Fresh Salt Turns a Piece of Seaport History Into a Go-To Happy Hour Spot

It’s Women’s History Month, and to celebrate, we’re highlighting a few women-owned businesses in the neighborhood. See the whole series here. 

Neighborhood bar Fresh Salt isn’t just a post-work hotspot — the Seaport go-to evinces the district’s old-worldly charms. 

Owner Sara Williams named the bar as a nod to its history. Dating back to 1885, the building at 146 Beekman St. used to be a smokehouse. You can still make out the faded white paint on the brick facade, which spells out “Fresh, Salt and Smoked Fish.”

Today, Fresh Salt is a locals’ bar, a low-key Seaport destination where you can get a refreshing, well-made cocktail and a bite to eat at a fair price while enjoying a balmy evening on the sidewalk cafe.  

When Fresh Salt first opened its doors in 2004, “it was a bit of the Wild West out here,” Williams said. Then, the original Fulton Fish Market, first established in 1822, was still fully operational in the Seaport (it later relocated to the Bronx in 2005). 

“It smelled like fish everywhere and there were trucks all over the place,” Williams recalled. She would open the bar at 8 a.m. with the idea of providing bagels and coffee as a day cafe; instead, she found herself making morning margaritas for market workers getting off the night shift. 

The portside watering hole has been a neighborhood mainstay over its 20-year run, adapting through ups and downs. During Hurricane Sandy, the bar took in seven or eight feet of water, closing for about three months as Williams and her team replaced a majority of the bar equipment and interior. They were able to salvage the vinyl booths and original wooden floor, hearty planks reclaimed from a New Hampshire barn, which they dried out and reinstalled. For longtime Seaport business owners like Fresh Salt, Cowgirl SeaHorse and Jeremy’s Ale House, weathering Sandy brought them closer. 

“It’s a tight-knit community, with a ‘borrow a cup of sugar’ vibe to it,” Williams said. “Except it might be a bottle of tequila,” she joked. 

Ditto the pandemic. Williams recalls reopening for to-go drinks and outdoor dining in June of 2020, restoring a sense of normalcy for displaced regulars and bar staff alike. As a silver lining, the outdoor shed and sidewalk cafe became a doggie hotspot, inspiring Williams to start the Instagram account Dogs of Fresh Salt. 

“We still get a lot of dogs. Some are grown up now —they were puppies in 2020!” she said.

Fresh Salt offers a daily happy hour from 4–8 p.m. (and 2–8 p.m. on Saturdays) to accommodate today’s post-pandemic range of work schedules. Their cocktails change seasonally, alongside menu classics like the Salt Gimlet: house-infused jalapeno tequila, fresh lime and simple syrup served up with a chili salt rim. Ask your bartender about Jell-O shot specials. If you get peckish, try the daily menu of hearty sandwiches, pita melts and shared plates. 

No matter what trials may lie ahead, Williams is prepared for Fresh Salt to be a port in the storm. 

“There’s a long history of bars as gathering spaces during pivotal times, particularly in NYC,” she said. “I feel like a steward of that.”

Warmer weather is right around the corner, so visit Fresh Salt for happy hour any day, or for drinks bookending upcoming Seaport happenings, like concerts at the Rooftop at Pier 17. Once-or-twice monthly bingo nights are also on the docket, so be sure to check the bar’s Instagram for upcoming events.