Underworld Chic: Nightlife's Latest Trend

Sept. 21, 2013— -- intro: Credit the return of moonshine, the popularity of Big Bad antiheroes on TV, or the public disaffection toward overly sleek, glossy lounges and "bottle service" club style. Whatever the motivation, underworld themes are becoming increasingly popular in the latest crop of hipster nightlife spots. Outlaws, mobsters, moonshiners and even lady pirates are the new tastemaker icons in big cities from Austin to Vegas to NYC.

quicklist: 1title: Dead Rabbit | New York Citytext: History buffs and Leonardo DiCaprio fans may know the Dead Rabbits as the fearsome Five Points street gang immortalized in a Martin Scorsese movie, but for Wall Street workers and downtown tourists, Dead Rabbit is associated with award-winning cocktails, not 1800s-era thugs. The owners did their historic homework, though. They serve up Manhattan's crime-ridden early history right in the menu, alongside award-winning 19th century cocktails like Baltimore eggnog, Ginger Daisy and Grandieur punch. Sawdust floors and traditional music lend just enough authenticity.media: 20318796

quicklist: 2title: Mob Bar | Las Vegastext: It's funny to think that for a few brief years, Las Vegas wanted to hide its seedy beginning behind a family-friendly façade. That phase was not only short-lived, but also seems to have spurred Las Vegans to embrace all the shady history that built it. When the city-sponsored Mob Museum opened in 2012, an upscale cocktail lounge across the street piggybacked on the good PR and transformed into the Mob Bar—known for good drinks and Italian food, classic gangster movies and surprisingly friendly service given the thug-life theme.media: 20318870

quicklist: 3title: GRACE | New York Citytext: New York pub owner Danny McDonald surely should win some major feminist brownie points for theming his Third Avenue bar after 16th century "pirate queen" Grace O'Malley. "Though pirates do have a dubious reputation," he says, "Grace is revered as a folk hero who commanded her own fleet and went head-to-head against Queen Elizabeth I to free her imprisoned son." Good history lesson + good libations = win. media: 20318859

quicklist: 4title: Mystery Room | Phoenixtext: Speakeasy-style bars came into vogue a couple years ago, hand-in-hand with the return to classic cocktails. But most so-called speakeasies can't claim roots that truly go back to the 1920s, nor as elegant a setting as the historic Arizona Biltmore. Back in 1929, the Mystery Room was a secret of the newly opened hotel—also nicknamed the "Men's Smoker"—with a well stocked liquor cabinet disguised as a bookshelf. Its latest brand-new incarnation is a weekly Roaring Twenties party that you need a password to enter.media: 20319102

quicklist: 5title: Bodega | Salt Lake Citytext: For residents of New York, a bodega is a tiny neighborhood store where you get coffee, snacks, emergency bathroom supplies and beer while sidestepping the neighborhood crazies. For one woman who returned from New York to her hometown of Salt Lake City, Bodega is an homage to the super-exclusive hipster hangouts that New York is famous for (and simultaneously reviled for…and sent up on SNL). Owner Sara Lund has really gone the distance, building a Playboy-plastered storefront that hawks sundries up top, while all the "insider" action is tucked behind a secret door.media: 20318733