Old Town Bar and Restaurant is located on what was once a robust Gilded Age shopping district called the Ladies’ Mile. Today, it draws an eclectic mix of locals and travelers who want to hole up and watch a game or catch a break from the bustle of the surrounding Union Square area. (It’s my go-to spot to chill out when I’m showing friends the city.)
The true pull of the over-a-century-old establishment is the time capsule atmosphere; there are towering, antique tin ceilings, intimate dark wood booths with mirrors, and a sprawling mahogany bar where one can imagine moustached tycoons posting up with a whiskey while their wives went on the hunt for the perfect hat in the 1900s.
Swing at a table in the back room for a prime view of the still-functioning dumbwaiter, which the restaurant claims to be the oldest in New York City (along with the men’s fancy porcelain urinals, by the way).