Valentine’s Day is about couples and love. So how did single New Yorkers spend the holiday? Many attended gatherings in bars and restaurants billed as anti-Valentine’s Day parties.
Eataly, an Italian restaurant on the Fifth Avenue, for example, threw a beer bash for singles on its rooftop from noon till midnight, while lovers and couples enjoyed a lovely candlelight dinner downstairs.
“In our restaurant, we offer opportunities to reserve tables. The mood is a lot more romantic. You get white tablecloths. Lights are dimmed,” Caitlin Addlesperger, a public relations associate at Eataly New York, explained, “but we want to hold a event that everybody could attend.”
The 4,500-square-foot rooftop restaurant, where the singles party was held, was crowded with customers Saturday evening. The beer bash offered more than 50 kinds of beer from 20 different beer breweries.
“What better thing to do on Valentine’s Day than hang out on a rooftop in Manhattan and try as many different beers as you can?” said Andrew Marcelli, a local buyer at Eataly.
Robert Yee, a customer at the beer bash, thought it was a cute idea. “Everyone’s going out with people on Valentine’s Day. If you are not really with someone, you don’t have much to do,” he said, “so this kind of event is a good idea.”
Natalie Lopez, another customer, agreed with him. “It’s a fun way to spend the holiday, eat and drink,” she said.
Some brewers made a little change in their beer recipes for the special day. Loren Taylor-Raymond, a brewer for Third Rail Beer, said the micro-brewer added few more chili peppers to its Bodega Pale Ale. “It’s to keep things spicy for Valentine’s Day, for all the singles out there, to give them a little spice also,” he said.
Anti-Valentine’s events weren’t limited to bars and restaurants either. A fitness club called 305 in downtown Manhattan held one after its regular fitness classes with a live DJ, cocktails and poker games.
“I thought it would be a really nice experience to come to this class and party with people who are likeminded and love music and dance, instead of staying at home, feeling sorry for yourself because you are single,” said Sadie Kurzban, the founder and CEO of 305. This is the second year she held a single’s party on Valentine’s Day. She got the idea from her customers, who hoped to have some fun with their friends in fitness class on Valentine’s Day.
About 250 people came to the party, which was twice the number of last year.
“These days there is a trend that people want to celebrate themselves and not to come under the pressure from the society-it’s ok to be single and embrace yourself,” said Jocelyn Levy, a director at 305 Fitness Club.
