Can you imagine the ensuing body count when the concept of boozing on roofs was first introduced? Had to have been like 16 accidental plunges per minute during happy hour in this city, alone — just shocking carnage.
Luckily, some Steve Jobs-level genius came along and invented handrails and everything became right in the world.
Here are the five best new hotel bars (cuz they’re in such short supply) — mostly rooftop, but a few street-level ones for you acrophobic alkies, too — to safely-however-sloppily toast the summer that was.
The Roof, Viceroy New York
The nightlife nerds over at Gerber Group fashioned a stellar drink menu at their yacht-styled — yes, yacht: ipê floors, walnut-and-leather sofas, brass details, snaps of the sea by fotog Dalton Portella — lounge atop the Viceroy that dispenses local craft beers like Captain Lawrence IPA along with jalapeño margs, Hemingway daqs and $650 bottles of Dom.
This Roman and Williams-designed, 29th-floor-sitched Love Boat in the sky also serves up small-plate munchies like caprese toast.
Info: theroofny.com
Bar Hugo, Hotel Hugo
Suck down the handcrafted cocktails at this veritable SoHo lighthouse fast, though — it closes at midnight.
Info: hotelhugony.com
Champagne Charlie’s, High Line Hotel
Sure, Nick Hatsatouris and Lincoln Pilcher’s outdoor lounge/resto isn’t so much on top of Chelsea’s seminary-turned-hotel as it is less ambitiously occupying its courtyard, but if you’re craving elevation, the High Line’s just 50 yards that-a-way, chief.
What you’re doing here, instead, is tossing back fancy glasses of Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial, Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label, Étoile Brut, Chandon Brut, Krug and/or Mas De La Dame rosé between brunch-time bites of eggs Benedict. It won’t be cheap, but it’ll be good.
Info: champagnecharliesnyc.com
Spyglass, Archer Hotel
As we ease on into the Cold War 2.0, it’s nice to reflect on the positives of the first go-round: the style. Elegant and sophisticated, the glamour of the mutually assured destruction era of the ‘40s and ‘50s was, fittingly, da bomb. Here, they’ve resurrected that aesthetic, some 22 stories up, crowning the Archer Hotel, which opened in May.
Intended to be peeping Tom-friendly and “Rear Window”-inspired, the rooftop lounge allows you to spy into all sorts of Midtown and Uptown addresses, including the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings.
David Burke fabrick supplies the eats, mixologist Joe Goglia concocts the swiggable stuff like the “You Look Smashing” — an orgy of bourbon, mint, blueberry and lemon.
Info: spyglassnyc.com
Lobby Lounge & Garden, Ludlow Hotel
Speaking of keeping your feet squarely on the ground, it’ll only feel like the air’s thinner at newly soft-opened Ludlow’s indoor/outdoor lobby bar (a Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick production) after downing a few of fear-the-bearded Thomas Waugh’s — he of ZZ’s Clam Bar fame — specialized cocktails.
The “Grand Prix” is headlined by Japanese whiskey; the Montecristo brings things back, Gaelic whiskey-style.
Info: ludlowhotel.com