I stumbled into one (closed!) hidden on the top floor of a hotel in Brasilia, Brazil. Me and this guy from New York were wandering around kinda drunk and I said to him, “I smell a POOL!” I had to care for at home in the states and could recognize the smell of Bromine a mile away. So, we literally “followed my nose” and :rolleyes: “invited ourselves” into this door.
Sure enough, it was a pool and bar! And the coolers were unlocked! We grabbed a maid’s cart that was left in a stairwell about 4 flights down, brought it up and loaded it to the max!
The story gets weird and slightly unbelievable from here, actually, but it was a good time in Brasilia!
I’ve been to the Safe House in Milwaukee a number of times (it was founded by a fraternity brother of my father). Yup, you don’t go there for the quality of the food or drinks, you go for the theme.
When I was in school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the 1980s, there was a semi-secret speakeasy-style bar called The Barber’s Closet, in the basement of the Hotel Washington. In order to get in, you had to go into a vintage-style barbershop in front of the hotel, and pull on an old-fashioned razor strop (which was connected to a concealed door). I have no idea if it’s still there.
My ex used to travel a lot for work, and he usually stayed in Marriott Hotels because he was a member of their Gold Club or whatever it was called. He’d get free rooms for every so many he booked for business travel, so whenever we traveled we’d stay in Marriotts if the town had them. Anyway, as a member of their club he had access to a special room on the hotel. The few I went to were large and had tables and couches, maybe a fireplace, and around 5 pm they’d set up a bar and snacks, and we’d go to that private club-like place for free drinks and food and advice from the concierge on what things there were to do in the city, how to get there, and so on. So maybe that’s what you saw?
I was there last time I was in town. Awfully crowded for a secret joint required a password. I’d have loved it if there were about a third as many people there packed into the library.
Here in Chicago, the Violet Hour is a nice “secret spot”.
There are plenty of “secret” bars and lounges here in New York, and most of them aren’t that secret. Really, it’s just a marketing technique.
Here’s someplace entirely different: Cordato’s, on Greenwich and (if I remember right) Rector streets. Go into Cordato’s Pizza. Go all the way to the back. There’s an unmarked door there. Go through the door.
There is nothing fashionable or hip about this place. It’s sleazy, noisy, full of really, really shady characters, and once in a while it gets really dangerous (I’m aware of at least one shooting there).
It’s not. I went there in the early '90s (during my late college years) and just loved the place. Unfortunately the Hotel Washington burned down in 1996; I don’t recall the cause but it wasn’t arson, which was feared at first.
We grabbed a maid’s cart that was left in a stairwell about 4 flights down, brought it up and loaded it to the max!
I went there in the early '90s (during my late college years) and just loved the place. Unfortunately the Hotel Washington burned down in 1996; I don’t recall the cause but it wasn’t arson, which was feared at first.