Ready for Yappy Hour? Durham’s newest cocktail bar has a rooftop made for your pup
At Durham’s newest rooftop bar there’s whimsy and glitter and a name inspired by the soft, wiggly fur of a pit bull.
The Velvet Hippo opened this month at 119 Orange St. in downtown Durham, adding a dual level rooftop deck and a vibrant indoor space to the city’s buzzy cocktail scene.
The bar is owned by Leslie and Sarah Matista, Claire Lyons, Amy Lyons Floyd and Alison Domna — two pairs of sisters and a friend. Triangle nightlife pro Leslie Matista, formerly of Durham’s The Bar and Chapel Hill’s Bin 54, will serve as the general manager.
“Our main objective was to create a neighborhood bar, something in between a dive bar and a higher end cocktail bar,” Matista said.
The Velvet Hippo was driven by a desire for an outdoor space, Leslie Matista said, inspired by the draw of patios and open air bars during COVID, but mostly meant as an oasis within the city.
“It’s a tropical oasis downtown,” Matista said. “It’s an escape within Durham, but not from Durham. We want to be part of this community and part of the incredible bar crawl that has come together in Downtown Durham.”
The Velvet Hippo’s cocktail menu
Matista said the cocktail menu trends towards light and tropical drinks.
“I wanted to make the list approachable and fun, drinks with glitter,” Matista said. “We love whimsy”
The opening drink menu includes several tropical rum-forward drinks, a seasonal Caipirinha, and the sparkly, purply “Ursula, Queen of Atlantica,” made with gin, lavender, sparking wine and edible glitter.
A rooftop bar is typically a singular draw for a drinking establishment, but COVID gave greater weight to the open air.
From the Velvet HIppo’s perch, drinkers can toast with the backdrop of tall buildings and busy streets and the glow of stars and lights. But the Matista sisters said the bar aims for a deeper relationship than just the latest rooftop spot.
“We’ve had a lot of feedback from guests so far, saying we have great vibes here, that ‘Your vibes are so good,’” Sarah Matista said. “Because Leslie has worked in so many great bars where regulars are part of her experience, she imparted to the staff that we want a ‘Welcome to Moe’s’ kind of energy. We want everyone to feel really welcome. What I’ve always felt about hospitality is it’s really caring about people.”
Dogs are welcome at The Velvet Hippo
In caring about people, Velvet Hippo is also giving space to what people care about most: their pets. The bar takes its name from a term for pit bull dogs, which some say resemble hippos with thick torsos, stubby legs and a short haired coat softer than velvet.
There is a special block of time on Saturdays and Sundays for dog owners to bring their pets to the Velvet Hippo. The bar calls it “Yappy Hour,” which runs from noon to 6 p.m. and is restricted to the rooftop, as health codes prohibit non-service animals from being indoors.
“There’s a separate entrance for VIPsm — that is, Very Important Pups,” Sarah Matista said.
The Velvet Hippo is now open seven days a week.
This story was originally published August 9, 2023 at 1:44 PM.
