Happy Hour in New York

Happy Hour time rolls around and Rooftops, Bars, and Pubs in Manhattan and Brooklyn populate bringing in a mix of New Yorkers and tourists alike. For the winter season, some Rooftops have organized the outdoor space with igloos, blankets, and mushrooms to heat the terraces, in the summer umbrellas to shelter from the sun, in short, in any season, they are always ready for Happy Hour!

Happy Hour is the marketing term known all over the world, it indicates the hours in which alcoholic drinks and appetizers are offered at reduced prices. The origin, one of the many at least, seems to come from the United States Navy, back in 1913, when aboard the USS Arkansas, a series of entertainment gigs started with the "Happy Hour Club" including music and dancing, boxing and wrestling matches and grew so popular so much so that at the end of the World War One, the practice of organizing "Happy Hours" had spread throughout the Navy.

Happy Hour today has become an opportunity to meet after work, wind down, and relax ... New Yorkers like to eat but above all, they like to drink ... and the relationship with the notorious "booze" is, often time, bottomless!! 

Rooftop - Bar - Pub - Lounge in Manhattan 

They are many and always crowded, many of these are famous for some specialties they offer, others for the view; you find some listed with the information in my article:
To enter you are always asked for your ID, remember that to drink you must be 21+ years old, in some cases, places may allow under-age people to enter but they are banned from ordering alcohol of course.

Rooftops in Brooklyn & Williamsburg

Brooklyn and Williamsburg offer several places where you can enjoy a good appetizer and cocktail while mixing with the locals. If you are on a walk, stop at Time Out Market at 55 Water St in Brooklyn, you are in the neighborhood of Dumbo just under the Brooklyn Bridge and with Jane's Carousel. Here, you will surely find many tourists, in a normal period (outside of COVID-19, so to speak,) it is impossible not to find tourists in New York City, but it is also a very popular spot with locals, for lunch or for the Happy Hour. It also has a terrace with a breathtaking view of the Bridge!

Another breathtaking view is offered by the ONE HOTEL Rooftop in Fulton Landing, here you also have a swimming pool and you can sip your cocktail while enjoying the view of the Brooklyn Bridge and Financial District ... priceless!


But if you are thinking of some places outside the tourist route, off-the-beaten-path, I can give you some suggestions and maybe we can go together!

The coolest Cocktails are Italian

You will find menus with various types of drinks, from classic cocktails ... to some extravagant names proposed by the bartender ... but do not be surprised, if you will also find some of the best known Italian Drinks, one for all the Aperol Spritz -- in New York City, it got so cool!

In my family, I am all Team Aperol Spritz, but there are also those who prefer a Bitter-Campari Spritz ... (maybe you met my mother, travel companion on Facebook!) Anyway, both of them require some good prosecco, a lot of ice, a splash of seltzer water, and a slice of orange (even in this case some need to be "extra" and order it with lemon instead ... like my mom!!)

Then we have the classic Americano and the Negroni (have you seen Stanley Tucci on Instagram preparing a Negroni?) the Bellini, the drink created by Arrigo Cipriani at Harry's Bar in Venice, which has become internationally known, and its strawberry variant -- the Rossini.

The appetizers that accompany the drinks

Don't think that all the food that goes with your drink is free ... Nothing is FREE in New York City! So, if you want to accompany your drink with food, you have to order and pay for it.

Especially during Happy Hour, many places offer a special Menu showcasing Appetizers and/or Snacks, sometimes called Finger Foods, ranging from plates of cheeses and/or cold cuts to the inevitable French fries, rigorously homemade and spiced ... Let's see what we can order:

• Platters of Cheese
• Platters of salami and cold cuts
• Spicy popcorn
• Home-made potato chips
• French Fries with truffle oil
• Marinated olives
• Meze or Mezze, are creamy appetizers found in the Greek, Turkish and Levantine cuisine such as Hummus, Tzatziki, but also the Sicilian Capponata, in short, as always you can find delicacies from all over the world!
• up to the simple -- oil - salt - pepper and bread!