Do You Know The ABCs Of New York Nightlife?

by Chiara Atik · September 2, 2010

How well do you really know New York City nightlife? Could you, say, name a bar or venue for every letter of the alphabet? We can. Click below for our comprehensive guide to NYC nightspots, from A to Z...-

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read, you begin with A, B, C. When you drink, you begin with.....

A is for...The Ace Hotel

Neighborhood: Chelsea

Who You'll See There: Hipsters, Start-ups,"cool" fashion labels (Rag & Bone), less "cool" fashion labels (Ann Taylor??)

Best Event They've Ever Had: The CFDA and Gilt Man party drew quite the impressive guest list, but we've gotta go with Will Cotton's sleepover-themed Pajama Launch, because, man that dessert spread was something else.

Of Note: It's not easy to become the Foursquare Mayor of the Ace Hotel.

B is for....Boom Boom Room

Neighborhood: Meatpacking

Who You'll See There: During Fashion Week--models, celebrities, beautiful people, Courtney Love. During Summer: Nobody.

Best Event They've Ever Had: It's basically true that in 2010, you're nobody until you've partied at The Boom Boom Room, and this nightspot has thrown some epic, celeb laden parties. Where else do Madonna and Martha Stewart party together? Still, the club has yet to throw a party that lives up to its spectacular opening, which had literally the biggest, most eclectic celebrity guestlist ever.

Of Note: All attempts to re-name the club "Top Of The Standard" have thus far proved ineffectual.

C is for...Cipriani

Neighborhood: Midtown/Wall Street

Who You'll See There: Philanthropists, Princes of Europe, Princes of Wall Street

Best Event They've Ever Had: Ever ever ever? The annual Princess Grace Awards Gala, pictured left, certainly takes the cake for recurring elegance, but seeing as we're suckers for a good Fashion event, we're gonna go ahead and say that the AmFAR Gala pretty much takes the cake. Wintour, Streep, Olsen, Gaga....need we go on?

Of Note: Cipriani Downtown is "closed for renovations"...which is weird, only because they completely renovated last Fall. But we actually think slow business and bad revenue has more to do with their need for "renovations" than shabby upholstery does....

D is for...DVF Studios

Neighborhood: Meatpacking

Who You'll See There: Erin Fetherston, designers, voguettes, and Diane von Furstenberg herself.

Best Event They've Ever Had: Like any good doyenne, DVF has gotten to the point in her career where the party comes to her; namely, her studio and store on 14th Street. She's hosted everything from fundraisers for Haiti to the Independent Filmmaker's Project Gala, but her biggest feat has got to be getting Wintour to come chill out in the Meatpacking district for the CFDA nominations.

Of Note: DVF is joining up with R29 to host a party for Fashion's Night Out this year.

E is for... The Eldridge

Neighborhood: Lower East Side

Who You'll See There: Downtown kids with Uptown bank accounts

Best Event They've Ever Had: If we're using "event" in the loosest sense, then, the best event they've ever had was Paul Johnson-Calderon stealing a purse and getting caught on their security camera. If that doesn't count, then, uhm, Lydia Hearst's party back in 2008.

Of Note: The waitresses at the Eldridge all wear designer Pencey dresses...

F is for...Fifth (230 Fifth)

Neighborhood: Midtown

Who You'll See There: Aging clubkids, drag queens, suits on a night out.

Best Event They've Ever Had: The Michael Musto anniversary party, because Joan Rivers was there, and the boys were all in dresses and the girls were all in suits.

Of Note: 230 Fifth has the biggest roofdeck in the city.

G is for...Gansevoort (Park)

Neighborhood: Meatpacking/Midtown

Who You'll See There: B&T to the meatpacking location, scenesters at the Park

Best Event They've Ever Had: We're looking forward to some epic pool parties at Gansevoort Park.

Of Note: Michael Douglas's son, Cameron, got arrested for drugs there. It's true.

H is for....Hudson Terrace

Neighborhood: Hell's Kitchen

Who You'll See There: Bros and their hos

Best Event They've Ever Had: We totally digged Johnny Weir's weird party earlier this summer, but even that couldn't come close to the epic event from last winter which brought Timbaland and Timberlake (our two favorite "Timbers") to the MPD.

Of Note:Hudson Terrace is currently in the running to be the reception venue on the Today Show.

I is for...Indochine

Neighborhood: Noho

Who You'll See There: On a normal night, the occasional socialite. On a party night? The best of fashion, cinema, and art.

Best Event They've Ever Had: Their 1920s Shanghai-themed 25th anniversary party lasted a staggering 7 hours, and had a guestlist of 900 people including A listers from every possible field.

Of Note: If you're famous, and you eat there, they'll have you sign some chopsticks. Also, they were our pick for hottest waitstaff in the city.

J is for...The Jane

Neighborhood: West Village

Who You'll Find Here: Terry Richardson and whatever hot young starlet he happens to be shooting that night.(Often, it's Mary-Kate Olsen.)

Best Event They've Ever Had: The Guest of a Guest Non-Internet Week Party. Obviously.

Of Note: Last July, we dubbed it the new hotspot. Then it got SO hot that it temporarily shut down. So, sorry about that....

K is for...Kenmare

Neighborhood: Nolita

Who You'll Find Here:People still mourning The Beatrice

Best Event They've Ever Had:The dinner celebration for Isabel Marant's Soho Store, where socialites, actors and models wined and dined.

Of Note: Everyone goes there for the scene (Peter Davis dubbed the basement the official new Beatrice, to the owners chagrin), but the Food, from Little Owl's Joey Campanoro, is actually delicious.

L is for...The Lion

Neighborhood: West VIllage

Who You'll Find Here: Padma Lakshmi, Dan Abrams, not food critics

Best Event They've Ever Had: So far, can't beat the little dinner party thrown by Cameron Diaz and A-Rod back in June.

Of Note: There's some rumored tension between The Lion and Hotel Griffou, down the street...

M is for...(sub) Mercer

Neighborhood: SoHo

Who You'll Find There: In its heyday, Derek Blasberg, Margherita Missoni, Lauren Santo Domingo. Now? NYU students.

Best Event They've Ever Had: subMercer was the hotspot in 2008-2009, so it got its share of movie premieres and afterparties, but now it's probably most famous as the place where Kiefer Sutherland broke Jack McCollough's nose.

Of Note: Steve Lewis still loves it, apparently.

N is for...National Underground

Neighborhood: East Village

Who You'll Find There: Hipsters, NYU Grads, hot musicians, Gavin Degraw

Best Event They've Ever Had: ...

Of Note: Amazing 90s cover bands.

O is for...1Oak

Neighborhood: Meatpacking

Who You'll Find There: Nerdy bankers, Mickey Rourke, Barack Obama

Best Event They've Ever Had: Given that 1 Oak is a pretty testosterone-heavy bar, we're gonna give this one to the boys and say the best events at 1 Oak have been the La Perla Lingerie event and the Wildfox Couture party, soley because Alessandra Ambrosio attended.

Of Note: Mind the service charge for bottle service....

P is for...Provocateur

Neighborhood: Meatpacking

Who You'll Find There: People who love saying they go to Provocateur. Old guys.

Best Event They've Ever Had: The hosted the party for this year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. So, there's that.

Of Note: Owners Mike Satsky and Sasa Nikolic? NOT fans of The Jersey Shore!

Q is for...EsQuina

Neighborhood: Nolita

Who You'll Find There: Hipsters, people who have yet to discover Kenmare, people who want tacos

Best Event They've Ever Had: Does the whole of 2007 count? They were the first to hop on the Kenmare St. bandwagon.

Of Note: Was shut down earlier this year for being a fire hazard. But it's back now!

R is for...Rose Bar

Neighborhood: Gramercy

Who You'll Find There: It-girls, designers, celebrities, and, occasionally, Axl Rose.

Best Event They've Ever Had: The "Rose Bar Sessions", a series of celebrity-filled secret concerts held this winter, were awesome.

Of Note: Check our the pictures from our Holiday Party at Rose Bar.

S is for...SL

Neighborhood: Meatpacking

Who You'll Find There: Celebrities with something to celebrate; The Gossip Girl cast

Best Event They've Ever Had: Fabiola Beracasa and Interview Magazine's awesome Russian Masquerade Ball.

Of Note: We've legitimately seen every member of the Gossip Girl cast here.

T is for...Thompson LES

Neighborhood: LES

Who You'll Find There: Downtown cool kids, tech geeks

Best Event They've Ever Had: Alessandra Ambrosio's annual summer party on the rooftop pool.

Of Note: You'll need to come here an upwards of 30 times to steal the Foursquare mayorship.

U is for...Underbar

Neighborhood: Union Square

Who You'll Find There: Aggressive guys in Gucci and Ralph Lauren Blazers.

Best Event They've Ever Had: The party for 500 Days of Summer

Of Note: Perfect date spot with lots of dark corners...

V is for.. .John Varvatos

Neighborhood: Bowery

Who You'll Find There: Aging rockers

Best Event They've Ever Had: The Guns N'Roses party/concert, thrown in conjunction with L'Uomo Vogue, which had Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon, Sean Lennon, Nur Khan and Kelly Cutrone all in attendance.

Of Note: Formerly CBGB....

W is for...The Wooly

Neighborhood: Financial District

Who You'll Find There: Fashion industry insiders, Waris Ahluwalia

Best Event They've Ever Had: The Vampire Holiday Party, which featured a performance by Sean Lennon, and was hosted by Abigail Lorick and Waris Ahluwalia.

Of Note: You know it's gotta be good to lure that many bold-names that far downtown....

X is for...XIX Lounge

Neighborhood: Nolita (Kenmare)

Who You'll Find There: Disco, people who miss and come pay their respects to Disco

Best Event They've Ever Had: We'll get back to you in two weeks after Fashion week, ok?

Of Note: Whether Travertine's XIX lounge will beat out the fierce competition on Kenmare Street remains to be seen, but we'll keep you posted...

Y is for...The Yard

Neighborhood: Soho

Who You'll Find There: The Grandlife Crew, Stephen Rojas, Timo Weiland, Becka Diamond

Best Event They've Ever Had: They've had good events all summer with their Backyard BBQ series and their "Some Wow Wednesdays", but nothing captured the lazy spirit of day drinking better than the Screaming Mimis party earlier this summer.

Z is for...La Zarza

Neighborhood: East Village