Neighborhood Bar
no website
127 W. 26th Street – Chelsea
15 E. 15th St. – Union Square

Oddly enough, in the last week we went to both of our old NYC neighborhoods.  Neither are neighborhoods where you might find yourself on any given evening, but you never know!

Black Door is the sister bar to Park Bar at 15 E. 15th St. in Union Square. Both get a kind of young and swanky crowd. And I do mean crowd. The Park Bar can get so crowded and loud you need to have a good buzz to tolerate it. If you can score a table or a seat at the bar in either place, you are set for the evening. They have a nice selection of upscale wines, champagne, beer and cocktails. There is absolutely no food.

The decor is identical, however the Chelsea version is larger. Both have white tile, tin ceilings, dark wood, low lighting and a marble bar.  Both have great windows that are always open wide in nice weather.  And both have huge mirrors on which they write the wines and beers.  It’s a nice touch.  Really, they are attractive bars.

Park Bar’s Mirror

It’s more likely you’ll be looking for drinks in Union Square, so I’d recommend trying Park Bar. If you are out shopping, it opens at 3pm so it’s a great place for a late afternoon cocktail. But if you live near Chelsea or Flatiron, or if you are going to Madison Square Garden and you don’t want to hang out at Mustang Sally’s, go to the Black Door.  They open at 4pm weekdays, 5pm Saturdays and 7pm Sundays.  Both bars stay open until 4am.

Black Door Interior