City Winery NYC to open with “200 socially distanced seats indoors”

About an hour before Mayor Bill De Blasio announced that COVID-19 numbers are rising again in NYC, City Winery owner and founder Michael Dorf sent out a message with an update on the new City Winery NYC location, an update that included some good news for those ready to get back to seeing live music in NYC. Assuming that news from De Blasio doesn't change things, indoor dining is set to resume, with restrictions, starting on Wednesday (9/30), and with that City Winery will be able to offer socially distanced seating for over 200 people indoors, and 70 people outdoors (now that outdoor dining has been expanded to year-round). They still have "finishing touches and inspections" to get through before they can open their doors; stay tuned for an opening date.

Read Michael Dorf's message and full, and see another picture of City Winery's new space on Pier 59, below.

Meanwhile, though live music likely won't return to the NYC location any time soon, it has resumed, with restrictions, at City Winery's outdoor Music City Wine Garden space in Nashville (where the Grand Ole Opry is also set to reopen). In addition to offering in-person attendance, they're also streaming those shows live, including sets from Emmylou Harris, Rayland Baxter, William Tyler, and more. Tickets to watch are on sale now.

Dear City Winery Family,

I am extremely proud to announce the imminent opening of our new flagship City Winery facility, located at Pier 57 in Hudson River Park. With over a year of construction and a $20M investment, this 32,000sf venue brings together the best aspects of each City Winery location across the country and 35 years of lessons learned from building 20 venues over the course of my career between the Knitting Factory and City Winery.

Dare I say, (and it sounds ostentatious) this is possibly the best intimate live music venue ever built in NY or in the country.

And ironically, after many months of the pandemic, New York City has announced that they are allowing indoor dining at 25% capacity just as we will be opening our doors to the public. We are no stranger to challenges; we opened our first City Winery location here in our home base of Manhattan in 2008, right at the start of the Great Recession. But the Covid obstacle has been, and continues to be, more challenging with no ability yet to have live music, private parties, or many of the non-socially distanced features the facility was designed for.

Nevertheless, given the timing and the knowledge that our community is looking for a sense of safe hospitality during these challenging times, City Winery New York will soon open with over 200 socially distanced seats indoors and 70 seats outdoors so we can come together and start indulging our senses.

City Winery, even with a limited and restricted opening, will remain a place for people to enjoy the pleasures in life; wine, food, music, community and a really cool space.

At this point, it's only finishing touches and inspections that remain until we can unveil our space and get the wine flowing, so please stay tuned for the official opening date! Thank you and I hope to be seeing you very soon.

Sincerely,
Michael Dorf
Founder & CEO