Since we now have temps so cool, that even cool people in big clunky-for-snowbanks boots still need to run to their vehicles, if they’re in a bit far afield parking lots — like the young woman the other night who left the Smilin’ Moose and rushed to a pickup truck, hurdling drifts, in the big kitty-corner lot across the main drag and run by the city … Now that’s cold.
But fear not, because there are still nightlife options for outdoor seating.
Leading the way is the heated rooftop patio at Mallory’s, located near the north end of the Hudson downtown entertainment district, but not feeling at all like the North Pole. Although very high-up, they keep the temps warm and your beer cold. Chestnuts roasting …
— Arthur Christmas, I think I remember him, is making an early appearance at Hudson Cinema 12 on Saturday, Dec. 6, helping sponsor a free movie event and a free soda and free popcorn there. Movie is at 9:30 a.m. Gates at 9 a.m. Arthur is enabling the event as its featured act, a holiday treat in itself, and Santa will be there too, for what’s billed as a movie with him, but even Rudolph is unavailable for what’s called the lead role. Apparently working on (already) last minute toys to benefit you. But you can also meet the Pepper Fest King circa 2026, as their club is also a sponsor. So Salt ‘n Pepper.
Across town, there is Christmas gift wrapping and treats on Saturday at First Presbyterian Church from 6:10 a.m. to 2 p.m. as a team sets its sights on a February national competition to be held in Orlando, Fla. Donation accepted to support the trip.
So plan to hit both. Santa likely will, the North Pole news service says. —
After going up a decorated series of bending stairs in the middle of the establishment, this space is about as spacious as you can find, for a heated rooftop patio, with the main thrust of it running roughly east-and-west and pointing toward the St. Croix River. Some of it is undercover with huge awning, like the seating at the bar.
There for a few years were a couple of great big sofas on the west end on which to rest while enjoying your drinks. There has been a recent retooling, and another one prior, making for a long stretch of tables lined up for the same length of many a bar-rail, that point toward the border with Minnesota. That’s where the third floor segues into forming a fourth. From these and other high-up vantage points, you can clearly see the clear-frozen St. Croix River and the still-somewhat-present browning leaves on trees on its bluffs, if they be oaks, as well as that entire middle and end of the downtown.
When walking northward through the well-used back alley between Dick’s Bar, which used to have its own such four-season patio open, and the old Bennett’s steakhouse, and Pier 500, you can see its big glowing named sign up above, which still doesn’t diminish the beauty of their riverfront view. The back stairway and its other side showcase strings of bright white lights, on multiple floors that include smaller patios, that make the look appealing for those walking to their cars — although that back stairwell is closed down. A U.S. flag often too, is draped along the awning.
A big placard is often placed on the sidewalk to hawk the rooftop’s heated availability. Mallory’s also often has a footwide white-lighted and circular insignia floating around the walkway out in front, pumping also its speakeasy that’s Down Under. This is opposite the three-stories-upward-at-midpoint floor of their rooftop patio, which features a bar that’s long on length and thus is unlike the speakeasy, which has cozy chairs and a fireplace and is a very intimate setting — the size of which bands say they love to perform at.
Other venues now detailed:
Dick’s Bar
Ziggy’s Hudson
Smilin’ Moose
Pier 500 igloos
Casanova’s and The Nova
Hop ‘n’ Barrel
(RF’s Mel’s Midtowner)
Ember and Bean
Dipsy ice cream
There are many other patios with a fair amount of space held open, keeping the tables and chairs, during the winter, largely so people can have a smoke, or just hang out for a while before the cold makes them again go indoors. Ziggy’s Hudson has this set-up with scores of tables on two levels, but they may or may not offer wait-staff drink and food service there during the winter, a sign from the interior said. At some point later in the season, the staff may pull out some of the furniture, but there will likely be a holdout for this, because the open spaces do not fully face the windy winter elements. There is a similar-sized, square patio on the north side, with a big sports TV, weather permitting and if too cold draped with a flag, and also a back, second-story smoking patio pushed up to close to the bluffline.
The Smilin’ Moose has long since closed its downstairs and maybe upstairs also, two-level patio out west for the season, also with great views of the river but maybe more of boats than ice shanties, but they do offer a two-foot-wide, five-foot-long heating lamp near the entry door. Even though up above, it’s warm enough that you can feel the heat even when walking past on the broad sidewalk. And a barometer of how cold it is, can be read into the record by if doormen, often checking IDs, are standing outside or in the gathering area. During nights where the customer traffic is hot, when it used to bring in many hundreds, you can be in a loosely formed line for quite a while before being let in, so that lamp is as much your friend as that fave bartender. As such bundled-up doormen at Ziggy’s say, and they typically open the door for you so you don’t have to be chilly before you go inside and chill, they are always cold this time of year, and it’s only going to get worse, but it’s a part of the job — made easier by shuffling their feet back and forth to take their mind off the temps.
Pier 500, as its name suggests, is located on the river, and the side of their huge, two-direction patio that faces it has dozens of boulders cemented together to create ambiance, which can still be enjoyed since they annually offer several big weather-protected enclosures without any gaps for wind. It’s erected around Halloween, made of thick plastic held together with foot-wide triangle bars — and not that big one that was offered elsewhere on the patio for summer drink service — as to resemble big igloos, or those structures saw in an old James Bond thriller set in the arctic. Ice caves are cool.
Speaking of …
Casanova’s Historic Liquors had hawked their theme for a number of years by also offering in back The Nova, an outdoor music patio set back against the bluffline, but they’ve now moved the indoor seating closer to the street, usually with two big picnic tables, two full-size tables and three smaller ones on the wrought-iron-rail enclosed patio outside. In some past years they held it open as a 12-season patio, a cashier said, but later it was there for use by patrons, even if not actively billed as such.
Hop ‘n’ Barrel in some past years had pulled their usual patio gear and added a couple of woodfired and very wide metal-rim barrels, surrounded by four benches, one in each direction, and a couple of end-table-type things that could hold cold beverages while people kept toasty.
(Hint: The long-standing wall separating that patio and the enjoining one at Ziggy’s, a venue about 90 feet to the south, has been taken down, and the parking lot abutting the nearest polar vortex sidestreet to the north side of Hop ‘n’ Barrel, a venue set in the middle, has been renamed as Ziggy’s parking. That fuels the two-month-old rumor on the street that Ziggy’s is expanding as part of its new remodel, and may be taking over at least part of the Hop ‘n’ Barrel building, which has removed its big trademark logo-paintovers for its many craft beers, which were released about every other month, from the large windows that form a semi-circle around the main bar area, way back from when it was a car dealership, then a bank. This highly involved rumor continues that Hop ‘n’ Barrel may be closing in a month or two, at least at its current location, with its huge brewing vats possibly being transferred to another place. Got all that.)
At around the same timetable, at Ziggy’s, the lower stage has as its backdrop, behind where you would place a small drum kit, a flickering fire — not from a fireplace, but a moving photographic display. Outside there were still all winter colorful flowers in patio planters — but I doubt they are real either. However, still flashy.
(Down in River Falls, Mel’s Midtowner has added an outside bar and significant outdoor seating, about four years ago, making it one of the earlier ones, much of it under a bunch of awnings. The main aisle is uncovered. The prime area is kept open as long as feasible into the coming of the dead of winter, ask the waitress in shortsleeve shirt on the front sign. It is a (cold-weather) football referee’s shirt.)
Bevy of benches …
Downtown Hudson has seen a large growth in the number of park benches in the past few months, with a couple now being taken down for the cold and icy snow, and others shifting location or retooling their specific design style or overall makeup. The latest one, added in the last week, near the south end of the west side of Second Street, is perhaps the first to feature thick, bronze colored metal, making a contrast with the bright red trio of wide benches on the downtown’s north side, and even one beyond that. Wait add another recent, as in the green and brown colored alongside-your-back concoction, set up midway.
Prominent among the growth of benches, with tables, is outside (and at last check still was) Ember and Bean (not Beam) coffee shop near where you can find the bronze one. You can’t make full use of the up-top umbrellas, again wind cited, until spring. It started with one humble two-seater next to the door, but then more benches were gradually added, fueled in part by the addition of the Dipsy ice cream shop 30 feet opposite it last year.
And yes, the ice cream is served up all 12 months. As of last notice; prior to icy snow dump.
(Editor’s note: A half-length version of this post ran in the Hudson Star-Observer last year, by the same author, that being myself.)