier occupant, Gotham Tacos. Emmy Park for N.Y.Post
He also said he even bought help from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in getting a license for a late closing time — 4 a.m. — from the neighborhood board.
“The MTA is so cool — they wanted this here so bad,” he said. “The MTA asked for it. A lot of people wanted it.”
Outside, there’s still a signal for the subway hideaway’s former tenant, Gotham Tacos. Inside, the tight quarters are illuminated by low-hanging, colourful fixtures put in by Westmoreland that emit a purple glow over tipsy patrons.
Customers mingle at the second Siberia location at fortieth Street and Ninth Avenue close to Port Authority. Jonathan Barth
The crimson coloration has been a Siberia theme; the home windows that look out onto the prepare station are lined in purple curtains to block a view for passersby when the entrance door isn’t propped open.
At the unique Siberia, patrons would know the bar was open when a purple bulb exterior was turned on.
‘Everyone has a good time’
Westmoreland pours a drink on a September night time at the bar. Emmy Park for N.Y.Post
One latest, hazy night time at the new Siberia — the wall behind the bar lined with gritty, painted portraits of locals by Hell’s Kitchen artist Dana Nehdaran — a jukebox blared and crowds handed by exterior, dashing to catch the close by 1, A, C, B and D subway strains.
Westmoreland made his approach around the room in naked toes, proudly welcoming back patrons he hadn’t seen for the better half of twenty years.
“Siberia and Tracy are inseparable, so if you talk about Siberia, you’re talking about Tracy,” “The Sopranos” actor Michael Imperioli, an early Siberia disciple, told The Post.
“Everyone has a good time. I once took (James) Gandolfini there and he loved it,” Imperioli said of his late co-star.
“It’s Tracy’s vision and his living room, and he welcomes kings and paupers alike.”
Revelers unfold cheer at the earlier fiftieth Street location. Michael Alexander
He refers to Westmoreland as “the grungy Toots Shor,” the ’50s-era nightlife impresario who was close with the celebrities and gangsters of the day.
“Tracy’s the quintessential New York saloon keeper, and that’s a dying breed,” said Imperioli.
“More and more of these places are part of a restaurant group, but this is one guy’s vision, and everything stems from him.”
“Tracy is a legend,” agreed a thirsty, Bud Light-sipping reveler also named Michael, who was discovered at the bar not too long ago by The Post. “I’m so glad he’s back.”
Clearing out crack vials
The new Siberia is still bathed in the purple glow reminiscent of outdated places. Emmy Park for N.Y.Post
Westmoreland’s youth is rooted in legendary New York nightlife.
He was just 18 when he landed a job doing security at Studio 54 for its infamous proprietor Steve Rubell.
“Steve was just crazy,” recalled Westmoreland of Rubell, who died in 1989.
“He liked drugs, he liked d–k, and he wasn’t shy about it.”
By the ’90s, after a stint at legendary membership the Palladium, he determined to strike out on his own.
A Russian good friend named Yuri really useful a space inside the Broadway and fiftieth Street station, where Westmoreland discovered an absolute mess, a former Kung-Fu-themed hip-hop bar whose flooring had been lined in “hundreds of crack vials.”
“Tracy’s the quintessential New York saloon keeper, and that’s a dying breed,” actor Michael Imperioli said of Westmoreland. FilmMagic
Celeb chef Rocco DiSpirito hangs out at Siberia’s fortieth Street location before it closed. Jennifer Weisbord/N.Y.Post
He soon found it was a former hang-out of Samuel L. Jackson before the future actor cleaned up in rehab. Westmoreland even discovered an autographed photograph of Jackson amidst the rubble.
“I said, ‘This is perfect!’ So I threw out the crack vials, painted it red, and put the bar here.”
With that, Siberia was born in 1996.
Drinks had been served out of a cooler, and a jukebox was always on — and Bourdain was a fan of the latter.
“Bourdain beloved the jukebox. He introduced 10 CDs in — he introduced the New York Dolls, The Ramones — the punk stuff he was into. We only had 100 CDs.
Siberia’s chilly title is a nod to Yuri; he was half-Siberian. When Westmoreland bought business playing cards made up, his title was “Minister of Propaganda.”
A random bike helps set the ambiance at the fortieth Street Siberia in 2003. Jonathan Barth
Westmoreland has embraced Russian kitsch at the bar. Matthew McDermott
But its Russian ties had been far deeper than he realized.
He heard rumors that the positioning was an outdated dead-drop zone for the KGB — used for exchanging secret packages and data — which turned out to be true after Westmoreland discovered KGB paraphernalia in the partitions.
Everyone is welcome – besides ‘meatheads’
Westmoreland’s new venue options an old-school Ms. Pac-Man sport. Emmy Park for N.Y.Post
Customers high-five over a sport of Pac-Man at Siberia in 2002. Elizabeth Lippman
“Deep in the steaming entrails” of the subway, as Bourdain once described its location, Siberia’s first iteration shortly turned a go-to hangout for a selection of high- and low-powered Midtown characters.
“In the mid-’90s was when I first stumbled into Siberia, which is how most people discovered it,” remembered Imperioli, who later featured Westmoreland in his 2009 directorial debut “The Hungry Ghosts.”
“I walked in, and the last thing I was expecting was a bar. This was before speakeasies became a gimmick.”
As Westmoreland once famous: “If you can’t find the place, you aren’t smart enough to be here.”
“Back then, we had newspapers covering the windows, and the only indication we were open was a red light outside,” said Westmoreland of the dingy secret space.
“If he doesn’t know you, he immediately makes you feel like you are one of those people that he knows,” actor Michael Imperioli said of Westmoreland’s welcoming angle at his bar, where clients are shown (above) in 2002. Elizabeth Lippman
Even Post staffers bought in on the enjoyable: Former reporter Dan Kadison (above), recent off a shirtless stint as a fill-in Chippendales dancer, tends bar at Siberia in 2001. Elizabeth Lippman
Imperoli reminisced that he was taken by Westmoreland’s angle.
“If he doesn’t know you, he immediately makes you feel like you are one of those people that he knows. He’s just so welcoming, gregarious, fun and non-judgmental.”
Within cause, that is.
One night time during its heyday, a group of unsavory characters got here in whom Westmoreland didn’t take to.
“There were 70 people there, but 20 needed to go,” said Westmoreland, calling them “meatheads.”
With that, Westmoreland announced last call.
“We turned on the lights, all walked out, saw them off, and me and my regulars walked around the block and went back inside.”
Siberia fan Bourdain called it “heaven on Earth.” Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Other occasions, Westmoreland would inform his bartender to broadcast hardcore homosexual pornography to its unsuspecting, impolite, macho patrons he needed to flush out.
“All of a sudden, the TV goes from a beautiful Fellini-esque scene to one guy eating another guy’s a–,” Westmoreland remembered with a giggle. “They were, like, ‘Boys, let’s get out of here!’”
Thanks to its location steps away from the workplaces of Hearst, The New York Times and NBC, Siberia constructed up a high-powered cache of heavy-hitting media clientele.
The Times even referred to it as “a place where everybody knows your byline.”
Siberia is still a tiny space — and still bathed in crimson. Emmy Park for N.Y.Post
“It was the size of a shipping container,” said the Fox News host Greg Gutfeld during an August look on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in which he spoke of the bar’s early days.
Westmoreland, Gutfeld said, “looks like a cross between a Viking and a larger Viking.” Gutfeld later made him the official “nightlife correspondent” on his Fox show “Red Eye.”
Fallon, meanwhile, then a fresh-faced comic and new featured participant on “Saturday Night Live” in 1998, also turned close with Westmoreland.
Tracy Westmoreland (left) seems alongside Jimmy Fallon (middle) and an unidentified man in the 2008 documentary “Life After Dark: The Story of Siberia Bar.”
The “SNL” alum supported him through a location change from fiftieth Street to a dilapidated nook by the Port Authority subway station, even serving to to relocate Siberia’s cumbersome “nicotine-stained jukebox.”
“He’s the same guy today as he was when I first met him,” said Westmoreland of the “Tonight Show” host.
‘I got him, and he got me’
The new Siberia iteration is once again situated just steps from the subway. Emmy Park for N.Y.Post
Westmoreland bought to know Bourdain (“Tony,” as he was recognized among pals) when the future TV persona would stop by Siberia to loosen up after his sweaty shifts in close by kitchens, including Sullivan’s, named after the TV host Ed.
Bourdain fell madly in love with Siberia, once proclaiming: “You never know who’s going to be draped over couches or listening to live bands in the dungeon-like cellar — rock-and-rollers, off-duty cops, drunken journos, cast and crew from ‘Saturday Night Live,’ slumming fashionistas, post-work chefs.”
“I got him, and he got me,” Westmoreland mused of their friendship to The Post.
“He would come in late at night and always drink Heinekens,” he said, remembering that when Bourdain couldn’t make it, he’d have waiters stroll over freshly-cooked food, full with plates and utensils.
Bourdain and Westmoreland hang around at Siberia in this undated photograph.
R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, shown right here at Siberia in 1999, was among the celebs who popped by. Marion Curtis
Westmoreland is the one who inspired Bourdain to write what he knew.
“He was just a cook, but he was writing crime novels back then. I told him, ‘I’m gonna bar you from here if you keep writing these novels. You’re not a gangster. You’re a cook!’ ”
Westmoreland still remembers the day he got here in with a contract to write about restaurant life with his trademark acerbic type, which might turn out to be his star-making “Kitchen Confidential.” Westmoreland’s title seems in the acknowledgments.
Their boozy bond went so deep that Bourdain tried to speak Westmoreland into opening another location of the dive on the idyllic island of St. Martin.
“We were going to call it Siberia South, but I just didn’t want to leave New York.”
When Westmoreland was compelled to close his first iteration in 2001, thanks to the Rockefeller Group pushing him out of his lease, Bourdain, who died in 2018, didn’t mince phrases.
“Once again, the evil Rockefellers, much like Attica, have put their foot on the working classes. These imperial rat bags should be hunted down and neutered,” he subtly said at the time.
Third time’s the appeal?
Westmoreland chats up buyer Toby Louisa Ernst on a latest go to to the underground haven. Emmy Park for N.Y.Post
In latest years, Westmoreland had been working the door at another famed Hell’s Kitchen dive, Rudy’s.
But when he heard about an open subway space, harkening back to Siberia’s roots, he jumped at the prospect.
Even though it’s been 20 years and a lot has modified in the neighborhood, little has at the new Siberia.
There’s still no toilet — there’s only one accessible for staff — while the bare-bones velocity rack has liquor and beer, including Heineken, just as Bourdain would have preferred.
There is one key improve: Amateur DJs can now whip out their smartphone to control the soundtrack via an app-enabled TouchTunes jukebox, which on a latest night time blasted all the things from punk to Christmas music and Frank Sinatra.
Siberia is again an underground draw for New Yorkers trying to escape the above-ground din of town. Emmy Park for N.Y.Post
“People talk about how gentrification is bad, but at least now you can walk around outside in Hell’s Kitchen,” Westmoreland said of the world.
“It used to be all chalk outlines and pimps. And they were hysterical, by the way, with their shoes and leather hats.”
With the hindsight of years behind him, Westmoreland bought teary-eyed about his persevering with legacy.
“I’m just a f–king guy from the Rockaways, and I’m hanging out with the smartest people on the planet,” he said before ending his Captain and soda. “That’s the great thing about New York City.”
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