Sweet Paradise Lounge Dive Bar / Lounge

Lower East Side, New York –

Founded by the same people who created the downtown super-dive Welcome To The Johnsons, Sweet Paradise Lounge is another small and shadowy dive bar with a loyal following of rockers and artsy types.

Embracing its former life as a candy store, the venue playfully offers patrons a great selection of movie-theater candy, so those with the munchies need only belly up to the bar and order a box of Whoppers to go with their cheap suds.

Punkish hipsters and bohemian types with no sweet tooth may prefer to take their cans of beer and huddle up in one of the tufted black leather booths that run along both walls in back.

When the mellow crowd of artists and musicians isn’t tapping its collective foot to the punk, indie, and glam rock blasting from the illuminated jukebox, it’s bumping and grinding in whatever floor space is still available to the house beats and hardcore rock of the weekend DJs.

Despite the dance parties and stylish dark, new-wave vibe, however, Sweet Paradise remains more than anything a laid-back neighborhood must for any rocker or hipster interested in rock star surroundings without the concert hall prices.