Afterwork Bar Fills the Void for the Garment District's Aspiring Hedge Funders

photo: Lauren Braun

The calm before the storm

Details

Stitch Bar & Lounge
247 W 37th,
212.852.4826

Related Content

• PKNY's Natalie Jacob on Cats and Lady Gaga
  December 11, 2011
• Black Market's Reynolds on Rocking Chairs
  November 23, 2011
• Alfama's Tarcísio Costa on Spanish Sirens
  December 26, 2011
• The Wayland Will Soon Offer Rock and Cocktails in Alphabet City
  January 10, 2012
• Raj Rajaratnam, Hedge Fund Emperor, Slapped With 11-year Prison Sentence
  October 13, 2011

More About

• Sewing
• Science and Technology

A gymnasium of a bar, Stitch holds more than 300 people, the vast majority equipped with cell phones, BlackBerries, and big life plans. (I overheard one man talking about his "little baby"—which turned out to be a hedge fund.) Co-owner Nick Cohen says he never imagined the bar would bring in such "respectable" crowds. "The garment district was just dying—crying out for something like this," he says. Energized by cubicle gossip, the bar is packed by 6 p.m. and garnished in unlikely tributes to the neighborhood. Vintage sewing machines line the walls, and cocktails ($9) have names like "Cashmere," "Stiletto," and "Silk Scarf." By 11 p.m., though, the place is pretty deserted (the trash cans are full of complimentary mini–sewing kits). Most people have left the premises and proceeded downtown to neighborhoods that are "crying out for them" just a little bit less.