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thirtynine hotel
Rating Details »
Categories: Performing Arts, Venues & Event Spaces, Art Galleries, Music Venues [Edit]
39 N Hotel StHonolulu, HI 96817
(808) 599-2552
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Music:
- DJ, Live
- Best Nights:
- Tue, Fri, Sat
- Happy Hour:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- Outdoor Area/ Patio Only
- Coat Check:
- No
32 reviews for thirtynine hotel
39 isn't much of a secret now, not that they didn't try. The tiny little door is only visible because its next to the "Bar 35" sign and has a doorman.
Creeping up the tiny steps, you definitely get the feeling that its going to be a good night. Like everyone else here, I love the lanai. Its intimate and cozy, even when crowded. Exposed brick, open roof, very Chinatown. I love that there are hurricane candles everywhere and a slight incense smell. The bartenders are SUPER cool and the drink prices are totally reasonable ($5 for Stella Artois? SERIOUSLY Zippy's charges more than that for a Heineken).
The music, yah. Not danceable. But the last time we were there, at least it was a cool blend of house music that you could chill to. But I wasn't dancing and neither was anyone else...maybe we should have all had another drink.
An extra star for the ladies room. Its stocked with thoughtful extras for when you have a "uh-oh" ladies moment. Its clean and the bathroom stalls are double wooden doors with detailed hardware handles. You just want to bust through them, both doors flying open and say "DAHLINK...this is INDEED a SPLENDID evening of the bohemian sort, don't you agree?!"
I do. I do agree.
I love you thirtynine let me count the ways.
You could fall in love with the bartenders they are so sweet and make the BEST drinks eva!!! I said COULD fall in love, could, remember that now.
Yums: The Rose Collins, Thai Mi Up, Rasberry Cooler, Strawberry Fields, and they serve Prosecco! They got beers for the menses too of course. Hear the spanish tapas are delicious but have yet to try them.
They feature different artists with installation pieces galore. It's an artist's haven.
BUT BUT BUT you gotsta play some music we can dance to damn it! The dance floor is pretty sizeable but ain't no one ever dancin! Minus a couple events I went to where everyone was super D and running around in black underwear and crazy hats. I appreciate a Passion Pit mix as much as the next but play some vintage Madonna to get the crowd goin'!
The lanai area is the crowd winner and it's not unusual to walk in and have the "Whoa where did everyone go?" moment before realizing half the chicks are standing in line for the bathroom and everyone else is chillaxin outside. It's the perfect people watching spot and the only tourists you see here thankfully have tour guides.
It's hard to breathe during First Friday here, like all the other bars. But who needs to breathe anyways?
cool spot to hang out and go bizerk at the sametime. Depending on who you with. You could be all crazy and conduct business all in one night. The atmosphere reminds me of the city life being in the upscale fastpace vibe. people is usually friendly, open minded, and just want to party and the drama? forget about it. bar tenders are hella cool but the only thing is, if you gon' buy drinks don't use your card cuz they'll screw it up. It's usually because it's super packed at the bar and there's only one bar tender. Other than that, the music is damn good on the last friday of the month and the 2nd Saturday of each month. Those nights are usually ran by Nocturnal Sound Krew.
Throwback music, good peeps, cool breeze w/ a cool view...what more could you ask for?
The drinks here are good, especially on slow nights. The bartenders are pretty cool and willing to whip up practically any drink. Plus you can smoke on the open air patio area and it has a very chill lounge vibe, lighting is perfect. when it's slow i feel like im back in nyc. The events are also fun.. sometimes can be hit and miss but still one of the best night spots in honolulu.
This place is small and hip--like hanging at your friends place. We started going there when it first opened (and it was BYOB and sorta "underground") but I really likes the way it evolved.
Thirtyninehotel is a multipurpose arts space and has an awesome lanai--which is usually where everyone is. There's also usually a really good mix of people here which is great for meeting people or just people watching. Since it doubles as a kind of art gallery, it can be really crowded during "art walks" like First Friday or for gallery receptions--as the place isn't that big. But, the more people the better people watching I suppose.
One of my favorite spots in Chinatown!
Incredible club space in the heart of seedy Chinatown. Probably the only spot in a 3000 mile radius that gets hipsters, DJs and party people under one roof and on the dance floor getting down to eclectic fare such as Map of Africa, disco edits, progressive house, minimal techno, funky house, cosmic beardo, balearic staples and Black Cock label obscurities.
Gelareh K. (founder and owner) relocated to O'ahu from San Francisco about 14 years ago and promptly noted a dearth of happening venues that weren't straight up hip-hop clubs or cheesy tourist bait so she teamed up with infamous DJ Harvey to open up a stylishly subdued spot that would be welcome to locals in the know and visitors with a clue.
The lanai is amazing, a great place to take a break from the dance floor and just marinate under a gorgeous tropical midnight sky.
Want to give an extra special shout out to DJ Duck, DJ Gr80 8 and the First Friday crew because those guys throw the best party between Tokyo and SF.
SanKyu thirtynine hotel... sankyu belly machi.
DRINKS: So I came here specifically to see what all the hype was about for the Best Mixologist in Honolulu, per Honolulu Magazine. I tell Christian, the star of that article, to make me a sweet & delicious drink that's one of your signatures. He made me the Rose Petal, which consisted of Pomegranate & European rose essence. Honestly, it didn't blow my mind away or do anything memorable. Although the drink was sweet, it did have a slight awful aftertaste. I also tried the Asian Delicacy & Thai Me Up.... which were not bad.
Perhaps, I should not have had such sky-rocket expectations. For delicious drinks, I'm just going to order from the Asian dude with the sideburns from Bar 35. He makes a mean~~~ lychee martini.
LOUNGING AREA: I love the patio areas where you can sip your drinks right under the stars.
MUSIC: Totally Random & inconsistent. One moment they are playing I Like Big Butts, then Kanye's Gold Digger, then Digable Planets I'm Cool Like That, then a Madonna song. You really need to liquor yourself up here to enjoy the music.
BATHROOMS: I've never been to a place offering Free pads & tampons!!! You heard me right. Definite place to come when it's the time of the month!!!
This would have to be one of my favorite places in China town....
Only because it has an outside lanai....you really wouldn't expect a place in China town to have a place like this....
i kinda feel like its a secret....haha
the dance floor is not really big...but not really small either...
Drinks were ok...
i just love the place for its outdoor seating area :)
By far one of my favorite spots on O'ahu to grab a cocktail with friends. This loft style lounge is home to an eclectic mix of peeps from all backgrounds, and a diverse soundtrack to match. The bartenders are seasoned vets, and the outdoor patio provides a breezy retreat under the stars. My favorite night is Friday, but the joint is known for a variety of enticing evenings from live local bands to DJ's from the States. Definitely worth checking out!!
This review is based on an event we had at thirtynine hotel
*Booking the event: Needs Improvement
The coordinator was friendly, however she double-booked us with a wedding which caused us to reprint our invitations and lots of unnecessary stress (She ended up compensating us for the reprinting of the invites and booked us for the next night). We were a bit frustrated that she could not provide simple measurements or photos of the space which caused some confusion in terms of renting furniture and planning our layout.
*Communication: Needs Improvement
Between email and phone it was hard to get a hold of the coordinator. They seem to work on "Hawaiian Time" because she was late to open the doors the day of our event and the day after our event which caused our rental companies to have to wait or come back later. They really need to work on being prompt and more professional if they expect customers to consider them a true event space.
*Drinks: Excellent
Our guests enjoyed the mixed drinks and the friendly bar staff
*Ambiance: Excellent
This was probably one of the saving graces about thirtynine hotel and the only reason they got 3 stars. Guests appreciated the fact they could chill outside and smoke or sit inside and enjoy the live music. The patio is gorgeous at night with the lowlit candlelight and string lighting.
If you plan to have an event here be sure to consider that you have to haul everything up a narrow set of stairs. Get ready to tip your delivery crews...big time!
Overall our guests were very happy with the event and we had a great time but I feel our experience would have been more pleasant if the coordinator were more organized and proffessional.
LOVE the atmosphere of Thirtynine Hotel. I've been there once before, but it was pretty hot and crowded. I went to a private party Saturday night and had a much better experience. The bar staff is pretty friendly. The outside lanai and bar is a really nice touch with benches to lounge on.
I would love to host a party here, except my friends would have to trek through scary Chinatown with yucky parking options.
I liked that we were the ONLY customers there at 7:45 on a week night. The drinks were interesting. They do a good job muddling at the bar. I especially liked my "Thai Me Up" drink with basil and lime. I like the decor. The piped-in music was a little "trying too hard" to be cool, but it was OK. Not unpleasant. Service was really slow, weird since we were the only people in there for awhile. The hummus & guoc dip was 3.5 stars. I'd like to try one of their more substantial and interesting menu items sometime in the future. They have a good happy hour 5 - 9 on the lanai.
I had emailed to inquire about having my wedding after-party here and they never got back to me. Minus a point for that. Otherwise this would've been a 4-star review.
Starting with the basics here:
The bar is next door to Bar 35. Parking is not terrible. Even on first Friday at 11pm I can find parking just a few blocks away. They are pushing for more art so I give them props on that.
As soon as you enter the front door, you have to go up a flight of stairs which puts you into the main room. The dance floor is on your left and the main bar is as well. Directly in front are the women's bathrooms. There is a door that leads to the back lanai where you will find a guy's bathroom on your right hand side, seating, another bar on your left side.
I don't believe there is A/C because of the open doors leading to the open-air lanai so on those really warm Hawaii nights, it can get hot really fast. Also, because the main room is a big square, the music bounces off the walls and makes for a really loud environment. People who want to talk have to go to the lanai to do it so they can hear each other.
The lanai can also get crowded because of the furniture down the middle of the lanai which splits the outside into two halves.
The place attracts a pretty good crowd of friendly people...for the most part. Lots of college students from HPU and recent grads.
I tend to stick with bottles of beer here as the mixed drinks I found to be on the weak side.
They play good music but I haven't seen many people dance. I do like the music in the background when I am outside hanging with the guys.
Come for the decor, the friendly people and the conversation.
Good vibes in this place but nothing too spectacular.
Nice environment. But lots of wasted space on the dance floor. People kept away like it was hot lava. Normally I'd blame the DJ for playing bad music, but the DJ for the night was doing a good job. People were just being lame. DJ spun electro clash and new wave. And I think he was using vinyl. I salute you, Mr. Real Vinyl Using DJ. You are a dying breed.
Everyone was crowding around the bar or on the outside patio area. And the patio wasn't even that big.
I liked that there was an art installation on the walls. Supposedly Hotel Street is trying to push local art on First Fridays and thirtynine is a big proponent. Big ups for local art.
The poor DJ needs a plexiglass screen. People kept talking to him. I think the number one thing DJs hate is requests. Number two: singing to them. If I were a DJ, I'd have a body guard that stood around and punched people in the throats. Good night.
Pretty nice looking spot considering where it's located. I'm glad it doesn't look like a warehouse that's been converted into a bar/club like so many places. I've been here once and the first thing I noticed was that it was pretty warm, like the AC wasn't functioning properly. My long lonely walk from Capitol Place worrying about getting jacked may have raised my heart rate a little bit? I would've forgiven that and given them four stars but my drinks were baaaad. I had a shot of grey goose and a grey goose with diet coke. They shot tasted really off but since I shot it down quick it didn't matter. They goose/coke however was sooo bad I couldn't finish half of it. How do you make a bad goose.coke? I left it on a table before leaving to the next spot. Hopefully it was a fluke and next time my drinks won't taste so odd.
It ain't easy being me, in heels, after 10 martinis. And thirty nine hotel definitely did not make it any easier by making me walk up 999 stairs to get to this lounge. It was okay up, but i feared for my life in anticipation of the stumbling down. This open air patio lounge is the go-to place right after the Indigo's martini happy hour. By the time everyone gets to this lounge, they're pretty much already sloshed from the excessive amounts of martini intake. I didn't actually see anyone come rolling down the stairs but I know it's happened, and I could very well be the next victim.
By the time we got to the top, I found an awesome open air lounge with a good mixed crowd. Lots of uncomfortable bench seating, but everyone's drunk already, so who cares. The bartenders are brand spanking new. I can tell, because of the bitchy looks on their faces. They haven't yet realized that by being a bitch and shaking their shaker for 10 minutes just to chill a shot of patron, their tip is decreasing by the second. Even though there were a line of evil bitches behind that bar, they managed to get me even drunker. Fortunately, I do not remember stumbling back down the stairs. I think I made it down without incident. I think.
Dontcha love it when places name themselves their address? Don't let the lack of creative naming keep you from this otherwise creative space. Plus, it's actually really easy to figure out where it is.
Case in point:
1 Market in San Francisco.
It's a great multimedia space, it houses some awesome monthly events like Showdown in Chinatown and is a blast to go on First Fridays.
I fell in love with the chill atmosphere here. You can either get a drink and chill inside or just choose to get sloshed outdoors. The lights and ambiance are great, although it may depend on what is playing on the projection wall.
Sometimes there's live music here and it can range from jazz (On tuesdays i believe) to rock.
Definitely worth a check out, and most nights it's free. 21 and over only on most nights though, so leave your minor friends at home.
Plus, if it's not what you're looking for that night, all you gotta do is literally go Next Door. (http://www.yelp.com/bi...)
It's a neat combination, Thirty-Nine Hotel and Next Door.
The only bad thing about this place is if you have someone with you who is handicapped, you can't really bring them here because the only way in is a huge staircase. How they get around laws I'm not sure...
Love it, love it, love it! The martinis are amazing and I love the garden bar. If you love martinis this is the perfect place.
I love the rose martini. The prices are not that bad and there are no line to get in!
With nearly three years of experience and reinforcements to bolster her assault on Honolulu's mainstream arts and entertainment scene, Gelareh Khoie couldn't be happier.
Now that the "New Chinatown Syndicate" has grown with the openings of Next Door and Bar 35, she's confident that efforts to rejuvenate the neighborhood with a checkered past are finally starting to pay off.
"The combination of the more traditional and this new kind of modern edginess is bringing out more people," she said. "That sort of hip, trendy kind of look and feel is catching on here in Hawaii."
When Khoie moved to Oahu, she was an artist struggling to connect in a new place with others who shared similar interests.
Born in Iran, she attended high school in Southern California before studying at the San Francisco Art Institute. Along with painting, she founded the artist collective Special Prescription in 1999 and began to dabble in Honolulu's after-hours scene.
An early partnership with veteran DJ/promoter Mark Chittom led to her meeting DJ Harvey, who would go on to join her in producing "Quiet Storm." The underground weekly originated out of a studio above Indigo and garnered a strong following during its short-lived run in 2001.
When thirtyninehotel opened for business three years later, it was "Quiet Storm Saturdays" that served as the venue's first flagship event, and a redemption of sorts for Khoie.
"I was ecstatic, I was over the moon, I was on cloud nine," she said. "Ten years of wanting to have my own space, and I finally did it."
Following a soft opening on Aug. 7, 2004, thirtyninehotel began regular gallery hours on Sept. 3. Why wait an extra month to celebrate one year in business?
"I had booked the space out for a GirlFest event eight months prior on that day, and I just couldn't change it," Khoie explained. "But I just found out the other day that (Oct. 1) is a very ancient Persian (day of ) celebration. It's a celebration of harvest, like reaping what you've sown."
With the increasing popularity of events like the monthly "First Fridays" and continued success of establishments like Indigo and The ARTS at Marks Garage, she remains optimistic that Honolulu will make its mark as a hub for cultural activity in addition to tourism.
"It's really blown up, even in the last year," she said. "I think the addition of an urban gallery ... like ours really kind of enhanced everything. And now I feel a renewed energy welling up inside of me, and all of these goals that have been developing in our minds ... are now coming to the surface."
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Grab a few friends on a weeknight and eat, drink and chat on the patio. You'll usually find a place to sit. Or, come on a party night and booze it up, shake your butt and talk to hot chicks. I think the other reviews have sufficiently described this ambiance. I just want to add that -- I love this place.
I heart this place! Fabulous "bartisan," Christian, makes the best fruit-infused creations ever. I love the roof top deck and the new fabulous mural that's installed earlier this month. Great any occassion: happy hour, First Friday, late night...
I'm a fan of the ambiance, the white furniture, and the chill outside seating. The DJ's there have been mediocre though. Drinks are priced for downtown. On 1st Friday's, it's definitely a good place to go hang and meet people.
small and hip hideaway that you will find yourself spending way too much time at if you're in to being mellow.
the staff is exquisite.
I like this place. The outdoor patio area is very cozy and a really good place to go with a small group of friends.
Wednesday nights is open mic, where hippy's run amuck and sing of war and peace, where there are no alcohol specials and everyone there has a hint of goth. If this is your scene, then this place is perfect for you; unfortunately, I'm more of the "want cheap beer" and looking for something more than a place to drink type of person - after all, I can do that at home while writing Yelp reviews.
The club here is huge, with good music and a great crowd, right in Chinatown. Since Wave closed, this is probably the best dance club around (well, there is Next Door...) Worth checking out.
What a great venue. The outdoor area is the bomb. How come there aren't more places like this in Honolulu? We've the weather to support it. The drinks are pricey but, I'm not too huge of a drinker anyway. We came here on a First Friday and it was way packed. Totally fun.
I like the chill atmosphere, it takes me somewhere else..it's not like being in Hawaii for some reason! haha. I love the patio, though make sure you get there and save seats for your group on the lanai.
Sweet little multimedia space. They are always the hot spot on Fridays, if you can find them. There is not much to tell you where this little gem is, only small numbers and a steep stairway. Make it upstairs and you'll see why this is such a sweet spot. They have a kickin' lanai and a limited bar, but really you have to check out the bathrooms.
Good tapas, nice staff, and a great outdoor patio - but their mixed drinks are horrible. I've dumped mine in the plants twice, they were that bad. The dance floor never seems to have any dancers on it; it doesn't work as a nightclub at all.
we had drinks here to end the night, nice rooftop area for drinks and of course perfect for the warm nights here. i really liked the atmosphere of the rooftop area, the downstairs had some acoustic set going on so i didnt spend any time down there. nice place and not too crowded when i was there.
good for what its trying to be - a loungeish barish place. reminded me a lot of college parties. music was ok for chilling, not too hot for dancing. drinks were alright, location between next door and bar 35? excellent.
