Here’s Where to Celebrate the St. Patrick’s Day ‘Season’

There is, of course, the big parade, always on March 17 (except when the date falls on a Sunday), which is 14 years older than the nation itself, at 264 years. But if you don’t want to be part of the estimated 2 million people who are expected to line the two-mile parade route, there are plenty of other options. And you don’t have to be Irish to enjoy this surest of signs that winter will soon be over.

March 15

Off the Meter, New York Society for Ethical Culture, 64 Central Park West. 3 p.m. Tickets $25

The playwright is John McDonagh, the Sunday morning host on WBAI’s Radio Free Erin. The son of a County Tyrone dad and a County Donegal mom, he’s been called “New York’s most literary cab driver.” The one-man play is about his 40 years driving a cab in the five boroughs. While not strictly Irish, the play is laced with Irish humor. Appearing on the Subway Takes show of Kareen Rahma, McDonagh once quipped that he “supports subway crime—it’s good for the taxi industry.” You get the drift.

Joe Hurley and Rogue’s March, Hill Country Live, 30 W. 26th St.

Irish rocker Joe Hurley and company are performing a 30th- anniversary reunion concert to mark the release of Never Fear starting at 8 p.m on March 15 at Hill Country Live. The Irish rock group was the one-time house band of Paddy Reilly’s Music Bar. Hurley’s cover songs of the Pogues were so good that when the Celtic punk band’s frontman, the late Shane McGowan, was attempting to make a comeback he teamed up with Hurley’s band for a series of performances in the Big Apple. If you listened to the award-winning audio of Keith Richards’s bestselling memoir, Life, the voice of Richards was played by Hurley.

The High Kings, Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St.

The quartet in its New York stop on its 2025 world tour promises a lively evening of foot-stomping rhythms and soul-stirring melodies.

March 16

The Step Crew, Irish Arts Center, 551 W. 51st St.

A joyous journey through three styles of percussive dance: Irish, tap, and Ottawa Valley step dancing. Created and performed by Cara Butler and the Pilatzke Brothers, Jon and Nathan Pilatzke—longtime touring members of the Chieftains—these champion dancers and fiddlers unite with a five-piece band to take you from a house party in an old Irish cottage, to a lamplit sidewalk in New York City, to a French Canadian lumber camp in Quebec. boxoffice@irishartscenter.org 888-616-0274

March 17

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Mass, 8:30 a.m., Fifth Avenue at 50th Street

St. Patrick, aside from being the patron saint of Ireland, is also the patron saint of the Archdiocese of New York. With all the merrymaking, many overlook that the the day at its core is a religious celebration. Cardinal Timothy Dolan is the celebrant, and Archbishop Eamon Martin of the Archdiocese of Armagh (the diocese that includes the burial place of St. Patrick) is flying in to be the homilist.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade, starts at 11:00 a.m. at Fifth Avenue and 44th Street, ending at 79th Street

To this day, there are no floats, automobiles or commercialization of any sort: It’s only marchers and bands. The 264th St. Patrick’s Day parade could attract up to 2 million spectators if the weather is fair. Best viewing is farther uptown, where the crowds thin out. It will be led by the Fighting 69th U.S. Army Regiment and Grand Marshal Michael Anthony Benn, a Rockaway Beach resident who hails from Limerick City, Ireland.

Pubs

Tailor Public House & Kitchen, 505 Eighth Ave. (it’s Straus News’s downstairs neighbor). It is usually a hopping sports bar spread across two floors. But on the weekend of St. Patrick’s Day, it will be Irish music all day long, March 15 through 17.

Langan’s, 114 W. 47th St. Tipperary, Ireland-born Des O’Brien is back, eight years after the original Langan’s was forced to close its doors after 25 years. The FDNY lines up on West 45th Street but it would not surprise if a few wandered in for some pre-parade libations. The County Tyrone Pipe & Drums usually warms up here before the start and after they finish marching up the avenue, some circle back to the pub to entertain the afternoon crowd.

Ernie O’Malley’s, 140 E. 27th St. This Kips Bay pub, recently opened by Dubliner Joe Byrne, is named after an IRA veteran from the Irish War for Independence, and is fast gaining a reputation as a new Irish-American hot spot. The feature that sets the pub apart is a unique back room that is believed to be the only museum dedicated to what the Irish call “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland. It also serves as a venue for storytelling and musical performances. It is one of the few pubs in New York that opened with a priestly blessing from none other than Father Pat Moloney.

Molly’s Restaurant and Shebeen, 287 Third Ave. With its sawdust on the floor and a crackling fireplace, it has long been called “the most authentic Irish Pub in New York City.” It opened in 1895, transitioned to a grocery store during Prohibition and, with Repeal, returned to its roots as a pub.

The Dead Rabbit, 30 Water St., Financial District. The name traces its roots to an Irish gang in the 1830s, the same gang that played a prominent role in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. The 11-year-old bar is run by Belfast man Jack McGarry and features a first-floor taproom with Guinness and Irish coffee staples and a second floor known for cocktails that appeal to the Wall Street clientele.

McSorely’s Old Ale House, 15 E. 7th St. There has always been a feud between McSorley’s and Pete’s Tavern over which is truly the oldest bar in New York. We won’t weigh in but will point out that McSorley’s was first opened in 1854 by John McSorley. There are only two types of brew, light or dark ale, ordered two mugs at a time.

Paddy Reilly’s Music Bar, 29th and Second Avenue. The pub, founded by the late Steve Dugan, a Cavan man, and the legendary Irish musician Paddy Reilly, was rescued by longtime bartender Des Murray last year. He kept the seven-days-a-week music tradition alive and lays claim to being the world’s only all-Guinness bar.

The Laurels, 14th Street and Second Avenue. The two-year-old pub on the northern end of the East Village is run by Longford man Kevin Mulligan and is at its Irish best on Sunday evenings when local Irish musicians gather for an impromptu Irish music seisiún. The bar’s specialty: the Expresso Martini made with Shanky’s Whip Irish Whiskey. (Full disclosure, the editor-in-chief’s son is a bartender here.)

Landmark Tavern, 626 Eleventh Ave., Hell’s Kitchen. The Landmark Tavern, opened in 1868 by Patrick Henry Carley, features its own Landmark Ale and Landmark Lager and serves comfort classics including Scotch Eggs, Shepherd’s Pie, and Bangers and Mash.

Scruffy Duffy’s 639 Tenth Ave. Hell’s Kitchen. The siblings Patrick & Eileen Hughes took over the first SD in 1991, landed its current location in 2019 and somehow survived the pandemic and is thriving today. The pub is famous for its hot sauce wings, a pool table and a chin up bar, which raises money for charity. Pay $5 to the charity and if you can hang for two minutes, you get a free beer and a Scruffy Duffy t-shirt. The pub is the nearest tavern to the Intrepid Museum so it gets a mix of tourists, who mingle with the occasional celebrity and the neighborhood regulars.

Rosie O’Grady’s, 148 W. 51st St. The original on Seventh and 52nd St. was a New York City mainstay for 43 years, with a huge events space upstairs called the Manhattan Club and live bands and a huge dining hall and pub downstairs. But COVID and a dispute with landlord SL Green forced it to close down in June 2023. But the story has a happy ending because owner Mike Carty, who hails from County Leitrim and is a longtime booster of the Gaelic Athletic Association, found a new place in the former Ruth Chris Steak House in the Michelangelo Hotel a short hop away from the original. He re-opened last year, but missed his hoped for St. Patrick’s Day opening, so 2025 will be its first St. Patrick’s Day in its new home. And here’s hoping it lasts another 43 years!

Phil Hughes Bar, 1682 First Ave. After the parade, which ends on 79th Street, it might be well worth hiking a few blocks east to the oldest Irish pub on the Upper East Side. It features live music on Thursdays and a pool table, a jukebox, and several large-screen TVs.

The Pemrose, 1590 Second Ave. This UES upscale gastropub started a dozen years ago, one of eight opened by Ruairi Curtin and partners by the company called Sleeping Giants, Inc. One of its other mainstays is Alberts near Grand Central. The Pemrose has a devoted following among the uptown glitterati, lured in part by some of its signature cocktails such as the Baby Zombie (applejack, pineapple rum, absinthe), served in a mug with the likeness of a glaring bird, or the milder Free Thinker (Jameson, Pamplemousses liqueur).

Beckett’s Sports Bar, 81 Pearl St. If you’re dining and drinking in the Stone Street Historical District, there is a good chance you’re in a pub connected to Dublin-born Ronan Downs, who came to the USA on a soccer scholarship in the 1970s and never left. In addition to Beckett’s, he has Route 66 Smokehouse and the Stone Street Inn, all in the District and the No Tell Motel in the East Village. [The Dubliner where Downs was once involved on 45 Pearl St. closed down and is now the Cuban restaurant Havana Social.]

Mary O’s, 32 Ave. “A” This East Village restaurant/bar, started by Mayo-born Mary O’Halloran, is a true family affair. During COVID, her decision to start selling her classic scones was featured on the blog Humans of New York and then on ABC World News Tonight with David Muir. Business grew so dramatically that last year she opened up a scones-only store on East 7th Street.