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| The view of the George Washington Bridge from La Marina in NYC |
New York City has 538 miles of coastline. La Marina is an option to soak some of it in... drink in hand.
La Marina is an outdoor bar, restaurant and lounge on the Hudson River. Cross street: Dyckman. I was there recently for drinks to celebrate a near and dear friend's birthday. I was in my usual "observer mode" and would describe La Marina as a beach lounge exuding the energy of the Meatpacking District with a tropical vibe. No cobblestones made for a safer stride for the women in stilettos. Many of them pulled up in cars and handed over the keys for valet parking. I took the A train to Dyckman-200th Street and hoofed it over.
We were stationed at the bar section of La Marina that night, flanked by a tree that served shade, and when the sun set, it was illuminated by alternating red, green, purple and blue lights. I did explore the other side of La Marina with another birthday happy hour guest. Security on that end was tight. They checked our IDs, I was thoroughly frisked, and they went through our bags removing our pens and hand sanitizer before letting us on to the beach. My exploring partner informed me that Jay Z showed up at La Marina one night, just because. Just because? OK. That end of La Marina is decked out with sand, four-poster beds (by the time we got there many were sand and make-up stained). The music on the beach was more of your raunchy hip-hop. In the bar area, merengue, bachata and reggaeton dominated.
None in our party ate that night, but we eyed the burgers the servers kept passing us by with wanton lust. As the crowd grew throughout the evening, it took the servers longer to find the patrons who had ordered. They taunted us with those plates. Yes, they did. I did notice a stack of napkins we dropped off our table barely hit the deck before a busboy was there to clean them up.
I do know the adventurous travelers who venture north to 125th Street to peek at The Apollo or to Fort Tryon Park for The Cloisters. I encourage visitors and the locals who live downtown or in other boroughs to go north of 59th Street. Heck, go north of the George Washington Bridge and experience La Marina at least once. I was there on a Friday evening during happy hour. I will go back during the week to gauge the vibe (I suppose it'll be more like the vibe in the video below) and grab a bite to eat.
La Marina
348 Dyckman St (and Hudson River)
212-567-6300
http://lamarinanyc.com/
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Good review of the restaurant/lounge version of LaMarina. Go late at night on a Fri, Sat or Sun to see the out-of-control nightclub version, which is destroying its host neighborhood and in complete violation of its lease with the Parks Dept.
ReplyDeleteInteresting you should say that. The party I was with made the conscious decision to be at La Marina during happy hour, ONLY, and leave before the Friday night crowd showed up. They've been there before -- I guess they'd agree with you.
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