The Soundtrack Behind Pete's Tavern

Meet Pete's Tavern: A New York institution, still going strong

There has been a tavern on the corner of East 18th Street and Irving Place in Gramercy Park since 1864, before the Brooklyn Bridge connected Brooklyn to Manhattan and before the Statue of Liberty arrived in the harbor. It started as a neighborhood saloon, and its rosewood bar has seen generations of New Yorkers pull up a stool. Legend has it O. Henry wrote "The Gift of the Magi" in one of its booths. Ludwig Bemelmans, creator of "Madeline," spent time here. By 1922, the place had become Pete's Tavern, serving local politicians during Prohibition behind the cover of a flower shop.

Step inside today and very little has changed. The chandeliers have been electrified and air conditioning added, but the woodwork, floors and bar remain largely the same, carefully restored and protected from a city that has rebuilt itself around them.

"It's a lot harder to keep an old thing old than a new thing new," says Gary Egan, the restaurant's managing partner, who has worked there for nearly 40 years. "It's just amazing to think that the floor we're standing on, the bar I have my hand on here, was here more than 160 years ago. It's a beautiful thing that it's still here in this city of metal and glass."

But history alone isn't what makes Pete's Tavern special. After so many years on the same corner, it's become a warm, familiar place where important moments happen, and where people return to revisit them. "People come back to the scene of the crime," explains Pat Connolly, vice president of operations. "Where they met their spouse, where they had their baby shower. People can always come back to Pete's and relive those moments."

For Pat, moments like these are scenes in people's personal movies, and the music has to feel right in the background.

The challenge: Moving beyond gut instinct

When Pat arrived at Pete's, the music setup was similar to what he suspected a lot of restaurants in New York City were doing: a mix of personal phones, an aux cable and decisions made on the fly.

"You'd just go off gut," says Pat. "Is the vibe right? Do we need to switch it up? Sometimes you get caught up in service and the music could be off for an hour. Other times, what's playing just doesn't work with what's happening in the restaurant."

Pete's needed something more reliable, but it also needed something that felt right. Music is part of the full experience, alongside the original woodwork, the plates, the staff uniforms and the energy of the room. If one thing feels off, the whole space feels it. As Pat puts it, "You can't be playing techno music in a tavern like this."

There was another priority: playing music licensed for business. Artists have always been part of the restaurant's story. Many staff members are actors, musicians and performers, and the walls are lined with photographs of artists who have passed through over the years.

"It wouldn't be Pete's if we weren't doing the right thing when it comes to the music we play," Pat says. "With Soundtrack, we can press play and know it's taken care of."

Creating the right sound with Soundtrack

With the licensing handled and Soundtrack in place (Soundtrack offers public performance licenses in the United States), Pat could focus on what the restaurant should actually sound like. "Pete's is for everyone," Pat says. "It's multigenerational, and in many ways, the music has to hit that. It has to be appealing to so many different ages and backgrounds."

Curating music for that kind of space and crowd takes range. And then there's the fact that the restaurant is open from noon until 2 a.m., with the occasional later finish when the party is still going. A quiet lunch, a packed happy hour and a three-deep bar all call for different music.

With access to 125+ million songs and Soundtrack's Music Scheduling feature, the pub's sound now changes as the room does. Lunch begins with Motown, soul and classic rock. Around 4 p.m., the tempo picks up for happy hour. Dinner may bring in lighter '80s and new wave before the night lands on a playlist simply called "Singalong."

"It's not necessarily 'Sweet Caroline,'" Pat explains. "It might be Heart or Billy Ocean. A deep cut that two people out of 10 recognize. Suddenly they're saying, 'I haven't heard this song in so long,' and they start singing."

While Pat has strong musical instincts and sets the tone — he's a James Beard Award–winning chef who understands how rhythm shapes a restaurant — the staff helps him get it right. They know when a playlist is starting to get repetitive or when a song disrupts the mood. Spotify Import gives them a say in the music selection too. "The team shares playlists with me in Spotify, and then I can choose the tracks that suit Pete's and import them into Soundtrack."

The signs that the music is working are easy to spot. A guest's phone held in the air as they try to identify a song, heads nodding or feet tapping. Late at night, Pat occasionally checks the cameras, spots the whole bar swaying and opens the Soundtrack app to see exactly what's playing.

Keeping the mood and the memories flowing

Today, the same curated playlists stream across Pete's Tavern's three rooms, with the volume adjusted for each one. The bar gets a little more volume, especially at night, and the dining rooms stay low enough for conversation.

The music runs from a dedicated iPhone near the host stand — but this is Pete's, so the phone isn't just left behind a counter. Instead, it's hidden inside a hollowed-out book near the dummy refrigerator door used during Prohibition.

While the hiding place nods to the restaurant's past, the music helps bring that history into the present. It feels as timeless as the room and works for everyone in it.

"The crowd at Pete's is a cross-section of New York," explains Gary. "On any given day, you might see someone in their eighties at the bar reading a book, and you might see 22-year-old girls sitting next to them. Where else are you getting that?"

Gary's right. That mix is rare. But it works at Pete's because, for all its history, the place has always been about people: regulars and first-timers, staff who have worked side by side for decades and guests returning to the scene of their own New York stories. The music connects them across generations, across the room and, sometimes, over a Billy Ocean deep cut at 2 a.m.

The Soundtrack tools behind the music at Pete's Tavern

Music Scheduling

Lets you schedule playlists for each part of the day, so the right music plays at the right moment.

Spotify Import

Brings your favorite tracks and playlists into Soundtrack, so there's no need to start from scratch.

125+ million songs

Gives you the world's largest commercial music catalog to build playlists that feel on-brand.

Find your soundtrack

For more than 160 years, Pete's Tavern has given New Yorkers a place to meet, celebrate and come back to. Soundtrack helps make sure the music is ready for the next century. Try Soundtrack free for 14 days⁠ and create your restaurant's sound.