Soho

Soho - short for "South of Houston Street" - is one of Manhattan's most recognizable neighborhoods, known for its blocks of 19th-century cast-iron warehouse buildings that once housed the city's garment and manufacturing trade before artists moved into the empty lofts in the 1960s and 70s. BarFinder lists 442 venues here, anchored by a deep bench of classic bars and an especially strong cocktail bar scene, with wine bars and lounges rounding out a crowd that skews more polished than rowdy. Spots like Broome St. Project, The Handy Liquor Bar, and Stafili Wine Cafe fit a neighborhood that by day is a shopping and gallery destination and by night turns into a dense grid of bars tucked between boutiques and converted lofts. It's less a single bar strip than a scattered, high-density scene - worth wandering block to block rather than aiming for one street.