Scenes from the Smoking Ban

April 08, 2003 Scenes from Week One of the Smoking Ban... At a cool Rivington bar whose name will not be revealed here: The Magician, the bartender telling a patron, "You know, if you smoke in the back room, I probably won't notice. But don't get used to it. This isn't going to be one of those smoking bars."... A posse of two dangerously upbeat women asking patrons of the Keltic Lounge on Ludlow, "Would you like to sign a petition to Ban the Ban?" Patron [genuinely excited]: "Oh, yes!"... Late Saturday night, outside Verlaine on Rivington Street, one of the affable owners describing the new hell of his job since the police had stopped by the night before and informed them that the cigarette butts gathering like blown sand on the sidewalk outside are the responsibility of the bar to clean up... NoAss O'Barkeep at Grace in Tribeca telling a patron who asked ever so politely if she could smoke, "Are you kidding me? Are you trying to make my life impossible? Listen, just go outside." UPDATE: JVG weighs in with a passel of ill-informed pro-ban vignettes, while Aaron sees some downsides.