A Timeline of New York City’s ‘It’ Bars [Infographic]

New York City gets its “city that never sleeps” nickname from the tireless cabbies, late-night food carts, and ever-shifting lights that keep its streets abuzz. Also among the city’s nighthawk scene are boisterous partygoers flocking to NYC’s host of hot and hip bars and clubs. New York wouldn’t be the same city without its nightlife.

It’s not news that NYC boasts a legendary bar scene. From downtown boîtes to hole-in-the-wall dives, the city is rife with watering holes for bargoers to see, be seen, and have a good time under a mood-setting disco ball. The party scene evolves in tandem with the bar scene, so tracking the development of NYC’s nightlife over the course of recent history sheds light on how drinking moments shaped the city’s culture.

We’ve taken a look at the places that helped develop the city’s nightlife into the legendary scene it is today, starting from the ’70s and ’80s disco trend — a culture that directly led to the current status quo. In this case, we’ve classified a “bar” as your standard drinking establishment, a nightclub, or a restaurant that doubles as a nightclub — spots where celebrities and socialites would linger into the wee hours of the morning.

These bars, discothèques, and nightclubs are the places that were, or are, known to draw the longest lines, boast the hardest-to-pass bouncers, and play host to the city’s most popular celebrities and socialites. Here’s a timeline of 11 of New York City’s most of-the-moment bars since the ’70s.

Studio 54: 1977-1980

There is no story of NYC nightlife without Studio 54. Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager — two influential names of the late 20th century — opened the nightclub on West 54th Street, and the location lent the legendary disco spot its name. Studio 54 gained notoriety for a number of reasons including open drug use, choosey bouncers guarding its velvet ropes, and a flourishing queer culture. But perhaps most of its fame came from the A-list celebrities who frequented the venue. To name just a few: Andy Warhol, Grace Jones, David Bowie, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and Elton John. Studio 54 is recognized as a foil to, or respite from, the troubles of life in America during the time after the Vietnam War, unstable economy, and counterculture riots. Stepping inside, you’d find a massive space awash with glitter, balloons, and topless dancers.

In its first year alone, Studio 54 raked in $7 million. Its success was smashing but brief. Rubell and Schrager were arrested in 1978 when federal agents raided the club and discovered forged finance books, garbage bags of cash stuffed into ceilings, and cocaine. The nightclub closed after 33 short, Dionysian months in 1980 after the owners pleaded guilty to tax evasion, but its legend lives on.

Temple Bar: 1990s

W Magazine refers to Temple Bar as “the NoHo watering hole that defined a certain kind of 1990s downtown glamour.” The Lafayette Street hangout was known for its low-key, clandestine exterior — the only sign on its facade is a depiction of a chameleon’s skeleton. George Schwarz opened the venue in 1989, and it closed upon his passing in 2017. It reopened in 2021 under new ownership with the chameleon intact.

The bar’s earlier, if not more influential, iteration was a place for downtown cool kids, artists, and scenesters to enjoy mood lighting and oversized Martinis — among the bar’s claims to fame was its large-format version of the cocktail. The Martini experienced a new life in NYC during the ’90s, a revival largely driven by the popularity of Temple Bar.

44 at the Royalton Hotel: 1991-1995

44 was the follow-up to Studio 54, and having been part of the service staff there before entering the magazine industry, Dana Brown recounts the bar’s story quite vividly in his memoir “Dilettante.” After spending time in prison for tax evasion, Rubell and Schrager entered the hotel business. (Acquiring a liquor license as tax evasion offenders would have been, well, next to impossible). They opened the Royalton Hotel on 44th Street in 1988 and skirted legal boundaries by renting out the property’s lobby and restaurant space to a separate restaurateur who could helm an entirely independent food and beverage program. In 1991, Brian McNally, brother of famed restaurateur Keith McNally, took over the space to open 44. For the in-the-know crowd, 44 was an instant hit.

By day, 44 served as a power lunch spot for the crème de la crème of New York’s media and fashion industries. At the time, the players in that world largely came from Condé Nast, including Anna Wintour, Tina Brown, Graydon Carter, and Si Newhouse. By night, a younger, well-connected crowd hoping to join the ranks of media and fashion elite turned the restaurant into a nightclub.

“The buzz carried over to the evening, to the couches in the lobby and the bars, a younger publishing and fashion crowd, looking for a contact high from the power lunch scene, mingling with movie stars and rock stars and models and fashion designers, drinking late into the night, doing coke in the bathrooms, talking, flirting, hooking up, getting a room,” Brown writes in his book, chronicling his experience rising the ranks to deputy editor of Vanity Fair.

44 closed in 2007 because, by that time, its ’90s style had fallen out of fashion. A restaurateur reopened the restaurant and rebranded it into a brasserie later that year.

Lot 61 and Bungalow 8: 2000s

Lot 61 defined downtown Manhattan at the turn of the century. Amy Sacco opened the bar in the 1990s, though it came into its own in the early aughts. It was the epitome of “Sex and the City”-era NYC and carried the Martini and Cosmopolitan craze into the early aughts, as Sacco offered 61 ’tini flavors and a well-reviewed Cosmo. By opening Lot 61, Sacco jump-started the makeover of the Meatpacking District — once a worn-down neighborhood marked by hedonism and sketchy warehouses. Sacco also opened Bungalow 8 in 2001. There, she attracted a more high-end crowd despite the bar’s location in a garage and warehouse in Chelsea.

TAO: 2000s and 2010s

The TAO universe is a force to be reckoned with because it can wear a few different hats. Most know TAO as a high-end Japanese restaurant, which opened in Midtown in 2000, but others know it as one of the most happening nightclubs in NYC over the first two decades of this century. TAO fits that perfect sweet spot of a clubstaurant. TAO Downtown opened in 2005 and sits at the corner of 17th Street and 9th Avenue, right where the Meatpacking District and Chelsea meet — among the more developed crossroads of the early aughts. Bargoers love TAO for its massive size and zany yet low-key design. The TAO Group Hospitality boasts over 80 establishments worldwide, including in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Singapore, and Mexico City, each looking to recapture the glitz, glamour, and glitterati of its flagship location.

Paul’s Baby Grand and Paul’s Casablanca: 2010s

Whether in the sweltering heat or blistering cold, New York is no stranger to drawing long lines of bargoing hopefuls trying to get past a selective bouncer. And two of the city’s most sought-after lines were — and, on some nights, still are — outside of Paul’s Baby Grand and Paul’s Casablanca.

Who is this elusive Paul? Paul Sevigny — brother of Chloe Sevigny, the acclaimed actress, director, and downtown it-girl of the 1990s and 2000s. Paul’s Baby Grand, a lounge-like bar drawing a highbrow crowd with the designer Johan Lindeberg as a regular, opened in 2013, and Paul’s Casablanca opened three years later with a similar setup and milieu. Tastemakers in all things culture frequented the two spots, granting them the renown they still carry today. In recent years, the fur-coat-wearing bouncer at Paul’s Casablanca gained social media notoriety for staring people down in the queue, assessing their outfits and attitudes. As GQ puts it, “it’s impossible to tell the story of contemporary New York nightlife without talking about Sevigny’s clubs.”

Le Bain: 2010s

Ah, Le Bain. What is now a rooftop bar seasonally overrun by the summer intern crowd popped onto the scene in 2010 as a sort of gay bar with a pool. Despite Le Bain’s outdoor area for smoke breaks and Instagrammable photo ops, its famous pool is situated indoors just a few paces from the DJ setup and bar. Perched over The Standard, High Line hotel with a view of the downtown cityscape, the scene-y Le Bain became known as the place where the city’s up-and-coming DJs came to wet their feet — either at the DJ booth or in the pool, of course.

Baby’s All Right: 2014-2020

Opened in 2014, Baby’s All Right came onto the scene in the early-to-middle stage of Williamsburg’s gentrification. Artists and hipsters had been residing in the Brooklyn neighborhood for a bit, but it saw even more massive changes in the 2010s. Baby’s All Right became a haven for band geeks and their groupies, artists, and other Zillenial Brooklynites. Relatively early in her career, SZA performed at the venue in 2015, as did a young Billie Eilish two years later. The bar gained a reputation for being on trend while also serving as an inclusive and inviting hub for anyone with a hankering for live music. It also became known as somewhat of a pickup spot: Going to the venue, it’d be reasonable to expect to hit it off with a stranger on the dance floor.

Time Again: 2021-2024

Remember that really weird time when the city was slowly emerging from its Covid-induced social slump? We do, unfortunately. Fortunately, that time allowed for a set of certain bars — particularly those that let people gather outside — to gain popularity. Time Again opened in 2020 and played host to a tight-knit friend group of downtown scenesters who dubbed their neighborhood (or, just a pocket of Canal Street) Dimes Square. (Yes, that same friend group that was flamed on social media for hanging out during Covid and promoting anti-woke culture despite their left politics. Does anyone still have a copy of The Drunken Canal?)

Time Again was one hotspot for that crowd, and after they went viral on social media for their cool-kid aura, Time Again went mainstream. After the Paris Olympics, all (or at least it seemed) of New York’s favorite writers, models, entrepreneurs, chefs, bartenders, and, of course, Olympians hung out on Time Again’s stout stools over the asphalt. Reporting on the scene, GQ claimed, “The Hottest Club In NYC Is a Parking Lot On Canal Street.” Now, Time Again is known for drawing cool, artsy crowds and for hosting pop-ups with upcoming chefs and food influencers.

Jean’s: 2025-Present

With its incessant line, hardy bouncer, and viral social media presence, Jean’s might be the most of-the-moment spot right now. With an upstairs that allows select patrons to trickle to the downstairs club, Jean’s is the place so many barhoppers wish to go to today. On any given night there, you might see people like Emily Sundberg, Alex Delany, or other internet-popular folk who hang out south of 14th Street. Jean’s opened as a farm-to-table bistro on Lafayette Street in 2023, but it quickly became a hub for everyone looking for a scene. And any mega-popular bar in the post-Covid world is not without its brain rot. Jean’s makes its presence on social media known with stunts like Instagrammable cookie drops or sending branded gua sha tools to some of its most popular and well-connected patrons. The owner himself boasts quite the network: Max Chodorow, son of the famed restaurateur behind China Grill, Jeffrey Chodorow, opened Jean’s.

Last year, The New Yorker hosted its centennial anniversary party at Jean’s, and this year, Anna Wintour held the goodbye party for Will Welch, former global editorial director of GQ, there. As present-day Condé Nast has its eye on Jean’s, will it join the ranks of ’80s- and ’90s-era bars favored by the media elite?

Zero Bond: Present

NYC is leaning further into member-only social clubs, and the popularity of Zero Bond makes perfect sense. Located at Bond and Lafayette Streets (just a few paces away from Jean’s), Zero Bond is a mix of a coworking space, restaurant, and, of course, bar. The membership fee hovers around a few thousand in annual dues, and you’ll also have to pony up another couple grand as an initiation fee. A number of popular celebrities frequent the exclusive space, including Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Bella Hadid, and, of course, former mayor Eric Adams. Yes, the mayor would frequent the private members’ club on his nights out downtown. Adams is buddy-buddy with the owner, and whether or not he paid his dues and dining bills at Zero Bond is unclear, per a report from The New York Times.

*Image retrieved from @studio54forever on Instagram

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