Good Vibes From a Bad Decade: A Look at NYC’s ’70s-Inspired Bars
The retro 1970s-style bar is having a moment. The simplest reason why may be because the 1970s, while they may still feel fresh to people of a certain age, happened half a century ago. This makes the decade overripe for nostalgia, and nostalgia is fun. It’s also relatively easy for a bar to access: Adorning the space in burnt orange and avocado green furniture and cranking the disco music to 11 gets an establishment on the fast train to funkytown. When done well, it delivers easy joy to any city’s bar scene.
These bars slap a little differently in New York City. They are still hallowed havens of happiness that tap into all that was outta sight in the ’70s, but their existence also references a decade when the Big Apple was infested with maggots. It’s an inadvertent celebration of New York City’s lowest point, creating a strange and unique dichotomy no other city can come close to replicating. Such a sordid past can make running a NYC bar referencing the 1970s a unique endeavor.
A Brief History Lesson
The 1970s were arguably NYC’s most troubling decade. Yes, it was the era of Studio 54, CBGB at the height of its punk rock powers, and Reggie Jackson in Yankee pinstripes. But the bad outweighed the good by a considerable margin. Times Square was a sleaze-saturated haven of prostitution and perverted behaviors. Crime was so rampant, the city’s police force — which was scandalized by systemic corruption at the time — distributed pamphlets dubbed “Fear City” at the airport, advising tourists how to avoid being victimized. Unemployment in the city spiked significantly higher than the national average. The city was broke with no chance of a federal bailout, hence the infamous “Ford to City: Drop Dead” New York Daily News headline. The Son of Sam terrorized Manhattan and the outer boroughs during the summer of 1977, the year of the city’s most notorious blackout. The Bronx seemed to constantly be on fire due to a bona fide arson epidemic.
The city’s retro ’70s bars wisely steer clear of these negative touchstones. While some may prefer the pre-Disneyfied version of Times Square, nobody wants to surround themselves with reminders of the city’s nadir. The bulk of their customer base also wasn’t around to witness the awfulness firsthand. Still, the nature of some New Yorkers makes it difficult for the way things really were to completely disappear in these retro environments.
“New York City always has a bit of nostalgia to it,” explains Luis Hernandez, F&B Manager at Hello Hello in the Chelsea neighborhood. “Everyone talks about their favorite old restaurants from back in the day, or how good the Knicks are, even though they haven’t won anything since 1973.”
Credit: Gonzalo Loayza
All About the Vibe
Even when things were crummy in the 1970s, it was still possible to find joy within the community. “When some people see those old images of the city, all they see are challenging times,” explains LaTeisha Moore, owner and founding partner of Oddball in the East Village. “But there are also lots of photos from that era of happy children playing in their neighborhoods.”
It wasn’t just the kids. Love was the sustaining element that pushed New York City’s grown-ups through the 1970s. It wasn’t a mild and milquetoast form in the nightlife scene. It was free and easy to the point of overt decadence. Some of the city’s bars referencing the decade make a concerted effort to promote this. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Ciao Ciao Disco takes its cues from the 1970s Roma discotheque scene and legendary New York spots like Studio 54 to create a throwback vibe that uses music, hospitality, and a light-up dance floor to amplify what was joyful about the decade.
“Our staff is all about love, having fun, and being free,” explains Rikki Nobre, Ciao Ciao Disco managing partner, beverage director, and events coordinator. “Hospitality always comes first, and their ‘ready for a good time’ energy trickles throughout the space.”
“We have a string of regulars that lived in Williamsburg back in the ’70s and ’80s. They’ve told me multiple times how much our space reminds them of the places that existed when they were in their 20s.”
Nobre notes this vibrant vibe impacts the behavior of the clientele, who may otherwise treat the venue as nothing more than an Instagrammable time capsule from a century before they were born. “The kids that come in may spend the first 10 minutes here taking photos of the bar, but they stay because they appreciate the music,” Nobre says. “I don’t know if they know how old the music is, but they don’t care. They’re too busy being in the moment and losing themselves. That was our intention. We want Ciao Ciao Disco to be a place where you can get a good cocktail and dance your ass off.”
Along the way, this goal of creating good times allowed Ciao Ciao Disco to earn the reputation for being an LGBTQ+-friendly space. This allowed the bar to forge a crucial link to the past, as disco clubs like Paradise Garage in Greenwich Village and Crisco Disco in the Meatpacking District were important safe havens for New York’s queer communities in the 1970s. According to Nobre, the evolution was organic.
“We never promoted it that way. It just became this safe space on its own, which is heartwarming since we align with those values,” she says. “Our motto is ‘come as you are.’ If a guest isn’t complying with that motto, that doesn’t fly with us.”
Some bars will also reference the more indulgent parts of ’70s nightlife in organic and occasionally cheeky ways. At Pearl Box in SoHo, for example, the walls and the menu are adorned with photos of Studio 54 taken by owner Ariel Arce’s mother back in the day. They also tuck candy cigarettes into each check presenter as a playful reminder of what used to be allowed. “There was a greater acceptance of debauchery back then,” says Kenneth Crum, partner of Pearl Box. “And you know what? It’s OK to be debaucherous sometimes.”
Kitsch vs. Cool
Any bar using decor or design to reference a theme inherently draws two paths. One pathway honors the theme’s roots, and the other treats it as a cheap parody. Since the dividing line between these two paths can be paper thin, New York bars running with a ’70s-tinged retro theme need to tread somewhat carefully.
Oddball avoids the term ‘70s bar’ because they don’t want to be inadvertently pigeonholed as strictly a repository for mementos. “We’re not really into cosplaying a decade,” explains Moore, who describes Oddball’s retro-futuristic ambience as having more of a visceral “David Bowie vibe” than being a full-blown 1970s celebration. She also says such ambiguity allows guests to openly interpret the theme on their own terms.
“We’re never working with a blank slate when drawing ideas from a past era,” she says. “So many people lived through the decade, and they all have different memories. They bring their own perspective and experience. We always want to keep that in mind.”
Hello Hello also steers clear of ‘70s bar’ phrasing. According to Hernandez, this helps the bar avoid the pitfalls of stereotypical ’70s tropes and present a more authentic version of the city’s past. “When people say ‘70s bar,’ their mind immediately goes to disco,” says Hernandez. “But there’s so much more to the decade than that in New York. Old-school hip-hop has its roots in the ’70s. That’s the old-school vibe we want to create: the vibe of hearing old-school hip-hop when you’re eating those good, big hot dogs you used to get from those old-school hot dog vendors back in the day.”
Even bars that seemingly steer hard into the ’70s aesthetic make an effort to pull back a little bit. Crum describes Pearl Box’s feel as less of a full-blown ’70s vibe and more of a “Playboy After Dark” lounge-type environment, where decadence and sophistication intersect. Touches of modern design elements and adding modern music to their playlist helps keep them current. Still, he feels it’s important for the staff to understand the context behind all the bar’s throwback elements. “We have our staff look through pre-shift presentations to make sure they get the vintage references,” Crum says. “I’d guess you can call these presentations ‘mood boards’ now.”
“Our staff is all about love, having fun, and being free. Hospitality always comes first, and their ‘ready for a good time’ energy trickles throughout the space.”
Cocktails play a key element in ensuring these bars remain as relevant as their non-thematic contemporaries. Original drinks abound, and modern techniques and trends like clarification and maximization are embraced. Creating drinks with this level of intent naturally enhances the venue’s overall purpose of existence. “The room is a bit of a wink, but the drinks should stay real,” Moore says. “That helps keep the space a living place that can grow and evolve and not get stuck with ‘theme park’ vibes.”
These menus also feature the occasional cocktail or ingredient from the woebegone “disco drink” era, but there’s a delightful catch. Drinks from the bad old days are properly retooled with fresh juices and house-made syrups instead of pre-made powders and mixes. Familiar liqueurs or modifiers from that era are used intentionally and not ironically. Such tactics prevent a backslide into kitsch, but they can also help build a level of approachability that allows guests to see past the design and connect to the space on a more intimate level. “All we wanted was to give people a comfortable place in the neighborhood without alienating everyone. That’s why we do the drinks we do,” Hernandez says. “They see a Midori drink on the menu, and that’s instant comfort. When they try the drink, they then treat it like it’s grown up and has a family and a mortgage.”
Credit: Jeff Brown
How It Started, How It’s Going
There may be no better endorsement of New York City’s ’70s-inspired bars than the customers who lived through the city’s hell.
“We have a regular named Susan. She’s in her 70s and she comes in here all the time. She’s here with us every Friday,” Hernandez says. “She remembers the way the neighborhood was, and she’ll tell us about the places that were here. She’ll also tell us about how much she loves our pineapple kimchi. She’s completely bonded with the staff. Recently, she even brought in a handmade gift basket for one of the bartenders.”
“We have a string of regulars that lived in Williamsburg back in the ’70s and ’80s,” Nobre explains. “They’ve told me multiple times how much our space reminds them of the places that existed when they were in their 20s.”
Nobre makes extra effort to embrace the vintage crowd. Every month, Ciao Ciao Disco hosts a Matinee Social, a daytime throwback dance party specifically designed for the older demographic. The shindig strikes a chord in the best way possible. “When the crowd goes in, they go fully back in time to the ’70s,” she says. “You can see their youth shining through.”
Such a reaction points to the true secret of why a retro 1970s style bar works so well in New York, even though the decade itself was so terrible for the city. The throwback bars that succeed focus on building community, which allows joy and love to flow freely within their walls. This positive vibe helped NYC’s residents persevere through the pain the ’70s brought. That pain is a distant memory; thanks to these special bars, the positive vibe endures.
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