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New York Nightlife and Clubs

NYC.com's guide to New York nightlife features expert reviews and recommendations for the top hot spots, dance clubs, jazz and live music venues, not to mention information on all types of bars, from dives and local hangouts to nightclubs and lounges in Manhattan and beyond. Also check out our guides for comedy fans, bar-hoppers, music lovers, the under-21 crowd, plus our all-new Best of New York Nightlife, packed with great features!

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National Sawdust

Live Music

2.9 Miles Williamsburg

National Sawdust, is an unparalleled, artist-led, nonprofit venue, is a place for exploration and discovery. A place where emerging and established artists can share their music with serious music fans and casual listeners alike. In a city teeming with venues, National Sawdust is a singular space founded with an expansive vision: to provide composers and musicians across genres a home in which they can flourish, a setting where they are given unprecedented support and critical resources essential to create, and then share, their work.

Heaven Can Wait

Bar

1.9 Miles East Village

Heaven Can Wait, formerly East Berlin and Lola NYC, is a leading small music venue in New York City. Located on Avenue A, with its rich musical history and cultural significance, Heaven Can Wait brings the next wave of great bands and musical genres to the East Village. With a premiere backline, full bar and ample space, they have become a sought after music establishment for bands and fans alike. On weekends, they are one of the city's premiere night club destination for dance and house music. Their dance parties feature the city's top DJs, pumping high energy tunes every weekend night until 4am.

Superior Ingredients

Dance Club

2.7 Miles Williamsburg

Superior Ingredients is dedicated to showcasing the vast and varied offerings of dance music from artists and DJs from around the globe. Located at the iconic Wythe Ave and N 12th Street, Superior Ingredients is a storied independent nightlife venue – now evolved and reimagined – with two unique spaces known as The Roof and The Room. With multiple street-level entrances and a custom mosaic inlay paying homage to the space's history as a spice factory called Superior Ingredients, The Room offers a premier split-level nightlife space. Subtly highlighting its industrial warehouse architecture from the late 1920s, all décor elements are authentic to the year in which it was built creating an Art Deco space with a contemporary twist. The Roof is a 5,000 square foot, multi-level experience with beautiful and unobstructed views of the New York City skyline – one of the better places in the city to experience warmth, sound and sight.

Red Hook Winery

Wine Bar

5.8 Miles Red Hook

Trading in cannonballs for vats, this Red Hook factory has become the Red Hook Winery, a new venture from owner Mark Snyder, winemaker Chris Nicolson, and Napa Valley native Bob Foley.

The Meadows

Bar

3.9 Miles Williamsburg

Music & arts venue with a performance space, bar/lounges & outdoor patio, also hosting events.

Oak Bar

Hotel Bars

0.9 Miles Midtown

While the Oak Room itself is closed for the time being, the Oak Bar continues to serve well-crafted drinks with an even hand to an upscale clientele amidst the beauty and glamor of the historic space.

Brooklyn Made

4.7 Miles Bushwick

Brooklyn Made is a unique 500-person capacity live music venue. Inside you will find Standing Room, a coffee house/café during daytime hours and a full kitchen cocktail/tapas bar from the afternoon to late evening. At night, a connecting bar named Connie’s, which features an indoor section and outdoor courtyard/rooftop. The venue is a 2 minute walk from the Jefferson Street L train station, and less than a mile walk from the Knickerbocker Avenue M train station. Most shows are 21+, though occasionally they are 18+. Please check their website and click on the actual date of show you are interested in, the age requirements for each show are listed there.

Warsaw

Bar

3.3 Miles Williamsburg

Warsaw's robust history is reflective of the evolution of the northern Brooklyn neighborhood Greenpoint, where the building it is housed in has stood and served the local community and beyond for over a century. In 1914, the building was established as the Polish National Home, a cultural hub where the Poles of NYC gathered, celebrated, and preserved their rich heritage throughout the 20th century. It wasn’t until 2001 that the space became known as Warsaw and began hosting punk and indie rock shows as a means to raise funds for community events. These shows became a cornerstone of the venue, earning Warsaw the treasured tagline ‘Where Pierogis Meet Punk.’ Today, Warsaw persists as a historic staple of the Brooklyn music scene, where people from all walks of life can come together in an intimate, unpretentious 1000-person venue to experience their favorite emerging and established artists across all genres. As Warsaw’s musical ethos evolves along with the cultural landscape that surrounds it, one thing remains constant – hot pierogies will always take the stage. Warsaw serves food and drink in their on site Bistro, offering a great selection of your favorite beers from local breweries and national brands. Handcrafted cocktails are available at every bar in the space and be sure to grab a plate of their signature pierogis.

Iridium Jazz Club

Live Music

0.4 Miles Theater District

The Iridium is a musical landmark famously known as a destination for intimately experiencing the best rock, jazz, and blues artists in the world. Over the last 20 years, The Iridium has built up a reputation for attracting iconic instrumentalists and vocalists seven nights a week, and as a result has grown in the diversity of its music offerings as emerging songwriters seek to join in the room’s rich history of music discovery. Among the superstar acts that have graced The Iridium stage are Les Paul, who played weekly at The Iridium until his passing in 2009, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Buddy Guy, Joe Walsh, Zakk Wylde, Joe Satriani, The Rolling Stones’ Mick Taylor and Charlie Watts, Max Roach, Michael Brecker, among many others. Today, in addition to its consistent draw of legendary rock guitarists and jazz and blues musicians, The Iridium regularly showcases next generation talent spanning a variety of genres including folk, indie pop, alt rock, R&B, cabaret and world music. Les Paul, revered as a pioneer in electric guitars and music recording, has influenced The Iridium becoming one of the only NYC concert venues to double as a live recording studio boasting its own music label – IridiumLive. Since 2011, notable releases on the IridiumLive label have included Grammy-winning guitarist Albert Lee’s ‘Live At The Iridium’ and ‘Les Paul Trio And Friends: A Jazz Tribute to Les’ featuring Les Paul’s band performing with special guests Nels Cline of Wilco, jazz guitar legend Stanley Jordan, Jane Monheit, and Bucky Pizzarelli. Jeff Beck’s Grammy-nominated ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Party Honoring Les Paul’ is also among the historical recordings at The Iridium. A 180-capacity venue centrally located at 1650 Broadway, The Iridium is available for private events and offers upscale contemporary cuisine along with one of the finest wine lists in the city with its 450-bottle cellar.

City Winery

Live Music

1.6 Miles Chelsea

City Winery New York City at Hudson River Park offers excellent views of Little Island NYC, is next to Chelsea Market, close to The High Line, and a short walk to The Whitney Museum. Complement your visit to these iconic New York sites with brunch, lunch, or dinner in their restaurant and wine bar where the cuisine is meant to be paired with a great glass of wine. City Winery is the brainchild of Michael Dorf, founder of the iconic Knitting Factory, one of New York’s longest running music venues, who wanted to create a space in Manhattan where he could combine his shared passions for wine and music. After making his first barrel of wine in California with his brother Josh and wine maker David Tate, formerly of Ridge Winery and now at Barnett Vineyards, Michael caught the bug: "For a long time I'd been enjoying wine as a fan - drinking it, taking classes, attending wine dinners - but it was not until I actually started participating in the process of working with the grape, turning it into wine, putting it into a bottle, and watching it develop over time, that I really started to understand wine. And when I would give my friends a bottle of wine with my name on it, most would respond by saying: 'I wanna do that too!' It was this experience that led Michael to conceptualize and start working on the City Winery business plan in 2006. The core target audience of City Winery - urban wine enthusiasts who desire the experience of making their own wine, but who are not going to leave their comfortable Manhattan lifestyle to decamp to a vineyard - immediately became clear. But Michael wanted to create more than just a custom crush facility. Beyond making wine, Michael also wanted to focus on the enjoyment and satisfaction that comes from sharing wine with friends, and to capture the unique social bond that occurs when communities of like-minded people gather over a bottle of quality Cabernet, while dining on a freshly-prepared meal and listening to their favorite artists perform.

Littlefield

Bar

5.3 Miles Gowanus

Currently housed in a former 1920’s printing press warehouse, Littlefield has been one of NYC’s premier independent live venues since 2009. It has showcased some of the best comedy, live music, dance parties, podcasts, art, film and theater.

Brooklyn Mirage

Live Music

4.4 Miles Bushwick

The Brooklyn Mirage is a breathtaking open-air sanctuary in the heart of the Avant Gardner complex open May through October. The inner courtyard is a totally immersive space, surrounded by towering walls lined with evergreen plants and captivating 200 foot LED wall. A singular catwalk connects a network of expansive outdoor environments and rises to surround the venue, offering views of the iconic city skyline and bustling courtyard below. An exciting selection of refreshments, an ever-changing food menu and a stunning sound system complete this elusive summer paradise.

Racket

Live Music

5.1 Miles Meatpacking District

Small intimate live music venue. Former Highline Ballroom. Offers a 700-capacity standing, 400-capacity fully seated venue and is located in the heart of Chelsea, nestled beneath the High Line. The Ballroom boasts a state-of-the art sound and light system, a balcony, seated wings and a variety of floor setups. The venue’s pristine production quality allows for superstar stadium acts to play a more intimate show for their fans without compromising the level of sound or performance. SEATING POLICY: Seating for all shows is First Come, First Seated; The earlier you arrive, the better seat you can get. Racket does not take advance table reservations, except where noted as a condition of a VIP ticket or Show Package reservation. They cannot seat incomplete parties. Standing room for all shows is available at our bar.

Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola

Jazz

0.9 Miles Upper West Side

The classic jazz club reinvented, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola brings the music out of the basement with views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline, great soul food and some of the best music to be found anywhere in the city, every night. The club hosts a variety of established acts and introduces young up-and-comers five nights a week in after-hours Late Night Sessions. An intimate setting designed to showcase this uniquely American art form, Dizzy’s is the latest addition to the historic list of New York’s great jazz venues. As Jazz at Lincoln Center Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis explains, “Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola is designed to entertain people in the spirit that Dizzy [Gillespie] had...very welcoming. We just want people to have a good time. We want the musicians to feel comfortable to play. We want people to come in and have a memorable experience. This whole facility is designed for international participation. This is a hall of integration...to bring everything together."

Berlin

2.3 Miles East Village

With state-of-the-art sound and a full, premiere backline, Berlin has become one New York City’s best music venues for seeing up and coming acts and discovering new artists. Established acts have come to know Berlin as a perfect intimate venue to reconnect with fans. The curtained, rounded stage provides great sight lines from any area of the venue. Berlin is situated beneath 2A, a dim low-key dive that has occupied the corner of Avenue A and 2nd Street corner for decades. Berlin’s space has arched stonework, three chandeliers and dark banquettes and offers the perfect vibe for partying and dancing.

Apotheke

Lounge

2.9 Miles Chinatown

The lao wei are still aflutter over Chinatown's hottest cocktail den, one that has created possibly the most buzz south of Canal Street since Cab Calloway's Smokey Joe took Minnie the Moocher down to "kick the gong" in Chinatown. In truth, Austrian-born Albert Trummer has hit all the right notes with his Apotheke, perhaps the natural evolution and vast improvement on the former Barmacy theme that proved so successful on East 14th Street. Think mad scientist meets mixologist meets opium dispensary, full of fancy laboratory gear to emphasize the medicinal qualities of Trummer's nine types of cocktails: Health and Beauty Stress Relievers Pain Killers Stimulants Aphrodisiacs Pharmaceuticals Euphoric Enhancers Therapeutic Treatments House Remedies With "over 250 house cocktails and 500 bottles of liquor from around the world," this is indeed impressive. Just bear in mind that unfortunately today's Absinthe likely won't make you insane, though perhaps the price of cocktails here might. Nevertheless, at roughly $15 each we find the cocktails a fair value as their ingredients are carefully sourced, and mixing the various decoctions and concotions is done with great art and skill. Our favorite recipes are for the James Bond as well as a few we invented on the fly—we asked our mixologist to create a drink including three kinds of ginger, one drink using two kinds of anise and fennel, and another one we simply declared should be the "Chinatown Special". They were all superb. After enjoying about a dozen marvelous creations, we finally called it quits. Our advice: do not hesitate to simply declare what ingredients/flavors you might like in your drinks. Before you become completely blotto, however, do ensure you stumble around Doyers Street, the crookedest street in Manhattan. Over one hundred years ago in 1907, the New York Times reported that "In all New York City, there is not a more disreputable street than Pell Street nor a more forbidding cow-path than Doyers Street." Together, these lanes were "cesspools of immorality vile enough to bring a curse upon the entire community."

Bemelmans Bar

Hotel Bars

1.8 Miles Upper East Side

Best remembered as the creator of the classic Madeline books for children, Ludwig Bemelmans once joked he'd like his tombstone to read: "Tell Them It Was Wonderful." Well, wonderful it was, and still is, at Bemelmans Bar. Named in honor of the legendary artist, Bemelmans is a timeless New York watering hole that has drawn socialites, politicians, movie stars and moguls for more than five decades. Restored in 2002 by designer Thierry Despont, the bar maintains its Art Deco legacy with chocolate-brown leather banquettes, nickel-trimmed black glass tabletops, a dramatic black granite bar and a 24-karat gold leaf-covered ceiling. Featuring the only surviving Bemelmans' commission open to the public, the 75-seat bar combines wit and coziness in unique New York style. Long-time Bemelmans bartender Tommy Rowles recalls when a weary Harry S. Truman stopped in and ordered Old Grand-Dad bourbon on the rocks. When Rowles, a dedicated beer drinker, remarked that he could never drink an Old Grand-Dad, President Truman suggested he take a look out the window at the mob of reporters waiting and remarked, "If you had to walk 15 blocks with these guys following you, you'd drink this too."

SPACE IBIZA New York

Dance Club

0.9 Miles

Bringing the energy made famous by Mediteranian nightlife and electronic music hot spot, SPACE IBIZA North American beachhead brings top tier musical talent, a fantastic sound system and of course the lovely SPACE IBIZA dancers. Here you will find the hippest crowd, as models mingle and celebrities mingle with the in-the-know-crowd of NYC.

Knitting Factory

Live Music

3.3 Miles Williamsburg

Once a locus of experimental, envelope-pushing music in Tribeca which showcased styles ranging from rock to jazz to neo-classical to electronica, the Knitting Factory, after being harangued by neighbors, relocated itself unto the more vibrant and welcoming neighborhood of Williamsburg. Now living in the completely remodeled and renovated space that once housed Luna Lounge, the Knitting Factory is back in action as one of the best and most intimate spaces to see a concert in New York, with a capacity crowd of 300 people!

Cafe Carlyle

Cabaret & Revue

1.7 Miles Upper East Side

When famed composer Richard Rodgers moved in as The Carlyle's first tenant, music became an essential part of The Carlyle experience. A romantic and intimate venue, Café Carlyle continues the tradition of the 1930s supper club. It features original murals created by French artist Marcel Vertes, the Oscar-winning art director of the 1952 Moulin Rouge. The nightly scene recalls an old MGM classic, camera ready pure Manhattan backdrop and a soundtrack that is classic cabaret. Café Carlyle is known for headlining incredible talents, including Eartha Kitt, Ute Lemper and Woody Allen, who regularly appears to jam with the Eddy Davis New Orleans jazz band. For over 30 years, Café Carlyle was synonymous with the legendary Bobby Short, whose spirit will live on through the music at Café Carlyle. Seating up to 70 for dinner and 90 for a performance, the supper club offers a uniquely intimate space and is highlighted by music-themed murals by Vertes.