We were at JIMMY, a rooftop in SoHo. It was supposedly hard to get into, but somehow my friends and I got lucky that night.
Outside was a small open-air pool on the terrace. Nobody was swimming. At night, the water glowed blue, making an almost perfect foreground for One World Trade Center rising in the distance.
When it got chilly, we moved inside. The room was warm and cozy, with rounded red velvet sofas and an airy standing area around the bar. What I remember most was how comfortable everyone seemed around each other. Even the line at the bar felt casual and a little performative — people talking, looking around, and enjoying being there. It wasn’t a particularly drinking-heavy crowd.
We made some small talk, took in the surroundings, and eventually snapped pictures of ourselves with the skyline behind us.
The lighting wasn’t great, and the pictures weren’t perfect. But we weren’t trying to make them perfect.
We just wanted to remember the night.