La Bodega: The hidden backyard patio near Yankee Stadium
Behind the bodega, fans will find a large outdoor patio, complete with Yankees-themed murals, old seats and names of regulars.
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While plenty of Yankee fans will be starting their Opening Day at nearby bars like Billy's or Stan's, a big group will also be meeting up somewhere a little more under the radar - La Bodega.
To get there, you have to go into what looks like any other bodega a few blocks from the stadium, walk all the way down the middle aisle, through a back room and turn around a corner.
"It's amazing, it's like as if the gates open," says John Broder, a member of the famous Yankee fan group the Bleacher Creatures.
Behind the bodega, fans will find a large outdoor patio, complete with Yankees-themed murals, old seats and names of regulars.
"If you have ever been to a real nice cocktail speakeasy, where you might have to knock and open a few doors and know a password, that's kind of like what it is when you come back here," explains Ben Frederique, one of La Bodega's regulars.
Among the people who find their way to the little oasis, it becomes a bit of a club.
"It's like I know it, you know it, there's a mutual understanding between everybody," says New York sports talk personality John Jastremski.
As part of that, La Bodega is not necessarily the spot for the party atmosphere that some of the other nearby spots have.
"(The vibe) is just has like a backyard, you're at your friends, like a barbecue, hanging out, having a drink, you know, you're not here to impress anybody, you're just here to have a good time and hang out," says Frederique.
Of course, that includes plenty of talk about the nearby baseball team.
"(People at La Bodega) are Yankee people, they are there because they are rooting on the Yankees. It's their spot." says Jastremski.
Broder says when you get there, "you get some beers, you hang out, you talk, you talk about the lineup, and then you go inside, and then we're ready."
That tradition has been bringing people to La Bodega to decades, with the business run by a father, now with the help of his daughter.
Frederique says that family atmosphere rubs off, and "everybody loves each other here, everybody knows each other by a first-name basis, they know their families, kids, back stories."
La Bodega does not have a bar - it is a bodega. That means to get a drink, customers just go to the fridge, ring it up in the front, and then bring it out back.
That also means bodega prices, and Frederique explains "you can get a Bud Light for $4 and an empanada for $2 and $20 will take you a very long way."
"That's part of the reason we're all here, too," Broder laughed. "You can probably get five beers for what one costs inside (Yankee Stadium)."
As far as hours, like most bodegas, the area is open more or less any time fans would want to be there.
