The Conch and Pony
February 26th, 2006It used tell people that if all else failed, I would open a bar and call it, “Hot/Awesome.”
There would be nothing fancy about it—no food, no interesting decor, no extensive wine list. It would just be a very average, wood-paneled bar with a good jukebox. Those guys who run Great Lakes and Boat, incidentally, had the very same plan and ended up making a crap load of money, so Hot/Awesome seemed like a good career move.
Now I’m not so sure; I’m no longer enamored with the Hot/Awesome concept. I think now if I were to ever open a bar, I would call it “The Conch and Pony” and serve food—but only Chicago-style hot dogs. I don’t think there’s any place in New York makes a true Chicago-style dog with all the toppings so I’d be cornering that market.
So today, I spent the entire morning designing a sign:
February 26th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
I know this has nothing to do with what you just wrote, but it was really funny and I would like to share. Guess it might have to do with signage a bit — that will be my segue. Anyway, I was in a toilet stall and on the dispenser of sanitary toilet seat covers was written, “FREE cowboy hats.” It was the first time I ever read something I thought was funny written in a bathroom stall in, uhhh, forever. Anyway, Mitch, you can count on me (upon the opening of “The Conch and Pony”) duplicating this very piece of grafitti in your bathroom stall, donning a sanitary toilet seat cover, holding tight to the crotch of my jeans a true Chicago-style dog with all the toppings, and yelling, “Giddy Up!” as I mosey up to the bar. It’s just a dream of mine as it turns out. Please help me fulfill it. Please.
February 26th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
hmmm.
February 27th, 2006 at 12:07 am
I very much enjoy the delicate pink shading of the conch. I am slightly disturbed by the eyelessness of the horse. The sleekness of the overall design is pleasing, though rather unlike what might expect from a bar named like an english pub. (example: ye harte and garter: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndw/34933234/)
Then again, perhaps tradition is not what you’re after. I am pretty sure shellfish are unknown to British heraldry.
so, when do you open?
February 27th, 2006 at 12:26 am
Actually Winston Churchill’s and the spencer coat-of-arms feature the scallop shell.
http://www.carman.net/heraldry.htm
I was going for a more 30′s deco-poster look.
I used Gill Sans on the ampersand to emphasize its “Britishness”
February 27th, 2006 at 1:34 am
Wesleyan U’s crest also featured scallops, as I recall.
February 27th, 2006 at 9:00 am
oh no, i’m a heraldry ignoramus!
March 2nd, 2006 at 2:26 am
This is so weird. I am recently obsessed with the conch. And to come across this theme in your blog, especially re: heraldry, which is a double obsession of mine! The conch carries much meaning, as you all must know, but have temporarily forgotten. It is the symbol of Pan, the god of chaos and mischief. Similarly, it was a crucial motif of Lord of the Flies by whatshisname (who can forget Piggy’s shrill cry, “I have the conch, I have the conch!”??), used as the right to speak (as the mutually-agreed-upon mouthpiece or microphone of the group, and therefore a symbol for order) but paradoxically foreshadows the chaos that would soon ensue on the island. It is also a gastropod, one of my favorite categories of mollusks. Not to be confused with scallops (or their shells), which are bivalves.
Point is: Conch and Pony=great name for a pub! But shouldn’t you be painting and not opening pubs, Mitch????
March 6th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
As soon as I win Powerball I will be silent partnering the Conch & Pony!
January 8th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Lach, sehr gut. Komme nun auch
May 11th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
For seat covers, i prefer to use cotton or polyester woven fabric because i like its feel.-~.