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NY Times article on new clubs
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| wallflower |
In case you haven't seen this elsewhere (like naughtybooth), I thought this might be of interest to some...
(btw, has anyone seen this Eve person at Avalon? I haven't.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/09/f...52eb5bcc4a0abd1
Big, Loud Clubs Seek New Glitter
November 9, 2003
By JULIA CHAPLIN
I DIDN'T invite her," said Eve Salvail, a model with a
dragon tattoo on the side of her head, who gets $500 to
linger a few hours and look cool at Avalon, the latest
incarnation of the Episcopal church in Chelsea once known
as Limelight.
It was 3 a.m. on a recent Sunday, and Ms. Salvail, a
part-time employee known as a tastemaker - a k a eye candy
- watched helplessly from her free V.I.P. table in the
hip-hop room while the uninvited woman, who looked like the
Colombian pop star Shakira with streaked hair and a
mini-kilt, wrapped herself around a stripper pole. When the
woman began a deafening tap dance in her knee-high boots,
two male models in Ms. Salvail's entourage gathered their
free glasses of vodka and cranberry juice, slid out of the
banquette and left.
"She's scaring people away," Ms. Salvail said. "I wish
she'd just sit down."
So it goes on the front lines of New York's latest attempt
to revive the glittery era of huge dance clubs - that
halcyon 80's moment of celebrities, downtown artists and
well-dressed nobodies mixing under strobe lights at
Danceteria and the Palladium.
A new batch of entrepreneurs is betting that chic New
Yorkers, after years of holing up in low-key lounges, are
ready to hit the dance floor with the masses again. Over
the next four months, no fewer than five clubs - each with
room for hundreds or even thousands of dancers and
featuring new-generation diversions like bungee-jumping
cocktail waiters and raw-food kitchens - will open in two
square blocks of West Chelsea. The area - bounded by 10th
and 11th Avenues and 26th and 28th Streets - is already
thick with art galleries. Now it bids to become the center
of New York clubland.
"Tenth Avenue is great, because it's wide enough for limos
and Escalades to pull up outside," said Noah Tepperberg,
who is opening one of the clubs, so far unnamed, on 10th
Avenue near 27th next month.
Among the others to come are Spirit, which is to open this
month in the old Twilo space on 27th Street; Crobar, a
branch of a club with sites in Miami and Chicago, which
plans to open next month; and Quo, due in February, whose
name, in a very loose translation from the Latin, means
"where it's at," its owners say.
Applications to add more clubs are pouring in, according to
Community Board 4, which oversees West Chelsea. They would
include an Indian-theme nightclub and a dance club on 16th
Street. Add the Avalon and Club Deep, both of which opened
between Avenue of the Americas and Fifth Avenue in
September, along with lounges that were already in the
neighborhood (Lot 61, Glass, Bungalow 8, the Coral Room),
and the Studio 54 question is, Who is going to fill all
these places?
David Rabin, president of the New York Nightlife
Association and an owner of Lotus, a lounge on West 14th
Street, said: "I can't figure out how all these places are
going to make money. New York has been hit so hard by
unemployment, particularly in the finance and dot-com
industries that drive trendy night life. If one or two were
opening I'd think, `Well, yeah, maybe.' But this many at
once is really puzzling."
A bigger question, perhaps, is how the new discos will
escape the kinds of drugged-out club kids who, in legions,
contributed to the demise of New York's last dance-club
wave. That boom, in the 1990's, was a dark chapter riddled
with drugs, violence and elephant pants. After a crackdown
on clubs by the Giuliani administration, which made it
nearly impossible to get the cabaret licenses required for
dancing, night crawlers retreated to small lounges catering
to a privileged few. Dancing became a naughty and
spontaneous act for the drunken and daring, performed atop
cocktail tables and on banquettes. (Places like Lotus and
Bungalow 8 regularly replaced the stiletto-punctured
upholstery.)
The empire built by the club owner Peter Gatien crumbled
when federal agents labeled his Limelight "a drug
supermarket" and shut it in 1996. In a separate case, the
club's star promoter, Michael Alig, pleaded guilty to
manslaughter for killing a clubgoer who was a reputed drug
dealer (the subject of the recent film "Party Monster").
And in 2001, Twilo, a big black room with all-night D.J.
parties, was also closed by the authorities. A favorite of
glow-stick-twirling ravers, it kept an ambulance to run
victims of drug overdoses to emergency rooms.
Some old club hands say it is going to be hard to change a
business that has habitually thrived on hard drugs and bad
behavior. "Where are they going to get a club crowd that
isn't young and on drugs?" asked Steven Lewis, who was a
director of Danceteria, the Palladium and Club USA, and who
went to prison himself for nine months on drug charges.
"I'm sure the 22-year-olds that do go out and are creative
and cool would rather be at a divey rock club in the Lower
East Side or Williamsburg."
Residents of the club district are essentially powerless to
block them, community board members say, because the area
is zoned for manufacturing. "Many residents oppose the
opening of all these nightclubs," said Kevin Kossi, a
co-chairman of Community Board 4. But instead of trying to
block the issuance of liquor licenses and risk being
overruled by state authorities, Mr. Kossi said the board
has persuaded the clubs to help control the likely throngs
of pedestrians, the heavy late-night street traffic and the
thumping music.
But some say the clubs will bolster the area. "It's better
to have clubs, which are a controlled grittiness, than what
used to be there, which was a derelict area with
prostitutes and people having sex in cars," said Danny
Emerman, an owner of Glass, a lounge, and Bottino, a
restaurant, both on 10th Avenue.
Almost all the owners interviewed for this article said
they were trying to attract "an older, more sophisticated
crowd," a code phrase that some of them acknowledged means
"no 21-year-old `bridge and tunnelers' on Ecstasy."
Callin Fortis, an owner of Crobar, said the club's
entertainment would influence the behavior of its crowd.
"We're not going to book one trance D.J. for 14 hours in a
big dark room," he said. "It's going to be like a creative
playground." Crobar, which will hold 2,750 people, will
feature live performances, an art gallery, acrobats on
trampolines and what he described as bungee jumpers
delivering cocktails. (Next door to Crobar, a branch of the
"upscale" topless club Scores plans to open early next
month.)
Like many of the other new clubs, Crobar is being designed
to feel less like a giant disco and more like a series of
lounges. It will have a V.I.P. lounge, an ultra-V.I.P.
lounge and several small rooms catering to different
subsets and designed by fashion companies including
Heatherette (the flamboyant fashion-techno crowd), As Four
(a downtown rock crowd) and Supreme (alternative hip-hop
and street wear).
Richie Rich, a designer for Heatherette who was once
Michael Alig's assistant at Limelight, said the new clubs
would have it easier because indiscriminate drug
consumption is no longer so acceptable. "Now it's become
cool to get up earlier and be professional," he said,
although he acknowledged that he may just be growing older.
Robert Wootton, an owner of Spirit, the 35,000-square-foot
club in the former Twilo space, is betting that the
neo-clubgoer enjoys tarot readings, astrology and organic
foods. Testing the outer limits of a concept, Spirit will
combine nightclubbing and New Age. It will be divided into
zones: Body, a dance area with "uplifting" house music;
Mind, a spa with aromatherapy and massage; and Soul, an
organic and raw-food restaurant. It will have no V.I.P.
areas. "The concept doesn't really make sense on paper,"
Mr. Wootton said. He said he had "no idea" if it would make
money, but it was something he felt called upon to do.
The competition is heating up among club owners to enlist
the city's top promoters, models and night-life regulars to
draw in the many thousands of paying customers they will
need to stay in business. On the weekends, Avalon pays more
than 100 people, including promoters and eye candy, to pull
not just a crowd, but the right crowd.
"It's like 50 dogs fighting over a bone, and the bone is
the A-list," said Ronnie Madra, who promotes parties at
Lotus and Avalon and is considering offers from several of
the new clubs. One of his tactics is to hire what he calls
"extroverted beautiful people" like Ms. Salvail, whose sole
purpose is to hang out and look good, a job description at
other clubs, too, like Plaid and Lotus.
"I say here's $200, all you can drink and a table to fill
with a few of your good-looking friends," Mr. Madra said.
"When the average person walks past and sees them there
having fun, it makes the place seem a lot more `happening.'
"
On a recent Saturday night at Avalon, such social
engineering seemed to be paying off. The club, which has a
$25 cover charge, was mobbed at the entrance, with a line
down the block. Inside, the Habitrail-like hallways were
jammed with Japanese and German tourists and other
curiosity seekers. But a few glitches were apparent: the
lounge crowd and the techno dancers were not getting along.
Up in one of the three V.I.P. skyboxes, to which entry
could be gained only with the password "Brazil," Morgan
Handbury, 21, a model from Canada who moved to New York
City last month, was clutching her cocktail. "You can get
this big club thing anywhere in the world - Miami, South
Africa," said Ms. Handbury, who was wearing Levi's and a
lingerie top. "I'd much rather be in a small lounge without
all these random people. I hate the lighting in here, and
the music is awful."
She craved a smoke. "but there's no way I'm walking through
that crowd to get outside," she said.
In a bar off the main dance area where the D.J. Josh Wink
was spinning, Tyson Gorrie, 28, a lawyer who recently moved
to Manhattan, was wigging out. "There's too much of a money
vibe here, man," he said. "I'm not into it. It's like a
Euro place where you've got to buy a bottle just to get a
girl to talk to you."
A couple of blocks away, Club Deep, which caters mostly to
a clientele from outside Manhattan, was gelling better. The
two-level space with five V.I.P. areas was packed at 1 a.m.
Young men in Von Dutch trucker hats and leather pants and
young women in tight spandex tops inhaled cocktails and
bobbed their blow-dried hair to Chingy's "Right Thurr."
The club, decorated with amber-tinted mirrors, candles and
several giant photographs of half-naked women, looked like
a trendy lounge, only much bigger. A large dance floor with
spinning colored lights was deserted. Lauren Greenfield, a
24-year-old stripper from Queens, stood by the bar with her
friend Jennifer Fernandez, 28, a high school teacher from
Edgewater, N.J., who was celebrating her birthday.
"At most places you go out to, 80 percent of the guys are
going to be duds, which leaves 20 percent who are eligible,
right?" said Ms. Greenfield, who said she had no intention
of putting a toe on the dance floor. "Now at a big club,
that 20 percent is going to be a much higher number. I want
to go up to the V.I.P. area where the rich guys are."
In the V.I.P. area directly in her line of vision, Nick
Arsenis, 23, an accountant from Queens, and a 24-year-old
friend, Scott, who would not give his last name, were
sizing up the crowd from behind a velvet rope as they mixed
cocktails from carafes of orange and cranberry juice and a
$300 bottle of vodka. "We don't like to dance," said Mr.
Arsenis, who wore a button-up shirt and jeans and had
gelled hair.
Scott, who looked roughly the same, nodded. "We just like
to sit up here with bottles and meet cute girls," he said. |
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| Sunshine79 |
yeah i read this on a few boards. i am glad for the increase in variety but i thought some of those comments in the article were just sad.
i am here and there about the whole thing. |
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| Vlad |
They are right when they say that the new crowd is less inspired by drugs, although it doesnt dismiss the idea that it happens.
Im probably going to be a big fan of Spirit, formerly Twilo, for the NO V.I.P section, the restuarant, and for the ladies - the spa and massage.
Whats pathetic is the girls that were interviewed for this article are the typical Manhattan, city, type girls that dont dance nor do they like the music. They are in the club to look for guys in the V.I.P. sections with pockets full of money - I find this sickening.
Maybe the drug habit has slowed down a bit, the motivation for going to the clubs has not changed. |
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| Dinaire Force 1 |
interesting article,
i love the idea of new clubs opening but this VIP is really sad.
why buy a "table" at a dance club?
well see what happens when they all open. everyone says the same thing but once things get going, clubs change their views pretty quickly.... |
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| Trance@CU |
| quote: | Originally posted by Dinaire Force 1
interesting article,
i love the idea of new clubs opening but this VIP is really sad.
why buy a "table" at a dance club?
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I don't necessarily agree. VIP Rooms and Tables @ clubs can be fun when you want a varied experience. Often times I don't even bother because they attract people like those girls mentioned in the article, but sometimes it can work. If you are going out with a big group and want to be some what seperated from the masses having your own space is nice. I'm personally really excited about the revitilization of the club scene, as I missed out on the whole Twilo thing... BRING ON THE CLUBS, I'll be ready. |
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| NYCTrancefan |
In the V.I.P. area directly in her line of vision, Nick
Arsenis, 23, an accountant from Queens, and a 24-year-old
friend, Scott, who would not give his last name, were
sizing up the crowd from behind a velvet rope as they mixed
cocktails from carafes of orange and cranberry juice and a
$300 bottle of vodka. "We don't like to dance," said Mr.
Arsenis, who wore a button-up shirt and jeans and had
gelled hair.
Scott, who looked roughly the same, nodded. "We just like
to sit up here with bottles and meet cute girls," he said.
Enough said - Every club that you go to there will be arrogant and pompous tight asses, human nature. The best thing is I go out to have a good time and get my groove on, whatever club it is and as for the VIP, well let them as Jim Carrey said in The Grinch, pucker up and kiss where the sun don't shine. Its not that I hate VIP sections but the a-holes that are (sometimes) there makes it less appealing. I hope that the NY Club scene stays strong, the more clubs the more variety and thus top DJs every weekend. Yeah baby! |
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| PVD_S11DJ |
Robert Wootton, an owner of Spirit, the 35,000-square-foot
club in the former Twilo space, is betting that the
neo-clubgoer enjoys tarot readings, astrology and organic
foods.
isnt this exactly what you look for in a perfect night out? :rolleyes: |
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| arturob |
| quote: | Scott, who looked roughly the same, nodded. "We just like
to sit up here with bottles and meet cute girls," he said. |
this is great! nice way of thinkking! :D |
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| Vlad |
| quote: | Originally posted by wallflower
Arturo, who looked roughly the same, nodded. "We just like
to sit up here with bottles and hangout in the DJ booth with PvD," he said. |
:haha: :disbelief |
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| arturob |
| heh. yessssss :happy2: |
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| daffodil |
| hmm, i'd love to be paid $500 to hang out for a couple hours. where do you apply for that? :rolleyes: |
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