I’d been curious about this bar for some time. Located on one of the bleakest corners of Jersey City, the intersection of Route 1-9 and Manhattan Avenue, the Ringside Lounge is festooned with murals of boxers. At night, some of the seediest, most questionable prostitutes I’ve ever seen walk the sidewalk in front of the bar.
I learned from this article that the bar is a hangout for Mike Tyson when he is in town.
So, I walked in to see what gives. Wild and garish, the bar is festooned with bric-a-brac and pictures of pugs, with the customary pool table in the back.
I found the bartender and asked:
“Do you have boxing here?”
“Why do you want to know?” he asked. “I don’t know you.”
The hard assed answer seemed right in line with the character of the place.
“Just curious,” I answered. “I’ve been by few times and I just wondered what goes on here.”
“We just have the fights on TV,” the barkeep replied.
Myrna would have loved this place. An old fashioned girl, she enjoyed watching the boys beat the hell of out each other. She liked hard, tough men. They reminded her of the gangsters of Ologonpo, Portland and Seattle. She ran with the tough crowd.
I’m not much of a drinker now. The Karaoke Queen doesn’t drink. She does enjoy a good fight. I found her watching a rerun of the Thrilla in Manilla on TV last weekend. Ali and Frazier beat the hell out of each other in that classic. Drinking alone doesn’t cut it. But, one day, I’ll stop by the Ringside Lounge to watch a fight on TV with the boys.
The place is a dump. Mutts from Newark and other darker towns hangout here. The place has already had at least 3 murders and multiple shootings. Why bring people to a place where they can get murdered? Anyone with a little street smarts knows that once they've seen the element that is there, it's a violent place waiting to explode.
Posted by: JC Guy | Sunday, September 09, 2007 at 07:10 AM
Follow up articles:
Miranda b.
Reviews
Written: 381
09/11/2006 1 star rating
a great place for a producer to make some type of pimp / ho documentary, as this is the homebase for such events and characters...literally.
Welcome to the red-light district of JC.
They may be holding a buy one get one free sale....
-------------------------------------------
Posted by Robert
Rap News Network
12/17/2004 5:44:15 AM
Tags and topics realted to this article include Akon and Fat Joe.
Rappers Fat Joe and Noriega were at the hospital bedside of a Jersey City man murdered outside a Tonnelle Avenue bar yesterday, and after losing two family members in as many months, the victims' relatives were wrestling with grief last night, officials said.
At 2:15 a.m. yesterday, rap promoter Robert "Tito" Montanez, 31, of Baldwin Avenue and Fleet Street, Jersey City, was with rapper Capone when he was shot twice in the chest in the parking lot of the Ringside Bar at Tonnelle and Manhattan avenues, officials said.
The dispute began over an item of jewelry, officials said.
Police had to disperse an unruly crowd of about 100 people in the parking lot before an ambulance could get to Montanez and take him to the Jersey City Medical Center and into emergency surgery, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.
Family members said Montanez was revived numerous times on the way to the hospital and he was in intensive care when his heart stopped twice more and doctors said there was nothing they could do. He was pronounced dead just after 6 a.m. yesterday, DeFazio said.
The shooter is believed to have fled from the area in a car parked at the White Mana, a hamburger restaurant across the road from the Ringside. Investigators are looking at surveillance tapes from a number of cameras in the area to determine if they captured any of the events leading to Montanez's death, DeFazio said.
"I love him like a son," said Ringside owner Mario Costa last night.
Costa said he is offering a $20,000 reward to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of Montanez's killer.
"It's just terrible what happened. He was a good kid," said Costa.
A second victim, Shea Harvey, 30, of New York City, ran for his life when the gunfire broke out and was shot in the leg from behind, DeFazio said, adding that he was taken to the medical center, treated and released.
Montanez, who spent three years in prison on manslaughter charges, had three small children and worked promoting several rap bands, family members said. He was also road manager for rapper AKON, who was at the Ringside the night he was killed. Montanez was CEO of the Block Records label, which had acts including Fury, KAI and Crook, family members said.
William "Willie" Montanez, 27, Robert Montanez's brother, died in early November when a car he was riding in slammed into the rear end of a stopped tractor-trailer on Harrison Avenue in Kearny, officials said. The driver, Jose Pichardo, 24, of Reservoir Avenue, Jersey City, was charged with death by auto, officials said.
Robert Montanez's sister Luz said her family is pulling together to try to work through the tragedies.
"I don't think we will get over it, we'll just learn to live with it," said Luz. "I hope they catch him."
Robert Montanez's brother Louis was with him at the Ringside where they were videotaping Capone in the bar for a promotion.
He said that later, in the parking lot, he watched as "three guys came and bumped into them and the guy was about to take Capone's necklace and he stepped in," Louis Montanez said of his brother.
"The guy pulled out a gun and shot him twice," Montanez said through tears last night. "He fell and he was unconscious, foaming from the mouth and his eyes were rolling back. I knew it was a bad deal because that gun was so loud. As soon as he was hit, he was down."
DeFazio confirmed that a confrontation over an item of jewelry apparently led to the shooting, but said no definite motive for the shooting had been determined. Robert Montanez's body has been taken to the Regional Medical Examiner's Office in Newark for an autopsy, DeFazio said.
The prosecutor said that numerous shots were fired and the shells have been recovered by investigators. DeFazio also said that the gun was not recovered and that there was no indication that anyone but the shooter was armed.
"Everybody loved him," Louis Montanez said last night in the small apartment crowded with friends and family. "He did his time and came home and he straightened out his life."
Robert Montanez was in jail from Sept. 24, 1995 to March 19, 1998 on the charge of manslaughter in the death of Jose "Joker" Martinez, who was shot in a Baldwin Avenue, Jersey City, doorway in September of 1995.
While Robert Montanez fought for his life at the medical center yesterday, numerous people turned up to show solidarity, including rappers Noriega and Fat Joe. Costa said Montanez was also a friend of former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson's and had recently attended a rap awards ceremony with the boxer.
Robert Montanez was born in Brooklyn but lived in Jersey City for the past two decades. He graduated from Dickinson High School, Jersey City.
Investigators ask that anyone with information about the shooting call the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's homicide squad at (201) 915-1345.
Find out more about Akon. Other items you may find on Akon include updates, news, multimedia, chat, links and more. Click here...
Find out more about Fat Joe. Other items you may find on Fat Joe include updates, news, multimedia, chat, links and more. Click here...
Posted by: JC Guy | Sunday, September 09, 2007 at 07:15 AM