THE BAR SCENE IS BACK
Nighttime looks like right time to celebrate reopening
New York City’s Lower East Side was electric on a Saturday night in June as lines snaked around blocks characterized by the scent of cheap beer, mingled with sweat, perfume, the occasional cigarette and the faint aroma of puke.
Impromptu fireworks went off in the distance as patrons waited to enter dimly lit bars pulsing with the beat of popular music.
Serena Kerrigan, 27, was born and raised in New York City so is no stranger to the lines around Manhattan venues. She told USA TODAY her experience returning to clubs and bars has been “euphoric.”
Ariel Palitz, executive director of the Office of Nightlife at the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, told USA TODAY, “The return of New York City nightlife is fully underway.”
On June 15, most pandemic restrictions in the state were lifted, allowing venues and restaurants to make social distancing and capacity limitations optional.
Palitz said that although there are still challenges, she is encouraged to see so many places up and running – and “New Yorkers enthusiastically getting back on the dance floor.”
It’s not just New York City howling back to life in the later hours. Many Americans are ready to give the Roaring ’20s a run for their money as restrictions have lifted or eased.
Noah Tepperberg is co-CEO of Tao Group Hospitality, which has a portfolio that includes more than 60 venues scattered across the country and in some international locations. Tepperberg said not all of the Tao Group’s locations have reopened,
though all are open in Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
“During the early days of everything being closed, I think we had all had a pit in our stomach,” Tepperberg told USA TODAY. “We were all uncertain as to what the future would look like for all of our venues but specifically for our nightclubs and day clubs where people tend to be closer and they thrive on being crowded.”
As people were vaccinated against COVID-19 and gained a level of comfort being around others, including strangers, they started to return to Tao Group’s venues in a way Tepperberg said he doesn’t think anyone anticipated.
“For some of our venues, particularly in Las Vegas, June did see some of its best results,” Tepperberg said.
“(There’s been an) uptick in reservations for nightclubs specifically,” JC Diaz, president of the American Nightlife Association, told USA TODAY.
Crowds are returning to bar-type environments, too.
“The buzz is there,” Domhnall Byrnes, general manager of Fiddlesticks Pub in Manhattan, told USA TODAY. Though bar crowds aren’t back to pre-COVID-19 levels, he expects demand will increase.
Byrnes said “it’s magic” to see people back out on the dance floor at Fiddlesticks.
People return at different paces
Kerrigan said she expected normalcy to return at a slower pace than it has: “I think that I anticipated the world opening back up very slowly with a pace to it, and I don’t think that’s the case … it skyrocketed out of nowhere.”
As the country reopens, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that vaccinated people can return to their pre-pandemic activities. People are jumping back in at different paces, feeling out their comfort levels as many return to social life.
Kristen Mankosa, 32, a freelance editor in Erie, Pennsylvania, told USA TODAY she sticks to uncrowded bars, prioritizing outdoor spaces with fully vaccinated friends and family. She continues to wear a mask inside.
“I’ve avoided COVID so far, and I want to keep it that way, especially with the variants popping up,” she said. “But after a year of quarantining, isolating and social distancing, I’m ready for an espresso martini that I don’t have to make.”
Scott Nelson, 34, from West Hollywood, California, said he was more than ready to get back to bars when they reopened last month. He started at Akbar, a gay bar in Silverlake, and said it was pleasantly busy but not too packed.
“The sweat was palatable on the dance floor, filled with shirtless and elated gays having the time of their lives,” he said. “I was hesitant (and put off) at first, because this felt like too much of a sensory overload so quickly after spending 15 months, 6 feet away from any human, but it took only a moment to get back into the metaphorical (and literal) groove.”
Justin Stewart, 33, a segment producer for NBC’s “Early Today,” has been out in Jersey City, New Jersey, and in Washington, where he lives. Stewart said it has been great to be around people again in fun atmospheres – but returning to normalcy comes with some anxiety around dropped mask mandates and bars filled to 100% capacity.
“I am happy that businesses are coming back to life … especially safe spaces for LGBTQ people,” he said.
Like Mankosa, Stewart strives to go to more rooftops and outdoor bars. I
It’s not just that nightlife is back. In clubs and bars, there’s a new kind of excitement as people regain human contact that so many lost for more than a year, according to Kerrigan.
“I remember specifically when ‘Empire State of Mind’ was playing, there was just like this camaraderie and true feeling of community in a nightclub I had never experienced before,” she said.
“After a year of quarantining, isolating and social distancing, I’m ready for an espresso martini that I don’t have to make.” Kristen Mankosa
Not all hurdles are gone
Though many customers have been vaccinated, the pandemic isn’t over. Safety challenges remain for bars and clubs.
“If we can maintain current safety and security options, we can stay open for a long time,” Diaz said, noting that if venues are “careless,” that may not be an option, and restrictions could return.
Tepperberg isn’t convinced the surge in nightlife will last forever. “If the world doesn’t get this disease under control, I don’t know if this lasts.”