The Poor Man's Guide to New Year's Eve '08
Posted at 03:38:50 PM in Bar events, Events, New roundupsby Justine Goodman
Above: What Great Depression?! These revelers are all smiles on NYE in 1930! Maybe that's because in 1930, it only cost a nickel at the door! (Photo via View Images)
So, New Year's Eve--that dreaded night when it is unacceptable to stay home (unless you're either throwing a party, getting laid, or terminally ill)--is fast approaching, and you're broke, lazy and too much of a drunk to remember to make your drinking plans in advance. Well, cheer up, sport, because you're not alone. Rather than drop upwards of $150 just to get in the door (tack on at least $100 for a table) to a club where a bunch of douchebags will be taking full advantage of a six-hour open bar (and then your girlfriend), head to one of these six more affordable parties this New Year's Eve, and have money leftover for drugs cabs.
Roseland Ballroom
The worst part about expensive open bar parties is that they're always a disappointment--after you shell out $200, you arrive only to discover that shots and name-brand booze aren't included, and the bar is so slammed that it takes you an hour just to get a weak mixed drink served in a miniature plastic cup. Why not spend New Year's drinking at a good old-fashioned cash bar? That's the deal at Roseland: General admission is $35 and gets you into the pay-as-you-go NYE celebration hosted by Mya. Plus you're just a few blocks north of Times Square when the ball drops--which is either really awesome or really tragic, depending on your preference.
The Cabanas at the Maritime Hotel
For the baller on a budget who wants to spend New Year's Eve somewhere respectable that sounds more expensive than it is, buy a $60 ticket to The Cabanas' party (8pm-4am). There's a one-hour open vodka bar, so bring friends who don't plan to buy drinks but are willing to pay $60 just to have a destination on NYE, or bring a booze funnel so you can get your money's worth during the open bar. Your ticket stub is also your ticket to the after-party at Lotus (4am-8am), but whether or not it will actually get you in to Lotus is anyone's guess.
And the other four?
Royale
Here's
a brilliant idea: Instead of spending $60 for an hour of free vodka at
The Cabanas, spend $60 for a six-hour open bar at Royale in Brooklyn.
Also, unlike most of the ticketed open bar parties--where you have to
get there early to get any bang for your buck, and then you have to
start paying for drinks when the open bar ends around 2am--Royale's
open bar is for the duration of the evening: 10pm-4am, which is more
than enough time to do some serious damage.
Havana Central at The West End
Old-timey
UWS favorite The West End is no longer, but the space has been revamped
and reopened as Havana Central. For those of us who were practically
weaned there, it may never be quite the same beloved bar it once was,
but it'll be easy to drink our troubles away (or at least drink them
under the table) at the $40 NYE dance party
which will be raging near the Columbia campus from 10pm to 4am,
courtesy of our friend DJ Herbert. The only catch? The ticket includes
party favors, ball drop telecast and great music, but it's a cash bar.
Revel
The MePa resto/club is offering a $35 NYE "bar pass," which is exactly
what it sounds like: an admission ticket that gets you inside. There's
a cash bar with a complimentary champagne toast at midnight, and your
ticket stub also serves as your ticket to the official after-party at
Home/ Guesthouse, starting at 3am. So if your success in life is
measured by whether you're cool enough to spend New Year's Eve partying
on Little West 12th Street, but you can't actually afford the spots on
Little West 12th Street, here's a solution--and no one will ever be the
wiser (except everyone else at Revel on New Year's Eve).
Angels & Kings
The celebrity-owned dive (if Pete Wentz qualifies as a celebrity) is
offering a pretty good deal: no cover charge and an optional $50 open
bar from 10pm to 1am. We're not sure how you can plan on reserving a
space, though, unless you do participate in the open bar, so I
recommend stopping by at some point between now and December 31 to buy
your wristband from one of the bartenders.
If you don't want to slum it at the parties above and you have something else to do until after the ball drops, almost every bougie place in town is offering reduced-rate admission (for as little as $30 or so) later in the night, but since the open bars will be over that's basically like paying a cover charge and getting nothing in return. If you're OK with that, call the hot spot of your choice and find out whether you'll need to purchase those tickets in advance or at the door. Although you've already been warned, for the love of God please don't be naive enough to assume that on New Year's Eve you can just bar hop as you might ordinarily be able to.
Finally, if you are willing to forgo a scene and just want to go to a bar where it's business as usual, the only exceptions to the NYE rule are the real dive bars, like Billymark's West, Mars Bar*, and the city's assorted no-name pubs frequented only by toothless old men, where a bunch of broke hipsters trying to play it low-key on New Year's Eve will not be well-received.
For those of you who have money to burn, you should have stopped reading this ages ago--you'll find that our guide to all the really expensive but "cool" New Year's Eve parties is more up your alley.
*In the case of Mars Bar, I'm taking the liberty of assuming they're not doing a fancy New Year's Eve party, you know, since they don't have a phone and all, and I'm way too lazy to go over there and be ridiculed by the regulars just for asking.
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