Cooper Square Hotel, Warren 77 and Mixology Degrees

The NYN Club Report for May 19, 2009
Compiled by Gamal Hennessy

Opening
Warren 77
(Urban Daddy)
A sports bar that isn’t worried about tonight’s game opens in TriBeCa.

Conflict
Cooper Square Hotel
(Curbed)
Local residents have decided to disrupt lounge patrons with a bull horn. Now that’s classy.

Recession Effect
Rise of Mixologists
(Wall Street Journal)
Diego and Zagat team up to train unemployed I-bankers to be the next generation of bartenders.

Getting Into the Business Part 1: The Bartender

By Gamal Hennessy

Have you ever wanted to work in a bar or a club? Have you ever thought ‘I could be a better bartender/ DJ/ dancer/ promoter than this tool in front of me’? In the first of our special features this month, I’m going to tell you how you can get to the other side of the bar and become one of the people that keeps New York drunk.

NYN Insider

When I started NYN in 2004 I only had a vague understanding of nightlife in the city. I knew it was complicated. I knew it was big. That was about it. I didn’t know where to go, or how to get in, or how much things cost.

So I went out to a lot of different types of places. I kept notes on which places catered to which people. I paid attention to how things worked. I tended bar, I became a DJ, I talked to comedians, musicians, owners and bouncers. And I drank a lot.

Since then, I’ve found out a lot about the different areas of the city and the different types of clubs in each area. Friends, co-workers and random people I never met before found out what I was doing and started to ask me for help when they were planning a night out.

Hey G, I’m taking this girl out for a date. Where should I take her?

My birthday is next week, where should I have my party?

Where is the best place for a drink around here?

What’s the best new club?

I’d talk to them about what they liked, what they disliked, and what was available. The more people I helped, the more people would come to me when they wanted to go out. It happened often enough that I came up with a system to give people choices on where to go and what to do. Then they could make up their own minds and have a good time.

I didn’t consider it a part of New York Nights. It was just something random I did for friends. A couple of weeks ago I started reading about websites offering personal fashion advice. I started thinking; “why not offer personal advice to people who are planning a party?” I’ve got the website. I’ve got the system. All I needed was a name. I decided to call it NYN Insider because it would give people the same insight on nightlife that an insider has.

Now I can do my part to make New York a better place, one party at a time.

Have fun.

G

If you want to take advantage of NYN Insider just contact me.

Nightlife News for November 13, 2007

Nightlife News for November 13th 2007

Radiohead Results 38% Will Pay (Robert Andrews- Paid Content)
Last month, everyone in the music and business press (including NYN) speculated on how Radiohead’s new “pay what you want” pricing would affect album sales. This wasn’t about the fate of just one album; the entire industry was waiting for the results. Now that the results are in, it doesn’t look good for album sales.

Get Your Hands Off My Lime (Michael Wilson- New York Times)
It appears that certain inspectors from the New York State Department of Health are taking their jobs seriously…maybe too seriously. One Brooklyn bar was cited by the DOH for an infraction that has allegedly been on the books for years. Was it the dog inside the bar? No. Was it the fruit flies near the liquor bottles? Nope. It was the lime stuffed in the neck of the Corona bottle.

Liquor on Trains? OK. Liquor Ads on Trains? No. (John DeSio- Village Voice)
If you ride the Long Island Railroad or MetroNorth into or out of the city, you can see an ad for beer on the platform and then get a beer on the train, if you’re of drinking age. But if Felix Ortiz has anything to say about it, you won’t see any liquor ads on MTA trains.

Read more on these stories in the November 13th Edition of Nightlife News, only from New York Nights

NYPD Issues Nightlife Guidelines (Nightlife News)

Nightlife News for October 19th

Clubs Begin Work with City to Improve Security Conditions (Al Baker- New York Times)
The recent deaths of two club patrons in the past year is being used as the catalyst for new cooperation between the police department and the New York Nightlife Association. Yesterday, in a joint statement the two groups announced 58 measures that are intended to make clubs safer for patrons and give club owners incentive to call the police if trouble occurs.

Nightlife spots have been reluctant to call the police in the past because they didn’t want to have to deal with the disorderly premises citations that would interfere with their liquor licenses.

What does this mean to you the next time you go out? There might be more security guards, more cameras, metal detectors, ID scanning machines and more chances that cops will show up if something happens. You can also expect higher costs. The club owners are business people first. If they have to pay for more security, we have to pay for more security. But paying a little more for a drink is preferable to dead club kids in the street or clubs shut down all over the city. (Additional Coverage from Justin Silverman AM New York)

Lawmakers call for a fake ID crackdown (Brandon Bain- Newsday)
At the same time that the NYPD is developing guidelines for club security, state lawmakers are pushing to change the dram shop laws to increase penalties for the people who sell fake ID’s.

It is estimated that 16% of the alcohol consumed in New York State is consumed by minors. These minors use fake ID to get into bars and buy drinks. The law in place since 1921 hold the bartender and the bar owner liable for any injury or damage resulting from underage drinking, but the person who created the fake ID went largely unpunished.

Removing some of the burden from bartenders in this scenario makes sense, since even a trained bartender can have trouble verifying age on a busy Saturday night. Besides I’d like the chance to drink that 16% of statewide alcohol without losing it to some kid…(Additional Coverage: from Brian Howard : Journal News and Mark Siesel: New York Legal Blog )

The Art of Happy Hour (An NYN Special Report)

By Gamal Hennessy

There are a lot of profound and complicated issues in the world today. Understanding happy hour isn't one of them. Happy hour is actually a place where we can go to get away from work, school, home and the stress of our every day lives. Life is meant to be easier (and cheaper) during happy hour.

Like anything else, you can enjoy happy hour more if you know just a little more about it. And since you don't read New York Nights for coverage of the 2008 presidential race, this is probably the proper forum for this discussion.

Happy hour in New York usually starts around 4:00 PM and ends around 7:00 PM. While the majority of bars, pubs and some early opening lounges have some kind of happy hour pricing, most nightclubs and lounges don't either because they aren't open during that time slot or they don't make their money off that kind of volume.

The classic business rule says buy low and sell high. But a bar during happy hour works on a slightly different principle; it's buy lower and sell low. Often, their goal is to serve cheaper well liquor at reduced prices in the hopes that people will stay after happy hour is over (when they will start paying full price for drinks) or reject the well liquor for top shelf spirits (and agreeing to pay higher prices), or order food (which may not be discounted). As a business, a bar exists to make money. Happy hour gives them the ability to bring people into the bar during a time when it would otherwise be dead.

That's great (for the bar) but happy hour can cause its own share of problems. The main potential problem is overdrinking. This can lead to illness, hangovers and questionable decisions made under the influence of alcohol (if you don't believe me, just think about the time your friend told you the story about how he woke up next to that midget after going to happy hour. You don't want to be that guy.)

Happy hour is still a great place for pre-parties, after work meetings, or just for those people who don't want to pay $10 for a drink. The question is how do you satisfy your need for inexpensive drinks and let the bar satisfy its need to make money?

We've got a few tips that might help you navigate the treacherous waters of happy hour without injuring your wallet, your liver, or your reputation.

1. Happy hour times can vary. Ask the bartender or waitress when you get there when happy hour ends, so you're not drinking up a storm after happy hour is actually over.
2. Some places offer special drinks during happy hour that go beyond well liquor. Again, it pays to ask questions.
3. If your happy hour spot offers food, get some. It can help you deal with your the increased alcohol intake.
4. Make drinking part of a larger activity. Maybe you're playing pool, or watching the game, or talking about what an asshole your boss was today. It doesn't matter. If you drink while doing something else, you can have a good time for less cash. If you're just drinking because it's cheap, don't be surprised when you're dry heaving over the toilet.
5. Bring friends. Happy hour is early enough for the B&T commuter to have a drink and still catch her train home. It's usually cheap enough for the intern or the student to drink without forcing themselves to eat Ramen noodles until they get paid again. You can use happy hour to connect with people that you won't see in the clubs on the weekends. An added benefit is the more people you bring to the bar, the better the bar does in terms of money, and the better they feel about you. This can lead to good things later. It always helps to be in good standing with your regular bartender.
6. If you are staying at the bar after happy hour is over, try to close out your tab and start a new one. This will help to remind everyone you're with that the prices have changed and it avoids any potential problems with your bill later.

Happy hour can easily live up to its name with a little planning and a couple of questions. Whether you just grab a drink before watching Survivor: China or you're having a pre-party before a long night on the town, happy hour in New York can be the best way to start the night.

Have fun.
Gamal
gamal@newyorknightsonline.com

We Help You Find the Perfect Drink... and Cabfare.

Find out all the tools you need for the perfect night in the September 20th edition of Nightlife News!

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Only from New York Nights

New York Nights Launches Nightlife Lifestyle Portal

For Immediate Release

New York, September 14, 2007 Online magazine New York Nights www.newyorknightsonline.com launched to the public today. Its perspective and content sets it apart from its competition and builds its reputation as a nightlife expert.

New York Nights (NYN) is a nightlife lifestyle portal. It covers the people, issues and trends that impact the bars, lounges and nightclubs in the city. This week’s launch offers a variety of articles targeted to both the frequent and occasional bar patron.

Gamal Hennessy, President of Nightlife Publishing, sees NYN as a new source of information on an exciting, but often criticized, topic. “New York nightlife is a constantly evolving source of entertainment and popular culture that often suffers from a one sided image in the general public.”

NYN offers a variety of different content to encourage a more complete view of this environment. The Trends section will have in depth articles, interviews and advice on getting the most out of your nightlife experience. Nightlife News will provide a central hub for stories that come out of or influence the bar and club scene. Connections will be a social network specific to nightlife. Updates will offer links to local weather and transit information. Finally the Bar Locator will be a location search engine that allows users to search more than 1,700 locations and find exactly the type of experience they are looking for.

“Our goal is to be more than a listing of specific events, more than a tabloid for celebrity club hopping, and more than a general entertainment magazine with occasional club stories. We want to deliver a magazine that enhances your nightlife experience.”

For more information, visit www.newyorknightsonline.com or contact Gamal Hennessy directly at gamal@newyorknightsonline.com

About Nightlife Publishing:
Nightlife Publishing is a New York based company and publisher of New York Nights. Our operational focus is the development of content related to local bars, clubs and lounges. The major area of emphasis is currently online and we have plans to move into mobile content delivery in the near future. Our long term strategy is to develop the NYN brand in New York and then expand our coverage into other major nightlife cities worldwide.

Nightlife News for August 8th, 2007

The following nightlife related articles were published in print and online this week:

Fighting the Anti-Nightlife Push (Village Voice by Tricia Romano)

There is a 'quality of life' push in local government that started with then mayor Giuliani and continues today. Quality of life is actually a thinly veiled euphemism for attempts to suppress and ultimately eliminate New York nightlife. The attacks come in the form of cabaret laws, proposals to require security cameras and eliminate bottle service and excessive noise complaints outside certain venues. Ms. Romano offers a spirited defense of our world and invites the powers that be to explore the community that they are attempting to govern.


Ten things the bartender doesn't tell you… (Smart Money by Neil Parmar)

This article isn't specific to New York. It applies to bar patrons everywhere. Mr. Parmar offers tips that will help you enjoy more liquor for less money.

Have fun.
Gamal
www.newyorknightsonline.com