Imagining Hoboken Before the Yuppies

Located right down the street from Tenth and Willow, Rogo’s offers the polar opposite of the yuppified “I’ll drink my $8 mixed drink because this is the price you pay to hang out with other sophisticated douche bags” attitude just a couple blocks away.

The thing that you’ll instantly like about Rogo’s is how familiar it seems, and how easily you can sit there and morph into the crowd. If bars were blood types, Rogo’s would be AB+, “the universal acceptor.” Spend enough time at Rogo’s and you’ll probably hear, “This reminds me of this bar from home I used to drink at when I was 19 and got back from college!” at least ten times.

So what is it that makes it so homey?

Rogo’s has a certain unpretentiousness about it that stirs up memories of what Hoboken probably was like a good ten years ago: Hoboken people looking to have a good time and blow off steam, unwinding from a week of work in the city, and not wanting to get ripped off with New York-sized prices. Thus, the “What the Buck?” promotion on Friday nights, where, for a cover, you get $1 anything—mixed drinks, beers, maybe wine (but why would you do that?). And on Saturdays during football season, and possibly beyond, you pay $25 for all-you-can-eat wings and all you can drink beer between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. The middle of the week has its sweet spots, too, with Tuesdays offering 20-cent wings, and Wednesdays featuring a burger and beer for $5.

But the real hidden gem of Rogo’s lies not in a day of the week, but in the back room, with two relatively nondescript pool tables. All you have to do is arrive when there is very little going on, ask for the tops to the tables, a couple pitchers and some ping-pong balls (tip: bring your own, if you want to avoid disease), and you are playing bar-approved beer pong. If it gets crowded, throw the balls back to the bartender, ask for some plastic cups, and you have a flip-cup table.

In conclusion: beer pong, ridiculously good drink specials, a laid-back crowd, tasty wings, and even a decent jukebox is what Rogo’s is all about. GoOutJersey can’t honestly claim to know what Hoboken was like 10 years ago (we’re old, but not THAT old), but we imagine it was like this. And we like it!

Rogo’s
734 Willow Ave
Hoboken
(201) 217-1512

— by John Busco
John Busco, originally from upstate NY, has been living in NJ for several years, and currently calls Hoboken home.

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