Dive Bar Jukebox with Frankie Baby
"I don't know why, but I keep thinking something's bound to go wrong."
Welcome to Dive Bar Jukebox, where bartenders, writers, chefs, musicians, and a cast of cool characters answer the question: If we were hanging out together at a bar and I put ten credits on the jukebox, what songs would you punch in and why? Their responses reveal thoughts on their favorite dive bars along with a hand-picked, annotated playlist for your weekend listening pleasure.
Please join me in welcoming today’s special guest…
Frankie Baby
Frankie Baby has been on my Dive Bar Jukebox wish list for months. In fact, she reached out way back when, saying: “I want to do one of these!” And yet, even working on her DBJ debut together, we still haven’t met in person, though she is still one of the coolest people I know who I’ve yet to meet in real life. There’s frequent talk in the DMs about us meeting up at a dive bar for a round or two of Fernet-Branca, so here’s to hoping for that special day when our calendars and circumstances permit such an occasion.
Though she now calls the Upper East Side home, Frankie is a “born and raised Brooklyn girl” who has been part of the NYC hospitality scene for more than a decade. She’s worked in fine dining at Eleven Madison Park and has been on the opening team of hot spots like Existing Conditions, Laser Wolf, and Frog Club. “A restaurant is where I belong,” says the self-described Hospitality Angel. “On that note,” Frankie says, “I encourage any and all people to come say hi to me, whether I’m at work, dining in a restaurant, or sitting at the corner of my favorite bar, or yours.”
Frankie is also a writer, with a focus on poetry, and last month her debut, Desolation, was published by Chicago’s Long Day Press. The raw and heartfelt contemporary “memoir” is written in stylishly abbreviated poetic bursts about “being misaligned with your own existence.” It’s a brief but aching reckoning on adoption, body trauma, addiction, longing to belong, and the concept of family, wherever you may find it.
Frankie also shares that she’ll soon be dropping her own Substack newsletter, POLISH OFF, “a lovely place where I talk about all the things I’ve consumed! Anything from a restaurant I just dined in, to my new favorite mezcal, to a TV show, etc.” And she’s at work on her second book, called, appropriately enough, DIVE BAR BABY. Stay tuned!
Frankie put her heart and soul into this excellent Dive Bar Jukebox, going deep on her personal dive bar standards and observations (a bar that smells like decades of rot is a plus in her book!), why Diet Coke and mezcal have a place in the same order, the art of becoming a regular, and a soulful 20-song playlist built around specific memories and the people she’s met at her favorite bars.
Talking Dives with Frankie Baby
What is your favorite dive bar and why do you love it?
Frankie: Starting off with one of the hardest questions to be asked… MAX FISH (RIP). Nothing has ever filled that void in my soul (yet). Honestly, I really can’t pick just one, it depends on the season, the mood I’m in, the neighborhood. Dive Bars are my safe space, so I’m just going to take it upon myself to drop a few, in no particular order, ofc.
In the City…