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To meet a woman, one must be where women are. And women are everywhere! But there are a few places where it’s easier to meet them. Here, some locations to try, ranked from simplest to most delicate approach.
A Coffee Shop Where You’ve Become a Regular
We’re not talking about lazily pretending to read Jane Austen while sipping a latte on a Saturday afternoon (though, honestly, that might kind of work); we’re talking about creating familiarity through repetition and becoming an actual member of your community. Show up every morning when Cool Women with Things to Do breeze through repeatedly. Develop recognition over time.
It’s a lot easier to strike up a conversation with someone you’ve bumped into a few weeks in a row—if not with a hot single woman herself, then at least with someone who might be able to introduce you to one. Match.com’s Singles in America study shows 18 percent of recent first dates were sparked after meeting through a friend, and 6 percent happened from chance meetings in places like coffee shops. You ought to be maximizing both odds.
Guinness Bars, New and Old
Guinness is having a moment among hot young American women. They are actively seeking out bars where Guinness is on draft and a stout culture is cultivated. In New York, new bars whose headline feature is Guinness pours are opening by the month, and even established spots like Ray’s (co-owned by Justin Theroux) promoted deals this winter where if you can manage to split the G, the next round was on the house.
You don’t need Theroux’s spot—you just need to find an Irish pub where the bartender actually knows how to pour.
Trader Joe’s
The grocery store chain has managed to cultivate an air of sexual tension among its offerings of gochujang peanut butter protein bars and lemon ricotta bean dips. Everyone’s gotta eat. Does that mean everyone is going to be up for a conversation? Of course not. But it doesn’t hurt to try to make eye contact with someone before politely stopping them in the next aisle. “I was in Trader Joe’s after a daytime event, so I was a bit more dressed for the day than normal cozy clothes,” says one former Playmate who asked to remain anonymous. “While I was looking in the bread section, a man popped out of nowhere with a big smile on his face and complimented my style. I said “thank you” and laughed. It didn’t go further than that, but it could’ve been an easy segue into getting my number.”
Bathhouses
Obviously, meeting new people in a bathhouse takes a little grace—you are, after all, in your bathing suits. But something about oscillating between cold plunges and dry saunas lowers the threshold of conversation.
It’s easy to find something to talk about. Be friendly, not flirty. Dip in the rooftop pool at Bathhouse Williamsburg on a cold night and rush over to the petite sauna lodge. You will spark up a conversation with whoever is in there, which often includes beautiful women.
Be Careful but… Yes, the Gym
If she is wearing headphones or earbuds, respect that and consider her off-limits. Don’t interrupt her while she’s in the middle of actually working out. But if she’s lingering around the water fountain or hanging out in the lobby, you can go for a friendly introduction. Sometimes it works, as Playmate Taylor Gallo explains: “Someone waited until I was finished with my workout, introduced himself politely, and kept it short and respectful. It felt natural and low pressure, which made it memorable in a good way. The difference is always timing, awareness, and how the person handles the interaction if the interest isn’t mutual.”
Your Place of Employment
Between the ’80s and early 2000s, a good 20 percent of heterosexual couples met as coworkers, according to research published in PNAS. Workplace politics have changed a lot since then, and unless you’re on the cast of Vanderpump Rules, the ethos of “Don’t shit where you eat” has probably been thoroughly drilled into your head. For good reason, too: Nobody wants the place they’re required to clock into each day to become awkward and uncomfortable. But that doesn’t mean dating someone you met through work is entirely off the table.
In the Match study, 12 percent of singles’ most recent first dates were with someone they met at work—the third most popular response, after dating apps and meeting through a friend.