Once upon a time, when most of the major banks were based in Manhattan’s financial district, there was a magical happy hour spot called Stone Street. Thanks to the city’s efforts to turn the area into a nightlife hub in the late 1990s, bankers would line the pubs on the cobblestoned street after the market closed.
But in a post-COVID world, and with many banks having moved out of the financial district, is the allure still there?
One Wednesday night in mid-October, I wandered down after work to find out.
I arrived at around 4:15 p.m. — admittedly a little early — to a fairly empty street, and decided to head to the street’s namesake bar, the Stone Street Tavern. While the happy hour crowd that day hadn’t yet trickled in, one of the bartenders assured me it would pick up.
Encouraged, I took a lap around the street and eventually settled in at an Irish pub called Ulysses.
As it approached 5:30, the area was still pretty tame. I was starting to doubt that I was going to get the rambunctious atmosphere of old I was hoping for.
Then, to quote Hemingway’s account of the San Fermín festival in Pamplona, Spain: “At noon of Sunday, the 6th of July, the fiesta exploded. There is no other way to describe it.”
Groups of people began to descend onto Stone Street, filling the empty tables. Some walked around with their eyes glued to sheets of paper, periodically looking up, like they were reading a map. I approached one of the small groups and asked what was happening.
“We’re doing a scavenger hunt with our company,” one of them told me. They worked for one of the stock exchange firms in the city and were out on a team-building excursion, with Stone Street being one of the must-see stops in FiDi. While the group wasn’t exactly down there to stay for happy hour that particular night, they said Stone Street was one of a few watering holes they frequent.
Another told me that at his old job, it was a tradition to bring new hires to Stone Street on their first day.
“I’m not from New York originally, so I got to feel the whole finance scene,” he said.
Eventually, they had to get on with their scavenger hunt, so I wandered back to Ulysses to use the bathroom. On the way, I saw a group of guys in their classic finance vests clanking their one-liter Oktoberfest-style beers.
It had begun to get dark now, and the street was packed.
William Edwards/Business Insider
As I walked into Ulysses, a gregarious group of analysts (also in vests) from a large data house looked like they were having a ball, pints in hand.
When I told them I was working on a story about Stone Street, they were eager to contribute. One said his colleagues at his old currency exchange firm nearby used to “live” in this particular bar years ago, and that the whole street would be regularly packed.
“Pre-COVID, this whole area in the summer, you could not get a single bench, you couldn’t walk into a bar physically. It was like Woodstock,” he said. While it’s not back to that level yet, it’s improving, he said: “Is it better than ’22, ’23? Yes.”
After regaling me with some of their old stories, we chatted a while about the market and about must-read finance books: Two they recommended include “What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars” by Jim Paul and Brendan Moynihan, and “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator” by Edwin Lefevre.
It was an animated evening. People seemed to be having a good time with their colleagues, and everyone I chatted with was in a jovial mood.
When I finally told the analysts that I had to head home, they pleaded with me: “You’ve got to have at least one round with us!”
I obliged, getting an Oktoberfest lager. Taking a sip of the pint, it was hard to deny that the magic was indeed still alive and well on the old Manhattan street.
What are your favorite happy hour spots to visit? Let us know!
