Nightlife + Dining
Julianne Beffa
How to Get a Guy in 10 Days: 10 NYC Bars With the Hottest Men
A How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days–inspired journey through 10 NYC sports bars, rooftops, and nightlife spots where the city’s hottest men gather.
- By: Julianne Elise Beffa I Photos By: Andrew White for NYT, Alex Staniloff, Fan Caps
My best friend Chanel texted me, “I have the best idea for your next story…”
She had just rewatched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which, in hindsight, should have been the moment I called a lawyer. Because in New York, when someone references that movie, what they really mean is: I am about to assign you a fake job that will become your entire personality for the next week and a half.
Everywhere I go in the city right now, girls are wearing Knicks jerseys like they are auditioning for a romantic comedy set in Manhattan. We are in the finals for the first time in 27 years, so I get it. The girlies are dressing eerily similar to Jordyn Woods and their the exact kind of looks Andie Anderson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days wears while actively ruining a man’s life for editorial purposes. Oh wait, she did!
I couldn’t help but wonder, are all these sudden Knicks fans actually on the prowl for their next summer situationship, or is this just what happens when New York collectively decides to behave like it is in the third act of a rom-com?
And like any responsible nightlife editor channeling Andie Anderson at her most professionally unwell, I volunteered as tribute in the name of research.
The assignment was simple. A modern nightlife homage to How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, except instead of sabotaging relationships with emotional warfare and yellow dresses, it would be a cultural investigation into where the hottest men in New York City actually gather when there is a game on. Because what Andie Anderson never tells you is that once you start “researching” men in bars across Manhattan, you stop being a journalist and start becoming emotionally embedded in the fieldwork.
Over 10 days, I visited 10 of the most talked about sports bars, rooftops, lounges, and nightlife spaces in New York City to understand what was happening behind the screens, the drinks, and the collective yelling at referees.
Dumbo House
Raya IRL and the White T-Shirt Economy
Dumbo House feels like what would happen if Raya had a physical location and a dress code built entirely around quiet wealth.
This is the kind of room where Andie Anderson would walk in and immediately narrate to herself, “Rule number one: if he is wearing a plain white T-shirt here, it is never just a plain white T-shirt.”
The men are a mix of streetwear precision and financial ease. Everyone is someone, or at least acting like they might be someone tomorrow. The energy is controlled, curated, and slightly competitive in a way that never raises its voice- it is a private members club, afterall.
Attraction here is not immediate. It is editorialized.
Damballa
The Drew Thomas Effect
Damballa carries the kind of energy that feels like it is already part of someone’s TikTok story before you even walk in.
It is also where everyone’s TikTok crush, Drew Thomas, has become part of the backdrop, which means every guy steps up their drip game knowing he’s in the building.
The men here are into rap, hip hop, and nightlife that feels music-first and personality-driven. It is less polished than Dumbo House, more lived in, and definitely louder in both volume and confidence.
If Andie Anderson were here, she would say something like, “Step two: observe how men behave when they think they are in a music video.”
Old Mates Pub
The “You Complete Me” But Make It Australian Bar
Old Mates is where sports stop being sports and become emotional release therapy with accents.
It is packed with tall Australian men who treat every moment of the game like it is the final scene of a sports movie where someone learns a life lesson. The yelling is constant. The bonding is immediate. The emotional availability is confusingly higher than expected and there’s a 9/10 chance you’ll hear someone say “Oh naurrrr.”
If this were How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, this is where Andie would accidentally fall in love while pretending to take notes.
Ray's
The “I Have a Trust Fund But Don’t Call It That” Archetype
Ray’s is where contradictions become a lifestyle.
The men here are tattooed, attractive, and financially unbothered, but deeply committed to the idea that they are just regular guys having a beer.
There is always one guy who owns a Lamborghini but insists he prefers dive bars because he’s “not into the boujee spots.”
Andie Anderson voiceover would absolutely say, “Rule number three: if he says he is low maintenance, he is absolutely not.”
Studio 151
Finance Bros, Tech Guys, and Emotional Excel Spreadsheets
Studio 151 feels like two parallel universes colliding at last call.
Finance bros and tech guys occupy the same space, speaking in a shared language of optimization, networking, and mild overconfidence.
Everyone here is tracking something. Their portfolio, their macros, their dating prospects, or all three at once.
If Andie Anderson walked in, she would immediately start labeling everyone as “man who says he is busy but is actually just emotionally unavailable in Google Calendar format.”
Jean’s
SoHo House Energy Without the Membership
Jean’s is for the men who think they are too cool for SoHo House but not quite cool enough for Zero Bond. And they’re close personal friends with David Grutman, Dipolo and anyone/everyone in OVO.
Think rich Europeans, quiet arrogance, and a general sense that they are temporarily in New York for reasons that are not fully explained but definitely important.
It is giving Andie Anderson whispering, “He will say he is spontaneous, but he has already planned his entire personality for the week.”
Swift
World Cup Season and Accent Supremacy
Swift is essentially an international sports bar where accents carry more influence than opinions.
Irish and European men dominate the room, many of them treating the World Cup like both a sporting event and a personality trait.
If Andie Anderson were here, she would absolutely write, “Step seven: notice how quickly a man becomes more attractive when he says ‘mate’ unironically.”
Time Again
The Joe Jonas Clause
Time Again operates on rumor and proximity to visibility.
Joe Jonas was reportedly spotted here recently, and that fact alone feels like the entire marketing strategy.
The rest of the room behaves accordingly. Everyone is slightly more aware of being perceived, as if at any moment they might be cast in something they did not audition for.
Andie Anderson would call this, “Step eight: always assume someone here is one story away from becoming relevant.”
Avra
Midtown Men and Corporate Masculinity Final Form
Avra Madison is where Midtown masculinity goes to be fully realized.
Finance guys, corporate men, and perfectly composed “baddies” in suits that never crease.
Everything is controlled. Everything is intentional. Everything feels like it has been approved by someone’s assistant.
If this were a rom-com, this is the moment Andie Anderson realizes she is not dating the fun guy. She is dating the guy with a 401k and a backup plan for everything.
In Conclusion...
What Andie Anderson Would Have Learned in NYC Sports Bars
After 10 days and 10 locations, the pattern becomes impossible to ignore.
New York City sports bars are not about sports. They are about performance. They are about identity. They are about what people choose to be when they know they might be seen.
Dumbo House is status dressed as simplicity. Damballa is cultural visibility in real time. Old Mates is accidental romance disguised as chaos. Ray’s is contradiction as lifestyle. Studio 151 is optimization. Jean’s is curated detachment. Swift is international chaos. Time Again is rumor made physical. Avra Madison is corporate masculinity fully edited and exported.
And somewhere in between all of it, girls are still wearing Knicks jerseys, still taking style cues from Jordyn Woods, still behaving like they are in the final act of a rom-com they did not realize they were cast in.
And honestly, if Andie Anderson taught us anything, it is that love stories in New York are never really about love stories.
They are about the assignment you did not realize you agreed to.
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