Bye 2015: Here Are 22 Places to Spend New Year’s Eve in Brooklyn
Listen, we know that trekking to Time Square and hurdling together by the masses is a sacred tradition for some New Yorkers [Ed. note: AKA people from New Jersey] and a rite of passage for New York transplants, but the idea of standing out in the cold to watch a ball drop is actually a terrible one, especially since bars and parties will most likely have a TV with the New Year’s Eve celebration on in the background. And if you have any lingering FOMO since it seems like experiencing a celebration like this would be better live, just think about the fact that you’d end up waiting for hours just for it to be over in an one minute all in order to… what? Go home? And pay ridiculous surge prices to get there? Or deal with a late-night, holiday subway schedule? No, better to start the year off with your best kitten heel-ed foot forward by attending one of these 22 parties, or, you know, do literally anything else other than go to Manhattan.
New Year’s Eve Bash
It’s an evening of firsts: The start of the new year and Kimoto Rooftop Beer Garden’s first ever New Year’s Eve bash. New York’s first Asian rooftop beer garden is ringing in the new year with an intimate evening of champagne toasts and Asian cuisine suspended 25 stories high against the Brooklyn skyline.
216 Duffield Street, Downtown Brooklyn
Glitterballnyc NYE 2016
New York City’s early 90s rave scene veteran, The Horrorist, and some of NYC’s most talented names in techno, EBM, acid, and new wave take over the Graham for this third annual night of hypnotic dancing into the new year.
151 Meserole Street, East Williamsburg
New Year’s Eve Below the Bridges
Burlesque stars Chris Harder, Madame Rosebud, Gigi Bonbon, and Rosie 151, along with Aerialist Elizabeth Munn will be putting on a special rendition of Burlesque Below the Bridges for those who want to kick off the new year with a sexy and smart show.
66 Water Street, Dumbo
New Year’s Eve w/ Power 105.1
New Year’s Eve would not be complete without music, but instead of trying to crack the music algorithm that will generate the perfect playlist that everyone will enjoy, leave the work and your heart on the dance floor, as radio personalities DJ Norie and Prostyle spin it on the ones and twos.
Williamsburg Loft Brooklyn: 592 Johnson Avenue, Williamsburg
Rinsed 5: NYE 2016
So reading “at a secret location” is quite possibly the worst thing to see when you’re mapping out your NYE parties. Like seriously, who has time for that? But for once, consider toasting the new year in at a TBD spot with the Might Get Weird and Rinsed family. Trust us: It will be the only party you’ll need.
Secret Location in Brooklyn. Visit Rinsed for more information.
New Year’s Bash
When we think of a perfect NYE party we envision: Festive Dressin’, Music Bumpin’, Cork Poppin’, Ball Droppin’, and Champagne Toastin’… So basically partying at Dirck the Norseman, Brooklyn’s brewpub for Greenpoint Beer and Ale Co.
7 N 15th Street, Greenpoint
2016 New Years Eve on the Rooftop
Ring in 2016 in the heart of Williamsburg and on the Xandau rooftop, but most importantly away from all the Manhattan-based NYE madness, yet with a killer view of the skyline.
160 N 12th Street, Williamsburg
20th Annual New Year’s Eve 5K Run
We respect anyone who strives for self-improvement not under the guise of a New Year’s resolution. But it’s the same thing every year when you profess your new ways: you claim XXXX will be the year you start running, you run every day for a month, and then you’re back to eating a whole pizza pie by yourself come February. Its become a tradition for you, and while we won’t say we’re disappointed with you, we will say that we wish you would do better. Make 2016 the year you commit by participating in the Brooklyn Road Runners Club 5K Run. If not for us, at least do it for yourself.
Prospect Park West on 9th Street, Park Slope
The Rub NYE
The Rub sets the bar insanely high for Brooklyn parties by being a house-party-away-from-home rager that offers smart, eclectic music that will make sweating off your makeup or cologne a feat of the evening, so we could only assume that a Rub NYE party would be the holy grail of Brooklyn NYE parties.
The Bell House: 149 7th Street, Gowanus
The Very Last New Years Eve Disco Extravaganza
Disco isn’t dead—at least not for DJ Nicky Siano who has resurrected the once-beloved, now-scorned genre in what could possibly be the second coming of disco in this NYE homage funk.
Eldorado Auto Skooter: 1216 Surf Avenue, Coney Island
New Year’s Eve 2016
So 2015 wasn’t your year, or rather, it wasn’t the best year for those around you. Let’s face it, you’re a horrible person that did more harm than good these soon to be 365 days. But you still have time to redeem yourself and start the year off on a good note by attending Madiba’s NYE blow out party, which would help them stay in business.
Madiba Restaurant: 195 Dekalb Avenue, Fort Greene
New Year’s Noir
What’s better than a NYE party? A NYE party that sets off a weekend of other parties. Sets from Leeds-based DJ and house producer Daley Padley, aka Hot Since 82, and Russian DJ, Julia Govor will act as catalyst to this massive New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day event.
Verboten: 54 N 11th Street, Williamsburg
Awesome Aughts: New Year’s Eve
NYE is an evening where you stop and reflect on everything that happened in 2015, or you know, the past 15 years. Awesome Aughts is bringing back classics like Mystikal’s “Shake Ya Ass” and Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me,” in this New Year’s Eve blowout of early 2000s music and nostalgia.
Union Hall: 702 Union Street, Park Slope
Events with questions as their names lend themselves to unfavorable responses, plus they hardly ever live up to what they intend to live up to their own expectations. But the promise of a fire-breathing show on an evening that will undoubtedly be cold is better than being huddled up in Times Square. Then again, what wouldn’t be better?
Coney Island USA: 1208 Surf Avenue, Coney Island
NYE at Pioneer Works
If you’re reading this, chances are you don’t know what you’re doing for NYE which, if you didn’t already realize, is a very costly misstep. But where in most places you end up spending around $100/ticket only to find out the DJ sucks and you still have to pay for drinks, take solace in knowing that ringing in the new year with Pioneer Works means a DJ set from Holy Ghost!—and the food and drinks are free!
Pioneer Works: 159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook
Kinfolk 94 NYE 2016
We have a soft spot for Kinfolk. It was spot for our most recent holiday party, which to be completely honest, was pretty lit. So we sense nothing but good vibes from this chill evening of goodbyes and fresh starts.
Kinfolk 94: 94 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg
What a Time to be Alive
The allure of watching the ball drop in Time Square has waned. I mean what’s the point of paying to go to Manhattan for NYE, when you can stay in your own backyard, or more specifically, when you can party it up in one of Brooklyn’s more upscale hangouts?
Amarachi: 189 Bridge Street, Vinegar Hill
NYE 2015
If we made a list of the worse things about NYE, noise makers would probably come second to obnoxious herds of drunks. They’re megaphones for the drunks to amplify their obnoxiousness, yet ending the year wouldn’t be the same without them. The folks over at Bar Matchless share this sentiment, and will be providing this instruments of terror plus more. Oh, and did we mention that there’s no cover?
Bar Matchless: 557 Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint
New Year’s Eve Party
Two words: free buffet. OK, it’s only free for an hour but you can’t beat free, especially after the holidays. Besides Bedford Hall is the perfect jazz-style, luxury lounge bar to end 2015 in. Hey, there’s always next year to be more financially responsible.
Bedford Hall: 177 Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg
New Year’s Eve Karaoke with Dropsy
Drink in the new year in the key of drunk flat. Or is it drunk minor? Whatever it may be, make sure you’re at Hope & Anchor a karaoke night of serenading the new year.
Hope & Anchor: 347 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook
New Year Eve Warehouse Party
A lot of NYE parties offer the same experiences at a variation of high to unreasonable high prices, but very little, could offer what The Kymberle Project can. From a live art installation by Indigo Artist Collective that gives way to a live painting opportunity for party goers to aerialists gracing the warehouse ceiling, there’s no better way to end 2015 than a cultural expo party.
1332 Atlantic Avenue, Crown Heights
New Year’s Eve Fireworks
How does that saying go, “all good things come to an end, but never go out in a whimper?” Contrary to popular belief, NYE doesn’t have to be this long, drawn-out affair where people dress up in all their best clothing, spend way too much for a crowded party, all in an attempt to fulfill some deep-seeded superstition that if they don’t celebrate in a major way, the new year will bring nothing but quiet exasperation. Instead, NYE could be an evening full of reflections on the previous year’s experiences, both good and bad, as well as a time to celebrate with friends and family without making a big production about it. But that isn’t to say there shouldn’t be some kind of a bang. Let Prospect Park provide the fireworks, you just show up and enjoy them.
Grand Army Plaza, Prospect Park