New York bar mixes cocktails and Chinese pop to give the music life beyond karaoke lounges

South China Morning Post

02-05-2025

In New York's Long Island City neighbourhood there is a nondescript, white-tiled Taiwanese restaurant named Gulp.
Advertisement
Those not in the know might assume that the five counter seats are all there is to this little joint, but open the grey door at the rear, pull back the curtain behind it and you will find yourself in a softly lit cocktail bar imbued with warm, red tones reminiscent of Wong Kar-wai films.
This is 929, a bar that pays tribute to 1980s and 1990s Cantonese and Mandarin pop culture and music, so named for its phonetic similarity to 'night to night' and because the numbers represent a New York telephone area code.
Here the walls are covered in posters of Hong Kong singers – there is one of
Faye Wong , another of
Sammi Cheng Sau-man – and towards the back is a DJ set-up with dozens of Cantopop and Mandopop vinyl records and CDs.
New York cocktail bar 929's walls are decorated with posters of various Cantopop singers, and the soft, red lighting is reminiscent of scenes in Wong Kar-wai films. Photo: 929
They are all from the personal collection of Chen Haoran, who founded 929 with architect Sean Yang and restaurateur Jeff Liu.
Advertisement
Chen Haoran, who is originally from Jiangmen in China's Guangdong province, recalls listening to his mother's favourite records as a child, which led him to amass his own collection of Cantopop and Mandopop albums, especially after moving to New York when he was 11.