Let me show you something incredible.
If you walk down Pine Street in the Financial District at dusk and tilt your head back, you will see a pale stone crown glowing against the sky — the crown of 70 Pine Street, a 1932 Art Deco skyscraper that was once the headquarters of the Cities Service Company. For decades, the top of that building was closed to the public. It was a private observation deck for company executives, then an empty limestone tower, then a rumor. Now it is a bar called Overstory, and it is the highest outdoor cocktail bar in the Western Hemisphere.
You do not stumble into Overstory. You have to know it is there.
The Ride Up
The elevator bank on the ground floor of 70 Pine Street does not announce itself with neon. You walk past the doormen of the residential tower, past the lobby of Crown Shy (the ground-floor restaurant that shares the address), and you take an express elevator that goes only one place — up. Your ears pop somewhere around the fortieth floor. The doors open onto a softly lit hallway on the 64th floor, and then another short staircase, and then the sky.
And then you see it.
The first view is almost shocking. The terrace wraps the crown of the building, which means the sightlines are genuinely uninterrupted. To the south, the Statue of Liberty looks like a small green candle. To the north, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building stand side by side like two old friends. To the east, the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges stitch the boroughs together. To the west, the Hudson River carries ferries that look, from this height, like tiny lit matchsticks drifting through black water.
What It Feels Like to Be There
Overstory is small. That is part of the magic. Most skyline bars in Manhattan are vast sprawling patios where you end up fighting for a railing spot with a bachelorette party. Overstory feels more like a private library that happens to be suspended in the air. The interior has low velvet banquettes, brass fixtures, and walnut tables. The outdoor terrace is a thin wraparound balcony with a handful of cocktail-height tables and the kind of wind that reminds you that you are standing 800 feet in the sky.
The cocktail menu is serious. This is not a tourist rooftop with mediocre margaritas. Overstory is run by the team behind Saga, the Michelin-starred restaurant on the 63rd floor directly below, and the drinks reflect it. Order something with an absurd garnish. Eat the olive. Drink slowly. The cocktails run in the low-to-mid $20s, which is expensive by any normal standard and almost laughably reasonable for the view you are getting.
The History Beneath Your Feet
You are standing on top of a building that was, at one point in the 1930s, the third-tallest in the world. 70 Pine Street was designed by the firm Clinton & Russell, Holton & George and completed in 1932 for the Cities Service Company, an early petroleum giant. The building’s setbacks, finials, and lantern crown are pure late-Art Deco — a style that was about to go extinct when this tower was finished. For most of the twentieth century, the building was a working office tower. Then it was converted into luxury rentals in the 2010s. The crown, which had been closed to the public since World War II, reopened as Overstory in 2021.
When you lean on the terrace railing, you are leaning on limestone that was quarried during the Great Depression and lifted into the sky by ironworkers who never expected anyone to drink a martini up here.
Insider Tip
Book the earliest reservation you can get and watch the city turn on. Overstory opens at 4 PM Thursday through Saturday and 5 PM the rest of the week. If you book the very first slot, you will get the terrace in full daylight, then golden hour, then the moment the entire skyline’s lights flick on, all from the same table. That transition takes about 90 minutes, which happens to be exactly the length of a well-paced two-cocktail visit. Most guests arrive after dark. The people who know arrive before sunset.
How to Visit
Address: 70 Pine Street, 64th Floor, Financial District, Manhattan
Nearest subway: Wall Street (2, 3) or Broad Street (J, Z) — both under a five-minute walk
Hours: Sunday–Wednesday 5 PM–12 AM; Thursday–Saturday 4 PM–1 AM
Reservations: Strongly recommended. Book through Resy. Walk-ins are accepted subject to availability, but not for parties larger than six.
Dress code: No formal code, but tank tops, flip-flops, and athletic wear are considered too casual. Dress like you are going somewhere.
Cost: Cocktails $22–$28. Budget $80–$120 per person for a proper visit with a couple of drinks and a snack.
Why It Matters
Every visitor to New York wants a great view. Most of them end up on the Empire State observation deck, or at the Top of the Rock, or one of the big-ticket ticketed experiences that end in a gift shop. Those are wonderful. But a rooftop bar — a real one, with a bartender and a cocktail in your hand and no crowd ahead of you — is a different kind of view. It is the view where you are part of the city, not a tourist looking at it.
Overstory is that view, at the highest point in the Western Hemisphere where you can stand outside with a drink. The building is historic. The cocktails are excellent. The elevator ride alone is worth the reservation.
Book it once. You will be telling people about it for years.
