Viragh sought to establish a dine-in movie theater in New York City in 2008, after being a regular attendee at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema while living in Austin, Texas,[3] and later working at the Commodore Theatre in Portsmouth, Virginia, the first first-run movie theater in the United States to serve alcohol.

[6] As its opening preceded the passage of Senate Bill S4772 and the modification of the theater's liquor license by several months, alcoholic beverages were initially only served in the front-of-house cafe and not during screenings.

[14] In 2015, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a plan that would have partially converted the building into condominiums and shrunk the floor area of the theater.

[11][15] However, an investment firm ultimately purchased the building for $28 million[15] and granted a long-term lease to Nitehawk.

[29] Nitehawk does not screen advertisements during its preshow, instead showing a montage of clips that are customized for each film;[25] for instance, the preshow for Nitehawk's screenings of The Favourite included clips from Olivia Colman's comedic work and Yorgos Lanthimos' short films.

[25] The passing of Senate Bill S4772 is noted as having led a proliferation of liquor-licensed dine-in theaters in New York City, including Syndicated in Bushwick, the Metrograph on the Lower East Side, and an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Downtown Brooklyn, with The New York Times calling Nitehawk "the granddaddy of swizzle-stick cinema in the city".