Very chill: The 1 Hotel in Brooklyn Bridge Park opens an all-ice polar rooftop lounge

By Scott Lynch

The rooftop bar at the 1 Hotel in Brooklyn Bridge Park has been a go-to date spot since it first opened in 2017. With an unobstructed view of lower Manhattan, it is certainly romantic. True, you can see the same skyline from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, or really anywhere by the water around here, but Harriet’s Rooftop, as it’s officially called, adds an allure of luxury, via the hotel’s dramatic, eco-conscious design, some expensive snacks, and, of course, plenty of (also expensive) alcohol.

They put an actual plunge pool up here during the summer, but this month for the first time the hotel has opened a Polar Lounge on the deck. It’s exactly like it sounds: Visitors sit outside, totally open to the elements. All the furnishings are made of ice (though the seats have a faux-fur throw covering, to save your butt), and the ice-cold drinks are served in chunky, hollowed-out ice cubes.

Cucumber cooler mocktail, part of the $50 VIP package (Scott Lynch)

When you spring for the $50 per person VIP package, you also get a caviar amuse-bouche, in the shape of the world’s tiniest ice cream cone.

If lounging around outside in February, the river winds hitting you full-force from 10 stories above the park, sitting on a bench made of ice, hands clutched around a glass made of ice, sipping a freezing cold drink, sounds cold, know that they give you a remarkably cozy, full-length hooded jacket to wear while you’re up here, courtesy of the high-end brand Moose Knuckles. The model they gave me apparently retails for $960, and seemed kind of worth it. It was certainly the nicest winter coat I’ve ever tried on.

Swap out your coat for one these beauties (Scott Lynch)

Anna Lin, who lives in Long Island City and was sipping on ice-glass cosmopolitans with three friends, had mixed feelings about the experience. “It’s a good view,” she tells Brooklyn Magazine, “though it’s really cold. It takes some work to hold this ice glass in my hand. Very nice of them to give you the coat though. I grew up in China and they used to have this kind of ice sculpture show in the winter all the time. I think the show in China was better.”

Brrrrrrooklyn’s chillest (Scott Lynch)

The other attraction for locals at the 1 Hotel is the Bamford Wellness Spa, located in an elegant warren of rooms below the lobby. Here you can indulge in a facial, a half-hour foot reflexology service, a half-hour back, neck, and shoulder massage, or go for broke with an 80-minute full body massage which begins with a botanic foot bath treatment and ends, presumably, with you blissed out.

Massage and treatment room at Bamford Wellness Spa (Scott Lynch)

Whichever you opt for, you’ll have access to Bamford’s array of amenities, like the full-service locker room, the eucalyptus steam room, and a guest lounge area which serves fruit-infused water and herbal tea. “During the week about 90 percent of our guests in the spa are locals from Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo,” director Kacey O’Rourke tells us. “It’s the only true resort-type spa in Brooklyn.”

The 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge is located at 60 Furman Street. The rooftop Polar Lounge is open until the end of February on Thursday through Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.; the Bamford Wellness Spa is open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday through Friday, and from 9:00 to 7:00 on Saturdays. Reservations are recommended for both.