Where in NYC should we spend a special new year?

November 1, 2006 3:22 AM

Where should the SO and I spend New Year's Eve in NYC? I'm taking her there as a present for her 30th and we want to spend the 31st somewhere suitably great. (Searching shows New Year in New York to be a venerable AskMe subject, but we have quite specific requirements and are looking for specific recommendations.)

We're enormously excited at the prospect of welcoming in 2007 with the good folk of new york city, but a wee bit anxious about a venue - numerous times in the past I've spent new year bar-hopping without ever finding a place that wasn't hideously over-crowded, or just a bit shit. And I REALLY don't want that to happen this time.

So we've decided that the safe option would be to try to reserve places in some drinking hole before we go, and therefore spend at least the majority of the evening in that one venue, which obviously needs to be somewhere rather terrific. And there are some criteria it must meet -

• It needs to be in Manhattan, though we don't care whereabouts on the island
• The clientele and atmosphere should be conducive to having a fine, happy, drunken time
• We'd like somewhere to sit, ideally a booth that's reserved for us
• It must play good music, hopefully guitar-based, and definitely not dance/electronica. We like the sort of 'indie' that English folk like at the moment (Killers, Kaiser Chiefs etc) so something conceptually similar would be a bonus
• Being able to eat there as well would be great, as long as the food's good

(Cost isn't such a big deal - this is a special occasion and should be enjoyable, and I'll fork out for that if necessary.)

So I'm hoping that some node in the hive mind can recommend some place like this that could guarantee us entry. (Or maybe I'm worrying too much and we should just go with the flow? This is a distinct possibility. As is that it may be too late already to book such a place as we'd like.) Thanks!

posted by thoughtless to travel & transportation (5 comments total)

Government Mule at the Beacon Theater (Link to the Gov't Mule tour site.). No better living guitarist than Warren Haynes, you get an actual seat, they sell beer and liquor and you can go out to a bar on the upper West side afterwards. Also, there is the traditional Ruby Foo's pre show meal just up the street.

(on 12/30, the Mule is playing with the North Mississippi All-Stars which should be a great show.)
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:13 AM on November 1, 2006

Might want to check out what's up at Joe's Pub on New Year's Eve. Great venue, if a bit pricey. Last year I believe it was Eartha Kitt
posted by cal71 at 6:43 AM on November 1, 2006

I'm debating even posting, because I don't have any specific advice. My general advice:

1) 99% of what you're looking for was reserved/sold out months ago. Whatever you do, hurry up.

2) Don't plan on being between 30th and 50th street, and don't plan on crossing over that area after 7 pm or so. (Before that time, take the subway.)

I never used to go out on NYE in Manhattan, because the NYE "tax" (extra fee) for the kind of places you describe would generally have paid for an additional night out. But then again, I'm an old Scrooge.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:17 AM on November 1, 2006

I went to see Nellie McKay at the Allen Room, which is technically part of Lincoln Center even though it's in the Time Warner Center, and the whole time I was there, I kept thinking about how swell and romantic and old-NY the mood of the room was. Tiers of seating and candle-lit tables overlooking a stage with a backdrop consisting of a mile-high window overlooking Columbus Circle and Central Park, all sparkly and dreamy. It wouldn't be a rowdy, drunk time, but an elegant, tipsy Nick-and-Nora Charles evening to remember. Find out who is playing on New Years and book a table.
posted by eve harrington at 5:54 PM on November 1, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

www.noo.com is a cool site to check out. Other sites have lots of clubs listed but these guys cover everything
posted by mact1079 at 9:43 AM on November 24, 2006