“Gemütlichkeit” is part of a series of tidbits from the chapters of my book Bars, Taverns and Dives New Yorkers Love, published by Rizzoli. You can order it from Powell’s, Amazon, Rizzoli, and Barnes & Noble. Signed prints of all the bars in the book are available here.

Gemütlichkeit  /geh-MYOOT-lik-kite/  noun

Describes a space or state of warmth, friendliness, and good cheer. Other qualities include coziness, peace of mind, belonging, well being and social acceptance. —from Wikipedia.org

The best bars, taverns and dives I’ve ever visited radiate a warm feeling of belonging and well being. These places make you feel cozy, safe and, somehow connected, even if you don’t know a soul in the room. What’s better is hanging out with friends at a place that already glows with that fine vibe of good cheer and camaraderie. Then you’ve got it on a whole other level. Übergemütlichkeit?

I’ve felt Gemütlichkeit as far back as I can remember, starting back with my parents’ cocktail parties, where their best friends would gather in our living room, drinking and laughing, the men in coats and ties, the women in, predictably, cocktail dresses. I felt it at the local bar and grill where we’d go for dinner on occasion, the Bear Lake Tavern, on the water about a mile from our house.

I’d definitely experienced this warm, inclusive feeling that comes from being among the right people in the right mood in the right environment, but I’d never heard a proper term for this rather abstract concept until I read Ray Oldenburg’s classic “The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Hair Salons and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community” (Marlowe & Company, 1989). Oldenburg used it to explain what made German beer gardens so wonderful:

“Inclusiveness was central to the coveted atmosphere of the lager beer garden. It was a garden in a double sense—in addition to the greenery, human relationships and goodwill were cultivated. The atmosphere in which this is accomplished most effectively has a name well understood in the German language. It is Gemütlichkeit. What is Gemütlich is warm and friendly. It is cozy and inviting.”

Oldenburg nails it. This is the element that lifts a place to another level, from the physical to the emotional realm of excellence. It comes from attentive hosting, from proper lighting and music, from the smell of clean wood and from the mood and attitude of the patrons. It’s why people still hold up the ‘80s TV show Cheers—hackneyed as that might seem—as the perfect, iconic bar. I’ll take Gemütlichkeit over a perfect 11-ingredient 15-dollar cocktail or a trendy crowd of frantically beautiful people any day.