DOMBs around the world - McGOVERN'S

DOMBs around the world:

McGovern’s Tavern, Newark, NJ

McGovern’s has been a favorite law school hangout since our 2nd or 3rd week of school way back when we were 1Ls. How did we discover it? Well an older student took us of course. Technically, McG’s is a Rutgers bar. But Rutgers sucks. And we owned it on Thursday nights. And still own it today.

Things that make McGovern’s a great bar:
Ranked one of the 100 best bars in America by Esquire Magazine
Owner/manager/bartender nice guy who puts up w/ CERTAIN people calling him the
wrong name for like 7 months… but always takes care of his regulars
Official beer pong table (with lined inserts for the cups and everything)
Darts
Good deals on booze (for the east coast at least)

Things that make McGovern’s a dirty old man bar:
Never any darts for the dartboard
Most modern songs on the jukebox from 1995
People bring their own darts
Go in at lunch. Dirty old men (professors) drinking
Also a cop hangout – cops who like to hit on busty, smurflike blonde girls
Usually vomit in the bathroom and/or on the sidewalk outside
Only one big screen, not HD
Usually not open on the weekends
They have a band. And by band… I mean one guy… w/ a guitar and background music.
Effectively they have an official karaoke singer. Who sucks. And has his own banner.

McGovern’s, as a dirty old man bar, falls at the opposite end of the spectrum from our previous bar, Pia’s. It has the feeling of an old DOMBy Irish pub… but college kids hang out there. Still… for anyone visiting Newark (the brave souls)… I highly recommend it. Some of my favorite law school memories have taken place there…. As Newark aficionados, we need to keep McGovern’s in our hearts, and on our barcrawl lists… especially since the new Prudential Center bars are opening downtown. Remember… new bars will come and go… but DOMBs last a lifetime. Just ask the 80 year old man who’s been sitting on the same stool since the Second World War.

Keep McGovern’s in your heart… even though Scully’s is owned by the same people and may be awesome… it’s not McGovern’s.