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Pieces Owner Holding Contest to Name New Hell's Kitchen Gay Bar

By Mathew Katz | January 26, 2012 1:36pm
The window of Pieces at its current location on Christopher Street.
The window of Pieces at its current location on Christopher Street.
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Serena Solomon/DNAinfo

HELL'S KITCHEN — The owner of popular Christopher Street gay bar Pieces is moving into a new neighborhood  — but he wants to leave the hot spot's reputation for rowdiness behind.

Eric Einstein is holding a naming contest for his new bar at 697 10th Ave., inviting fans to use Facebook and Grindr, the popular gay "friend finder" app, to suggest a new moniker.

"We want a more blank slate to start from," Einstein said. "Some of the things that people misconceive or see downsides to about Pieces, we don't have to take with us."

That includes a reputation for being rowdy. 

Einstein said that he's received a ton of suggestions for his new space, and he's offering a $1,000 bar tab for the best.

So far though, he said the bulk of the names have been "terrible."

"One suggestion was 'Gasoline,'" he said. "Another was 'Meet Friends Bar.' That sounds like something you'd find in Tokyo."

New York gay culture blog This is Fyf suggested the bar go with a name that would be the opposite of Pieces — Wholes.

The contest will end by mid-February, and Einstein hopes to open the new bar by late March. He said being in a new, cleaner space will offer a refreshing change from Pieces, which is in a significantly older space. He'll also continue to operate Pieces.

"The biggest gripe I hear about Pieces is that it's in a space that's just so old," he said.

"It's falling apart. Sometimes there's a smell coming from somewhere we can't find. That sort of thing."