Paradise Lost: Imbibe 75 Place to Watch - Imbibe Magazine Subscribe + Save

When Kavé Pourzanjani and Ray Sakover were both working at the Manhattan bar The Polynesian, pre-pandemic, they began talking about opening their own tropical bar. But they wanted to avoid the usual South Seas cliches and imagery that have made tiki a controversial topic in recent years. They needed a new theme. Their counterintuitive alternative? Demonology, the occult, and “otherized gods from other cultures.” Additional influences on the design-heavy bar christened Paradise Lost were roadside America, B movies, and DC comics.

The lengthy drinks list is a mix of classic tropical cocktails and signature drinks with names like Beelz’ Road Soda and Damnboo—several of them appropriately lit on fire. There are also rum flights and a Ti’ Punch service where the bottle of rhum agricole is left with you.

The overall tone is set at the East Village bar’s dramatic entrance, which takes you down a verdant passage to a midcentury, Holiday Inn–like neon sign, and a door with a snake-shaped handle. “The front door is the portal into the abyss,” says Pourzanjani. “The bar is the neutral zone between the earthly realm and eternal realm.” Which is just another way of saying it is a classic third place.

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