NYC’s Newest Warehouse Bar Wants People to Listen to Music in Blanket Forts

New York’s newest bar has a wild hodgepodge of things — offering everything from a space to listen to vinyl records in silence (and in blanket forts) to classes for people who want to nerd out on history.

Popular Ridgewood outdoor venue Nowadays today opened Indoors at Nowadays, a 5,000-square-foot converted warehouse bar that has dance floors, vinyl records for quiet listening, strategy board games, and even a class about Stranger Things taught by someone with a PhD in American history.

Owners Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin open the super extra bar on Thursday as a year-round way to continue Nowadays’ casual hangout, never-leave vibes. It’s located at 56-06 Cooper Avenue in Ridgewood, right next to the outdoor venue.

The outdoor Nowadays became popular in part for hosting electronic dance parties Mister Saturday Night and Mister Sunday, and here, the duo will be targeting audiophiles even more explicitly: The space features two meticulously-designed sound systems written up extensively in Vogue.

One for the dance floor was built by Craig Bernabeu, who learned the craft by running sound systems built by famed Richard Long, the sound system design master behind big 1980s LGBT scene discotheque Paradise Garage. Here, Bernabeu uses wood in hopes of absorbing sound.

The other sound system custom-built for Indoors at Nowadays pays tribute to the Japanese listening bars of Tokyo. This vintage tube-amp system features speakers originally designed for movie theaters in the 1970s. At Japanese listening bars, guests sip on drinks while quietly listening to music, typically played on vinyls.

At Indoors, people will not be required to be quiet, except at an event every Sunday called Planetarium, where people are encouraged to bring pillows, blankets, and even sleeping bags to get cozy on the floor and listen to music in silence for five hours. So far, it sounds like it will be an extremely niche music series: Tickets are already on sale for the January 28 installment of Planetarium, and it’s dedicated to the Golden Voyager Records, the records that NASA sent into space in 1977 to record images and sounds of Earth.

But Indoors at Nowadays is also trying to be more than a music and dance venue. The bar has games like Settlers of Catan, and the space is decorated with house plants. Food-wise, chef Henry Rich, an alum of Metta and Rucola, runs the food and beverage program. The menu features bowls and sandwiches, including a fried chicken sandwich and sides like fries, a chocolate-dipped pretzel, and a flatbread with chile butter.

If that’s not enough, Indoors also will have an educational series run by unconventional education start-up Think Olio. They’re kicking things off with a class about the hit Netflix show Stranger Things, taught by American history scholar Jamie Warren. The 90-minute class will look at the Cold War ideology and politics that permeate the hit Netflix show.

Indoors at Nowadays opens today and is open Tuesday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Friday from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m., Saturday from 12 p.m. to 4 a.m., and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. It is closed on Mondays, and brunch is offered on Saturdays and Sundays.