What’s the difference between going to the right club on the wrong night and going to the wrong club on the right night? That’s a trick question: New Yorkers know that when you go is just as important as where you go. Here’s our guide to the hottest summer spots so you can party like a pro every night of the week.
MONDAY: ROCK OUT WITH BANDS!
You may remember Double Seven as the site of the royal rumble where Monaco’s Prince Pierre Casiraghi and Hawaiian Tropic Zone club owner Adam Hock dueled with $500 bottles of vodka in February.
PHOTOS: NYC’S BEST SUMMERTIME PARTIES
At Avenue A Soundcheck’s Mondays Rock, however, this dimly lit hot boite’s live entertainment is provided by rock bands including Pow Pow, which got Susan Sarandon to come out and see her son Miles Robbins perform, and Black Box Revelation, which played here and on “The Late Show With David Letterman” show on Monday. (Bands usually start performing at about midnight.)
Admission standards are almost as stiff as the drinks. Don’t arrive with a pack of guys, and once inside, try the $18 Strawberry Pepper Fix, with either tequila, white rum or vodka, plus fresh strawberries and lime. When moneyed New Yorkers come back from the beach, they come here to rock.
Double Seven, 63 Gansevoort St.; 212-981-9099; no cover
TUESDAY: LOOK LE PART!
ODDS are very good that revelers hoping to gain access to Le Tuesday party at Le Baron — arguably the toughest door in town — will meet with a harsh New York City reality at this door: rejection.
Simonez Wolf, a co-founder of last summer’s popular Madame Wong pop-up parties, promotes this exclusive party, which gets started at about 11 p.m. and goes until the wee hours.
“If someone doesn’t know how to approach a door, don’t even try,” Wolf warns about this popular dance party, which he describes as “New York with a French twist.”
Channel your inner Mick Jagger and don’t make it a boys’ night. As Wolf notes, “don’t come with the football team.” Inside, faux fog fills an intimate trilevel space, where votive candles light the staircases. Electronic and indie tunes play while models in the absolute latest downtown styles dance alongside grungy types in torn-up concert tees.
Le Baron, 32 Mulberry St.; no phone; no cover
WEDNESDAY: Get ready to rock!
ROCK ’N’ ROLL rebels get down and dirty at Webster Hall’s weekly Riot Avenue party, where go-go dancers and tattooed hipsters gyrate to blaring hard rock and heavy metal.
Tattoos are done on the premises, and there’s a photo booth for those wanting less permanent souvenirs from a night they probably won’t remember after a $13 Bud-and-Jack combo that’s only $5 between 11 p.m. and midnight. “It’s like an ’80s LA hair party,” says Webster Hall general manager Gerard McNamee. (In 1998, Guns N’ Roses gave a legendary performance here when the place was called the Ritz.) The party goes from 11 p.m. until late.
Webster Hall, 125 E. 11th St.; 212-353-1600; no cover
THURSDAY: RIDE THE SOUL TRAIN!
ROOTS drummer, Jimmy Fallon sidekick and generally cool dude Questlove has been rolling a perfect game at his weekly bash, Bowl Train, for two years now, and he’ll be striking again tomorrow night at Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Bowl.
As big screens rerun muted “Soul Train” episodes, Questlove spins a mix of classic rock, hip-hop and soul for an audience that dances and bowls.
“It’s people in their 20s, 30s and 40s — people who don’t want to go to a traditional club,” co-owner Peter Shapiro says of the crowd at this perpetually popular party. Questlove begins at about 11 p.m. and goes until 2 a.m.
Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Ave., Williamsburg;718-963-3369; $8 at the door; $5 in advance
FRIDAY: start the weekend early!
LOOKING down on the Meatpacking District’s Vegas-style shenanigans is easy for New Yorkers, but that experience is exponentially more pleasant from the Standard Hotel’s rooftop club, Le Bain, located 18 floors up. For the weekly party, Select Summer Fridays, a hip crowd largely from the art and fashion worlds slips past a liberal doorman for some al fresco afternoon partying (2 p.m. on).
“I get out of work early Fridays,” says Suzette Guy, a 24-year-old Original Penguin employee, explaining why she was sharing a passion-fruit gelato and waiting for the sunset with her 32-year-old artist boyfriend, Jacob Abramson, on Friday afternoon.
The indoor portion of the space has a large (clean!) Jacuzzi — and a vending machine selling $95.81 swimsuits. Outdoors, it’s all about reclining on AstroTurf, listening to disco, soul and electronic music, hitting the crepe stand or indulging in some other sweets.
The Standard Hotel, 848 Washington St.; 212-645-4646; no cover
SATURDAY: CHILL OUT ON A ROOFTOP!
Don’t let the James Hotel’s velvet rope dissuade you from going to rooftop pool bar Jimmy for Summer Saturdays. If you’re a guy, just don short trunks and a fashionable chapeau — in other words, look more French Riviera than Daytona Beach — and you should soon find yourself in the 18th-floor space dancing to DJ Jelly’s crafty mixes of summertime tunes such as Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” and Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie.” Jump in the water if you’d like. No one here is judging once you get past the doorman. At least not out loud.
While the pool isn’t large enough for swimming, it does make for a nice place to chill — even on a nippy afternoon. On Saturday, a partially submerged Morgan Lang, 36, sipped Champagne while chatting with his out-of-town guests, Matt and Susie Novak, who perhaps wisely chose to stay dry. “The water is a little cool,” admits Lang. “I can’t get out now, or I’ll freeze.” Just keep that in mind during the next heat wave.
DJs rotate weekly, performing sets from 4 to 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
The James Hotel, 15 Thompson St.; 212-201-9118; no cover
SUNDAY: DANCE ON A TABLE (Or Watch the Show)!
After sleeping off Saturday night, the few posh Manhattanites who stay in New York on summer Sundays head to the Dream Downtown Hotel’s 12th-floor, window-lined Ph-D lounge and terrace when it opens at 3 p.m. At the Brunch Club, slim girls in Versace and Prada dance atop patio furniture with the Empire State Building as a backdrop, while men who wear sunglasses indoors buy $395 bottles of Champagne and watch the show.
The soundtrack includes funky dance mixes of classics such as Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” thus distinguishing this party from bridge-and-tunnel brunch bashes, where Top 40 hits play for weekenders on a shopping break.
Dream Downtown Hotel, 355 W. 16th St.; 212-229-2559; one bottle minimum per four guests; reservations recommended
— Additional reporting by Andy Wang