Ray’s, ‘The Happy Birthday Bar’

Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar has long been a dive bar but for less time it has been a hipster paradise.

Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar, the quintessential old South Philly taproom, has become hipster-driven, at least on Thursdays. That’s when jam-session cats – mostly graduates from the University of the Arts and Temple University, with a median age of 23 – play elegant improvisational jazz and soft standards.

Led by drummer Pete Gaudioso and pianist Anam Owili-Eger in Ray’s second room, 11 horn players (trumpet, trombone, sax), four bassists, three guitarists, and one harmonica player sign up and sit in. That’s a jazz soup.

Ray’s opens at 7 AM and their web site promises smoking will return when they get their permit. Show up on your birthday and receive a drink for free.

Ray’s The Happy Birthday Bar [Official Site]