Please save your groaners about The Frying Pan being a real "dive" bar. Regardless of such tomfoolery, the floating bar, fashioned from a long-retired retired lightship is yet another way city imbibers know that sping has sprung.
The ship has had to relocate in recent years (down a few piers now to 66, right at 26th St.) and survived calls that the 90-year-old vessel might not be, well, seaworthy isn't the right word, since it doesn't move, but maybe floatworthy.
The boat-bar has long been a seaside day and evening drink destination, and there are few places like it in the city (or anywhere, really). The bar at the pier serves up grilled foods, beer, and cocktails, best enjoyed topside—though there are often djs in the lounge below deck.
The place closes at midnight, and generally sees big crowds in late afternoon. Of course, if you are looking for more maritime mixed drinks after the Frying Pan ropes off its planks, you head down the West Side Highway to the Rusty Knot, the mural of which aims to capture a New York that existed around the time the Pan actually set sail.
