The Most Popular Places NYU Students Can Be Observed Partying

Flickr / Bill Soistmann
Flickr / Bill Soistmann

New York University, like any large American collegiate institution, has its fair share of partying. However, due to its metropolitan locale, the places NYU students are most likely to party can vary beyond rec rooms and quads. Different settings yield different crowds, qualities, and indulgences.

Mmadden

CHEAP APARTMENT

Many students move off campus after their freshman or sophomore year at NYU, typically following a semester abroad in Florence, Paris, London, or Prague. Cheap apartments garner a lot of attention because many bros can crash and chill. On occasion, door money is required to reimburse alcohol and drugs provided. Cheap apartment parties are spread via Facebook events and often outgrow themselves such that police “shut them down.” Otherwise, while partygoers are known to follow a BYOB rule or find a cheap bodega nearby if necessary, cheap apartment parties consume themselves, quickly expending available resources. Music is very loud indie rock.

Brooklyn apartments in Williamsburg or Bushwick tend to be the most popular and create the largest buzz in the NYU cheap apartment party scene. Brooklyn is also home to the much sought-after rooftop party, which consistently delivers between May and September. Other common cheap apartment parties can be found in Alphabet City and the Lower East Side.

Typical attendee: Film, drama, or literature major. Males are known to wear flannel shirts, tight cuffed jeans, and various thrift store shoes and accessories. Females wear floral-patterned blouses or dresses with socks and Oxford shoes. Tattoos and child predator glasses are customary and implicitly encouraged.

Typical drug of choice: Pabst Blue Ribbon can of beer, often accompanied by marijuana, mushrooms, or cocaine.

Oddsock

EXPENSIVE APARTMENT

While many NYU students are trying to make it on their own, others are heavily funded by their parents, thus allowing them to take part in greater luxuries. Expensive apartment parties are spread exclusively among tight-knit friend groups and are regulated by doormen and elevators. Music is at a medium volume, playing dubstep, electro house, or, on rare occasions, indie rock.

The Astor Place apartment building, which houses Chloe Sevigny, is a favored near campus destination in the NYU expensive apartment party scene. TriBeCa lofts, Midtown hotel suites, and, it has been rumored, Trump buildings, are sites for major socialite events.

Typical attendee: Literally any student of any major (though, more likely business or art) who knows someone with rich-ass parents. As a rule, males wear button-downs, pants, and jackets, while females don black dresses, pumps, and jewelry from Saks Fifth Avenue bought for the occasion.

Typical drug-of-choice: Whiskey, wine, or a mixed drink with or without cocaine.

Borman818

DORMS

Dorm parties are the most popular when one first enrolls in NYU. This is because dormitories are accessible to all students and already contain a high concentration of partygoers. Typically spread by word of mouth, music featured at NYU dorm parties is usually mainstream hip hop/rap or upbeat indie pop played at a low volume.

Hayden Hall often has the most intimate and exclusive-seeming parties. Third North seems to have the biggest and most consistent parties. Lafayette has the fraternity parties and brings in the highest ratio of upperclassmen to freshman.

Typical attendee: Freshman of any major who knows the host from the dorm or a required class. Male dorm partygoers are often seen wearing American Apparel hoodies and short-sleeved shirts, while females’ outfits can range from relaxed hoodie and jean combo to revealing lace tops and skin-tight skirts.

Typical drug of choice: 40 oz. bottles of Olde English 800.

Edwin Land

BARS

NYU students typically get into partying at bars sometime within the first semester of enrollment at NYU. A natural progression from dorm parties, bar parties are most likely to be spread by word-of-mouth among groups no larger than ten students, but it is not unheard of to find multiple groups having chance encounters at bars, which more often than not leads to an exciting and massive experience, succeeded by Facebook group photos and extensive wall-posts the next day. Bars are often underground or in cheaper areas of downtown Manhattan, such as the Lower East Side or East Village. Music volume varies, but Pop music is always the tunage of choice.

Bar parties are known to occur most frequently at places such as El Sombrero at Stanton and Ludlow and Asian Bar on Bleecker, which are known for accessible and reasonably priced alcohol. Cosmic Cantina at 3rd Avenue and 13th St. was once a popular hotspot but has since been shut down for consistently serving minors.

Typical attendee: Freshmen or sophomore liberal arts major. Males bar partiers can be observed wearing t-shirts with a casual sweater or jacket, while the females wear silky blouses, gold jewelry, and black shiny leggings.

Typical drug of choice: Yuengling bottle of beer with shot of tequila or whiskey.

Rutio

CLUBS

Clubbing is for the richer students at NYU. It’s difficult to discern when NYU students discover clubs – but some have postulated that it begins as an alternative to dormitory partying for females with expensive fake IDs. Many times Facebook photo album titles will allude to Thirsty Thursday when one enters the club scene. Music volume is typically high and genre varies, though all encourages dancing.

Typical attendee: Female fashion or business major, wearing revealing and form-fitting dress with or without tights. Male business major, Junior or Senior, wearing Seven jeans and Armani Exchange button down and hair product.

Typical drug-of-choice: Mixed drink with an eight ball of cocaine.

Goodnight London

WAREHOUSE

Warehouse parties associated with NYU happen sometimes. Typically organized in Brooklyn and spread via the Internet, text messaging, and word-of-mouth, warehouse parties usually attract large, ambiguous crowds of students and other local young people, followed by ambulances and swift termination by the NYPD. Music is extremely high volume dubstep. It is not uncommon for groups of students to show up to an empty warehouse and change their Facebook statuses to illustrate disappointment.

Typical Attendee: Single male music or film major, often seen wearing an oversized t-shirt and some kind of hat. Ambiguous, slutty-seeming females convinced by pack enthusiasm and drugs also often frequent NYU warehouse parties.

Typical Drug-of-choice: Ecstasy, ketamine, or Xanax. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

January Nelson is a writer, editor, and dreamer. She writes about astrology, games, love, relationships, and entertainment. January graduated with an English and Literature degree from Columbia University.

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