After Thoughts: The Latest “Happy Hour” Hot Spots

I can remember jet-setting into the city for a night out on the town at some of the hautest hot spots during my college days. From dinner at Sardis, the theatre district and coffee at a quaint café on 28th Street, just behind Penn Stations to Jekyl and Hydes, Spodey Odey’s, The Limelight, Mustang Sally’s, the original Zen Palate, Central Park, Times Square, and Rockefeller Center, my memories of the Big Apple are plentiful and sweet.

But, some of the places are part of New York’s rich history and a new generation is finding new reason’s to hang out in the heart of our city.

With clubbing perhaps being replaced by gaming, youngsters and young adults, even young married couples are making NYCLAN their “happy hour” hotspot.

This haven for computer lovers of all ages is situated behind a sunken, almost “invisible” West Village entrance but is “The” place to have fun and unwind for many. And, with a balance of the casual comforts of home, similar to hanging out in your parent’s basement, and a sophisticated, high-tech, trendy appeal of NYC, full of the latest and greatest in techno toys, this mini-Mecca continues to entice quite the crowd.

Allowing patrons to compete against each other in a type of LAN (local area network) party, it has taken the concept of competitive gaming to the next level. And, unlike other gaming salons that have found their home in the city, CLAN does not charge by the hour, but instead offers patrons day passes allowing them to stay and play as long as they like, often times with a break in between.

And, while things “do” heat up during the week, the owners note that much like most other hotspots, the weekends draw the biggest crowds with Friday nights devoted to popular fighting game Saturdays for “Halo”, a popular team game, and Sundays dedicated to war games.

And, this is just the beginning. CLAN’s owners revealed that they are not only looking to expand their business but would like to set up structured crowd-friendly events and also offer “older” gamers some traditional classics such a Nintendo and Sega that gave rise to today’s games and were popular over a decade ago.