Located at 225 Bowery atop the Sister City hotel in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Last Light is a rooftop bar.  The bar has a fairly spacious indoor area, with outdoor decks on the eastern and western edges of the space.  Thus, the spot offers 360 degree views of Manhattan, Brooklyn and beyond.  As of our visit, Last Light opened daily at 3pm.  In our NYC bar crawling experience, it is rare to find a rooftop bar that opens before 4pm almost anywhere in Manhattan.  Worth a visit next time you’re bar hopping through the area.  Do come prepared: this spot is another cashless enterprise.

Located at 1415 Second Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Workshop is a craft beer bar in an area of town that could use more of such spots.  It’s another just-larger-than-a-shoebox type of space.  Workshop offers ten hard-to-find craft beers on draught and another 10 bottled/canned beers.  Workshop also offers an extensive house cocktail list.  Workshop opens 4pm Tuesday – Friday and early afternoon on weekends (closed Mondays).

Located at 1 West 8^th Street in Manhattan’s West Village, Lena Wine Bar is a small wine bar located just north of Washington Square.  The wine focus here is on French wines and seating is rather limited: six or seven seats around the bar and a few two-seater tables.  For food, numerous small plates as well as cheese & charcuterie pairings are available.  Overall, Lena’s West Village location (their original location is on the Lower East Side) is a must visit if you’re visiting the neighborhood.

Located at the southern end of the Turnstyle Underground Market at the Columbus Circle A/C subway station, Merchants’ Gate is a rather small beer/cocktail bar adding variety to the dozens of food/coffee shops already in Turnstyle Underground Market.  The bar offers about 10 draught craft beers and another 10 mix of craft and generic bottled/canned beers.  The bar opens daily at 11am and can run as late as 2am daily, though some evenings it may shut earlier than that because Turnstyle Underground Market doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic late night.  The bar is another example of a cashless business, so be ready to pay with credit/debit.