Bridge Cafe

Where: 279 Water Street

The oldest bar in the city, The Bridge Cafe has been around since 1794 and has since been a brothel, pirate bar, packing store, and Hungarian restaurant before becoming the seafood restaurant and bar it is today. Sip whiskey and chomp on clams with the ghosts of pirates who regularly patronized this bar centuries ago. It's said that Ms. Gallus Mag, the 6-foot tall Irish bouncer would bite and cut off the ears of misbehaving patrons before pickling them for posterity on the shelves above the bar.

[Photo via NY Magazine]