Post Count: 12
Neighborhood: Chelsea
Categories: Bars & Lounges, Girls Just-a-Wanna Have Fun, Hot Picks, Nightlife
On a recent Saturday night, my friends and I decided to visit what many New Yorkers refer to as "Clubland" a.k.a the strip of trendy clubs along Tenth Avenue in Chelsea. As we approached Marquis, the endless line seemed less than thrilling and had us wishing we had never left Queens. Next door, however, we came across a frosted door, a guy with a clipboard, and no line. Score. The promise of drinks without a wait was reason enough for us to give Glass (287 Tenth Avenue) a try.
Glass was designed by architect Thomas Leeser and it's futuristic bar area opens into a bamboo garden that is more reminiscent of an airy Asian tea garden instead of the west side of Manhattan. The line to the bar was never long and the drinks were never too expensive (a ketel and cran cost me $10). I was also pleasantly surprised at how friendly the staff was. At one point several of my friends could not get a drink at the bar and the manager quickly sent a waitress to our table to take personal drink orders… making us feel like VIPs though in reality, we were very far from it.
Though there isn't an actual dance floor, the outdoor area serves as one with seating lining the perimeters. The DJ was spinning lots of old school Madonna and some new Kanye – a perfect blend if you're looking to dance the night away. The weirdest – and most well-known – aspect of Glass are the bathrooms. The co-ed bathrooms boast only three stalls for men and women so the lines tend to get painfully long. The bathroom mirror is two-way, so if a line does start to fill outside of Glass, everyone can watch you wash your hands though you can’t see them. Though the bathroom left me feeling like I was hanging out in a fishbowl, I'll definitely revisit Glass…as long as there’s still no line.
