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“Out Late” is Time Out’s nightlife and party column by DJ, Whorechata founder and Time Out New York Culture Editor Ian Kumamoto, and is published every other Tuesday. The previous edition was about the Black women DJs who are running NYC nightlife.
It's kind of a weird time to party in New York. For one, the Trump administration seems to be doing its best to scrub trans people's existence, iconic nightlife venues are closing left and right, it costs too much to get anywhere, and did we mention it’s brick outside?
It’s easy to catastrophize about the current state of clubbing and we love to complain that past eras of nightlife were better than the current one. The truth is that New Yorkers have always found a way to party and each wave is unique in its own right—whether it was in hidden dens during Prohibition or the illegal superspreader basement raves that became the stuff of COVID lore (which, by the way: Straight to jail!). In New York, the party never stops—it just looks different from era to era, and we’re definitely on the cusp of a new one right now.
We asked nightlife insiders, frequent partygoers and hospitality people where they see NYC nightlife heading in 2025, as well as what they hope to see this year. These are the main takeaways from their insights.
1. There will be a lot less emphasis on alcohol and a lot more wellness-centered social clubs
It's not just pop psychology: Gen-Z really is drinking less alcohol than any other previous living generation. This will continue to have reverberations across nightlife spaces, which have previously depended on drink sales to survive. For some, that might mean offering an increasingly large and delicious selection of zero-proof drinks and cocktails; For others, it might mean more day parties and curating social clubs that are centered around wellness, including running clubs. Our Food & Drink Editor has even said it’s easier to party sober than ever before.
Ariana Nathani, a 28-year-old who founded Drinks First, an events and media company, references the emergence of members’ clubs as a prime example of the move away from traditional nightlife spaces. Some notable social clubs right now include The Twenty Two, SAA, Casa Cipriani, Zero Bond and others. Supper clubs will also continue to offer a strong alternative to bars.
2. Phones on the dance floor will be a huge turnoff and being social media-obsessed will be corny
In the 2010s, if you didn't capture your night through boomerangs and an Oslo filter on Instagram stories, were you even there?
Now, we're all getting tired of all the influencing—everyone seems to have 10k followers or more these days—and living in the present moment will actually be cool again. Mystery and intrigue are going to get sexier, and the ethos of “you just had to be there” will prevail. "Club parties with as little marketing and high mystery will be more interesting," says Ty Dalrymple, a 26-year-old Prop Assistant and frequent partygoer.
“Quite possibly my biggest turn-on at the moment is the no-phones policy,” Markus Kelle, a veteran door person for parties like Battle Hymn, tells Time Out New York. “It's a delicious reminder to be present, exist in the moment and a safeguard to the old adage 'what happens in the club stays in the club.”
3. Events where people can talk to each other will thrive
“Post pandemic people value real connection more than anything else,” Venus Cuffs, a nightlife producer who has been throwing more mixers and smaller parties recently, says. “They are tired of dating apps, meeting through online mediums, and being drunk to do it.”
...Including, possibly, house parties.
“Unfortunately the nightlife trend I'm seeing is that venues are closing. Just this year Paragon and Our Wicked Lady announced they are closing,” says Arielle Lana LeJarde, a Brooklyn-based partygoer and founder of Heads Know. As the price of stepping foot outside continues to get higher, people might be more keen to have a rager somewhere they know will have a cap to how much money they’ll spend.
“I would personally like to see house parties make a come back,” Cuffs says, “I would also love to see parties go back to their roots. Wild, care free, sweat till your hair is a mess type of parties.”
4. DJs who just DJ will be de-centered in favor of performers and artists
It’s a punchline but it's also kind of true: everybody became a DJ during the pandemic. Enter what I call “DJ fatigue,” which is the point of cognitive dissonance you reach after looking at so many flyers that you don't even really care about telling all these DJs apart anymore. Now, only a tiny sliver of DJs are getting booked consistently, and it’s usually the ones who produce their own music or have some other factor to their artistry that draws people in. “I want to hear different music and lineups,” Kekoa, a 30 year-old nightlife producer and performer, says. “With a lot of parties, everything starts to feel too expected and the lineups feel too similar.”
“A growing trend I’ve noticed is DJs sporting animal masks and prosthetics, which elevates their artistry to a whole new level. This fusion of sound and visuals captivates audiences, offering a complete immersive experience,” says Roman Sensation, a 29-year-old artist, party producer and DJ. “Artists like Horsegirl4.20 and DJ Piolinda Marcela are challenging traditional beauty standards while pushing the boundaries of both their visual and sonic art.”
5. Certain areas of Manhattan will become nightlife hotspots again
Brooklyn still is the go-to spot for much of the best nightlife in the city, but parts of Manhattan are getting revitalized, particularly areas like the Meatpacking District and NoMad, according Ariana Nathani, the founder of Drinks First. In the past year, spots like Verōnika and COQODAQ have made the Flatiron interesting again. “I think that in the longer term we're going to see conversions of of office building space to multi-purpose spaces where people will want to engage in nightlife,” adds Nathani.
6. Parties with intention will continue to break through the noise
Perhaps one of the aspects of nightlife that will remain the same is that parties with a specific mission and focus will continue to prevail. Whether it's dance collectives that only book women DJs, teach queer people how to line dance, or cater to K-pop fans, it’s the “niche” communities who are going to keep supporting the parties that celebrate them.
“I think the concept of going out just to go out is starting to become less appealing and the intention is more specific,” Planet Perris, a DJ and event producer, says. “Parties that focus on specific communities, music, or locations will continue to be the most successful.”