Gawker: Clubs

7 Things You Should Never Do in a Club

Brian Moylan — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:10:13 EST

Going to nightclubs would be a lot more enjoyable if people knew how to behave properly. Follow these seven simple yet important rules and you'll make life easier for everyone. More »

Page Six Gets NYC Nightlife Wrong

Jeff Neumann — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 12:56:00 EDT

The post-Richard Johnson era Page Six today has an item about Chinatown's Santos Party House being shut down over the "criminal sale or possession of controlled substances" inside the club. Too bad they ran a picture of the wrong guys! More »

Carl Paladino Was Buffalo's Gay Club Kingpin

Jim Newell — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 12:33:57 EDT

New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, who doesn't care for those Speedo-wearing gays and their gyrating, actually used to rent space to two gay nightclubs in Buffalo. His son even ran one, Cobalt, Buffalo's onetime "gay club of the moment." More »

Terrible Soho Club Don Hill's Becomes Cool Ten Years Too Late

Jeff Neumann — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:32:06 EDT

Somehow, in this the year 2010, a Soho club known for having epic goth and 80's dance nights, Don Hill's, is suddenly hot, hosting the Pop Magazine Fashion Week party and other ragers. What's next, Wetlands? Oh, sweet irony. [NYO] More »

Tribeca Prude Vandalizes Legendary Sex Club With Dog Poo

Jeff Neumann — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 05:01:00 EDT

There was a time when running a sex club out of your apartment where guests played with fire and dressed in rubber suits was cool. Not anymore. At least not to one man, who viciously attacked Dmitri's Apartment with feces. More »

World's Worst Father to Open World's Worst Nightclub

Richard Lawson — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:03:25 EDT

Michael Lohan, a person talented and accomplished enough to have had a daughter who was famous for a while five years ago, is opening up a nightclub in the Hamptons called, pathetically, Controversy. Don't worry! They'll screen for drugs there. More »

Chelsea Clubs Shut Down Because They Are a 'Wild West' of Fun Drugs

Adrian Chen — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:50:34 EDT

Oh, come on, if you can't buy Ecstasy, meth, ketamine, etc. in douche-y Chelsea clubs, where can you buy them? Today, the city shut down Chelsea's M2 UltraLounge and its sister club, Pink, for being club drug hubs. More »

The Bizarre World of Reality TV Nightclub Appearances

Matt Harvey — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:52:32 EDT

Dozens of minor celebrities are currently crisscrossing the country to collect piles of cash for nightclub appearances. Snooki gets $10,000. Kim Kardashian is yours for $50,000. But why do promoters pay? They tell us they have no choice. More »

Coming Soon: NYC's First Gay 'Resort'

cityfile — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:08:00 EST

Earlier this week a real estate developer announced plans to open an aquarium in Times Square filled with sharks and penguins. But that isn't the only ambitious new project headed to the neighborhood. A gay resort may be coming soon, too: More »

The War on Smoking Heats Up

cityfile — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:22:00 EST

Hope all you smokers enjoyed the (temporary, unofficial) lifting of the city's smoking ban while it lasted. A couple of weeks after the front page of the Times' Sunday Styles section pointed out that the city wasn't doing much to enforce the law, and now the Health Department is taking action. It's now moving to shut down five clubs—The Box, M2, Lit Lounge, Southside, and the Imperial—after an "undercover sting" revealed repeated violations. And it says it's planning to crack down on other clubs and bars in the coming weeks. [NYDN] More »

You Had to Smoke in the Club, Didn't You?

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:08:51 EST

NYC authorities are actually trying to shut down four clubs—including nasty burlesque-porn den The Box—for flouting indoor smoking laws. The Box is fighting for its very survival today! Nobody is "too cool" for rules. [NYDN; Related. Pic via] More »

Sasstasstic Amy Sacco Shoots Shuttering Rumors Down: Bungalow 8's Coming Back

Foster Kamer — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EDT

According to gossips, Amy Sacco's always been broke, and her legendary New York club Bungalow 8, which hasn't been open for a month, is dead. Wednesday night, the (heart)beat supposedly stopped. Now, Sacco's hitting back with excuses. They are? More »

'Closed for Renovations' Is the New 'Closed'

cityfile — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:03:00 EDT

Restaurants, bars, and clubs don't just shut down these days. They "close for renovations" for a few weeks or months. Then they announce that they are not, in fact, planning to reopen and they've been shuttered for good. Below: a few recent examples of what is sometimes the result of a series of unexpected events, but is often a face-saving public relations technique. More »

Cox-ucking Recession Rox The Box

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:30:21 EDT

Downtown ~~den of sin~~ "burlesque club" The Box got a bad rep for supposedly being dirty and oversexed and drug-strewn, but isn't that the point? Well, that point may be moot. Anonymous internet sources say The Box has problems! More »

Saving The Beatrice Inn Is NYC's Most Pressing Issue

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:12:44 EDT

"Nightlife Preservation": The political cause you can support by sniffing coke in the Beatrice Inn bathroom! Is it possible to support a cause in theory while wishing its supporters would shut up, in practice? In this case, yes. More »

Pink Elephant Responds

cityfile — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:17:00 EDT

The folks at Guest of a Guest forwarded us a statement from Pink Elephant regarding the bankruptcy filing we reported on earlier. They'd like to make it clear that it's just the Southampton outpost of Pink Elephant that filed Chapter 11. Since it's a franchise operation, the club in Manhattan (as well as the one in São Paulo) won't be affected by it. So if you were concerned you'd no longer have the opportunity to meet the sort of sweet, down-to-earth girls you see pictured, don't you worry. You will! More »

Pink Elephant Southampton Goes Bust

cityfile — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:18:00 EDT

The State of Clubland

cityfile — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:42:00 EDT

Zagat's new nightlife survey has some details on how the city's bars and clubs have been faring amid the downturn. Roughly half of the 6,000 New Yorkers surveyed reported going out less often because of the economy, although 67 percent said the nightlife scene was "the same as it ever was," which is nice to hear, of course, but may come as news to people who remember the days when no one knew what HIV was, the idea of a smoking ban would have been laughable, and clubgoers had yet to figure out that the obsessive use of cocaine can kind of screw up your life. According to the survey, the Lower East Side is NYC's "hottest nightlife neighborhood," while the meatpacking district was named "most over-rated/or over-hyped." As for "the growing trend of bars with master mixologists," more than half of the people surveyed said it was "an excuse to charge more for drinks." You've been warned, Sasha Petraske. More »

Southampton Gets the Axe

cityfile — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:20:00 EDT

There's a new Hamptons venue you'll want to add to the list of places to stay miles away from this summer. Actually, it's not new. It Dune in Southampton, which is sporting a new name this season—"The Axe Lounge"—as part of a silly marketing scheme concocted by, yes, Axe. The stunt is the brainchild of Mike Heller, the nightlife promoter-turned-entertainment marketer whose stellar resume includes putting a smoke-free tobacco product called Ariva in the hands of Lindsay Lohan and connecting America's Next Top Model's CariDee English with Raptiva, which is apparently a psoriasis medication of some sort. (He's the one crouching down in the photo, by the way.) More »

Dude There's This Axe Body Spray Club in The Hamptons With So Many Sluts, I Swear

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:02:09 EDT

Haha, we know exactly what to make of this: Axe Body Spray is sponsoring a nightclub in the Hamptons for the whole summer. Brah: More »

Marquee's Secret: All Those Free-Spending Bankers

Hamilton Nolan — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 11:00:00 EDT

Some wacky Harvard Business School kids decided to write up a case study on undead Chelsea celebuclub Marquee, probably so they could get past the doorman. They found out Marquee's profit: More »

Sean Avery to Be Owner of Club, Not Bouncer or Interior Designer

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:41:44 EDT

Vogue-interning hockey star Sean Avery is opening a Tribeca "sports bar meets country club" with the proprietor of drug-free downtown nightspot the Beatrice Inn. A joke about Avery, Josh Hartnett, and coke goes here. [NYO] More »

Hilarious Party Priest Defrocked

Richard Lawson — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:20:52 EST

There's no such thing as fun anymore. Remember that party priest who spent thousands on NYC bottle service? His shocked parish has bullied the Episcopal church into defrocking him. More »

The End Of Bottle Service At Last?

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:54:56 EDT

When Wall Street began crumbling yesterday, the rich bemoaned the loss of their money. Everybody else in New York immediately said to themselves: "Jiminy Cricket, could this be the end of mandatory bottle service in shitty clubs full of rich pricks?" I mean, it was the universal response! Bottle service rules require the purchase of a wildly overpriced bottle of liquor just to enter a club. But early indications are that Manhattan nightclubs may already be putting the $450 bottle of Grey Goose to rest. Dare we even hope?: More »

Michael Phelps' "Aggressive Grip"

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:36:35 EDT

Olympic gold medalist and American hero Michael Phelps never stops training. In this photo you see him strengthening the grip of his championship hands by squeezing the firm, champion buttocks of a dancer at the Las Vegas Playboy Club last night. The picture was snapped by roving Radar nightlife reporter Neel Shah, who selflessly pursued this journalistic scoop in the face of Olympian opposition:

Neel notes that the Olympian was accompanied by an entourage of striped-shirted schmucks, one of whose sole duties appeared to be pointing a flashlight at anyone attempting to photograph the swimmer during his efforts to obtain a gold medal in ass-grabbing. ("It was unreal," says Neel. "Within moments of entering the club he summoned two girls over... I've never seen such an aggressive grip.")

[More at Radar] More »

Good Night, Amy Sacco

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:32:11 EDT

There was a time in New York City's history, back in the heady days of "a few years ago," when nightlife queen Amy Sacco's life was a worthy item of gossip. She was at the center of an entire universe of celebrities at their most glittering. Today, she's worth chronicling mostly as the living embodiment of the transience of nightlife fame. And a new profile of her in Page Six Magazine (by former Gawker-er Joshua David Stein) can be seen as a grand requiem for Sacco and her Bungalow 8-driven empire. Nothing lasts forever... More »

Hamptons Expertise Meets Egyptian Party Boat

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:52:35 EDT

Jetsetting nightlife trend update: It's not just Dubai that's the hot new destination for NYC club owners bored with drab Americans. Egypt will soon be an attractive stop for money-burning Eurotrash wastrels as well! Undaunted by the country's Islamic system of law and taboos against homosexuality, intoxication, and women doing things (party!), we hear that the Pink Elephant club moguls are building a club aboard a 26,000-square-foot, $100 million party boat that is scheduled to sail the Nile river this coming New Year's eve. I hope they have all their government payoffs in order. More »

"A chic sheikh" Is Involved

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:47:18 EDT

All the hot NYC club mavens are opening their next nightlife outposts in Dubai. "You’re only a few hours from Europe and Asia,” explains one. The Arctic Circle also fits that criteria. Get there early! [NY Mag] More »

Plaster Camel Casino To Be Next Celeb Hot Spot

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:19:22 EDT

Sam Nazarian is "a rich kid from Beverly Hills" who spent his 20s becoming a Hollywood club mogul, hangs out with Salma Hayek, bought a house next to Leo DiCaprio, and played himself on an episode of Entourage. Now he's 32, and he's determined to bring his special brand of awesome party magic—which "draws such names as Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan"—to Las Vegas. He's gonna make Ocean's 11 come alive again, baby, yea! And his PR team demands you respect his hustle: More »

Pride Weekend Brings Night Club Raids

ian spiegelman — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:14:50 EDT

Friday brought to this city a wave of gays from across the country looking to party in anticipation for today's Pride Parade and related festivities. It also conveniently brought a police crackdown on gay-friendly nightlife venues. Marquee, Pacha, and Splash were all raided Friday, according to tipsters, with Marquee and Pacha shuttered until further notice. More »

The Nail In The Coffin For Amy Sacco?

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:14:33 EDT

Is this the end of Amy Sacco? We're going to say it is. The onetime NYC nightlife queen's restaurant Bette in Chelsea—formerly considered a complement to her club Bungalow 8, a food-and-fun empire that would never be destroyed—is closed. No big to-do; just a lock on the door, and the end of an era. What happened? More »

Club Now Claims To Have Intervened In Gay Attack

Ryan Tate — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:50:08 EDT

Nightclub 1 Oak, which has been accused of reacting with total indifference to a gay-bashing incident and of allowing an alleged assailant to escape untouched, is now saying it tried to stop the attacker. Reports the Post: "Club sources say the night was not promoted as a 'gay night' and that the attacker was restrained by security but broke away." The club's flacks are also now saying that "this incident was handled by security and staff immediately," which was not mentioned in their statement to us yesterday. That differs sharply from what one eyewitness told us yesterday: More »

Did 1 Oak Try To Shrug Off Gay-Bashing Incident?

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:35:11 EDT

When the Meatpacking District club 1 Oak opened in December, it was the toast of the Manhattan nightlife scene. It was founded by a quartet of club veterans including Butter frontman Richie Akiva , Lotus co-owner Jeffrey Jah, and former Ashley Olsen boyfriend Scott Sartiano as a "kind of boutique space" for the elite. But a tipster tells us that everything is not well at 1 Oak; last week, they say, there was a vicious gay-bashing incident in the club—forcing one victim to go to the hospital—that club management tried to sweep under the rug. The eyewitness' full account of the violence, and the club's response to our questions, after the jump. More »

Beyond The Velvet Rope: Just Another Crappy Bar

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:43:15 EDT

Whenever you think you've truly gained access to an exclusive club of some sort—particularly in New York—think again, fool. There is always another inner sanctum far too exclusive to admit the likes of you. That was a great piece of wisdom passed down by Graydon Carter long ago, and confirmed in former Gawker-er Josh Stein's new article in Page Six Magazine, which takes a peek "Beyond the Velvet Rope" at the hottest spots in the hottest city where the hottest people go. And you want to know the even bigger secret? The most exclusive places in the city are just as boring as everywhere else you've ever been: More »

New Book Club Consolidates Liberal Outrage

Michael Weiss — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:18:08 EDT

Now readers of blogs can choose to not read books the cheap way. Elizabeth Wagley, a communications adviser for Doctors of the World, has founded the Progressive Book Club, which hopes to harness the power of the Internets and is already off to a good start by complimenting the vast competitive conspiracy: "The right has always understood the power of ideas, the power of books as legitimizers of ideas," Wagley tells the New York Times. Unfortunately, at about $1 a book, her left-wing pricing is as mercenary as the middle-aged and grumpy Conservative Book Club. Also, Michael Chabon, Erica Jong, and Todd Gitlin choose your monthly selections, so hope you like chess-playing Zionist sex fiends obsessed with the sixties. More »

Visit Cousin Vinny's Strippers-And-Sandwiches Club Tonight!

Hamilton Nolan — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:26:33 EDT

There's a new hotspot in The Bronx that you simply won't want to miss unless you hate sex and lunch meat. It's COUSIN VINNY'S LITTLE SECRET! Tell us: where else can you pay just $50 for six hours of hardcore lap dance action, unlimited fountain soda, and a footlong sandwich of your choice, all in "a discrete and totally safe atmosphere to indulge in your carnal fantasies": namely, a former Subway sandwich franchise. In the Bronx! We've been sent a transcribed version of the flier that "Cousin Vinny" Agnello—owner of a stripper service and the self-described "King of Bling featured as a "Celebrity" on the DIGGS WEBSITE" (two Diggs!)— is reportedly passing around the area. Our tipster says the local merchant's association is...concerned about Cousin Vinny's new venture. But we predict this will be a hot alternative to seeing Sex And The City. "MEMBERSHIP HAS IT'S PRIVILEDGES!" Vinny's full, quirkily awesome invitation, after the jump: More »

Soho House Too 'Artsy' For Plastic Surgeons

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:57:33 EDT

Andrew Klapper, a New York plastic surgeon, applied for membership in Soho House, the private Meatpacking District club. But he was turned down, because Soho House said it prefers to cater "to an 'artsy' clientele." Uh, pretty loose definition of "artsy," Soho House! The membership manager there said "We would rather have a great person from IMG versus a plastic surgeon." Perhaps they're looking for a new angle; spies have said the club has been rather dead on recent weekends. (Disagree? Email us). Doree Shafrir once memorably said the club's pool "when not filled with children and their pee, is filled with money managers, mortgage brokers, and Eurotrash." Which sounds like a fairly accurate representation. And how can they say Dr. Klapper isn't artistic when he not only invented the Klapper Breast Scissors, but also pioneered the use of the Davinci (artist name!) Robot system?: More »

Elderly Tastemakers Merrily Booze It Up

Hamilton Nolan — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:31:17 EDT

Take a journey, if you will, into the secret inner chambers of New York's cultural elites. It's an exclusive club where well-dressed "raconteurs and bon vivants" chatter urbanely while tuxedoed waiters scurry about. Of course, their meetings are at noon on Tuesdays, their members are mostly over the hill, and they didn't admit women until 1991. Welcome to the Dutch Treat Club, the Algonquin Roundtable for 21st-century Manhattan olds who still like to drink and ogle girls! More »

Hills Pretty Boy Is One Expensive Bouncer

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:15:50 EDT

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Don't expect to roll mobb deep to the club with Hills star Spencer Pratt unless you're ready to spread around some serious cash, my friend. In his closely-read advice column in Radar this week, the boy wonder responds to a needy fan—whom we envision wearing a tight shirt and a year-round tan—who's in anguish over only being able to hit the town with five of his boys at a time. "You can't roll in anywhere with more than five guys holding your hand," he explains. How can he satisfy all of his other homeboys who want to hold his hand in the club? Spencer says: Money money money money, monnneeeeyyyyyyy: More »

Clubs Overrun With Angry Midgets

Hamilton Nolan — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:40:43 EDT

Hulking literary doorman Rob the Bouncer's assertion: short guys (or "Wee 'Pocket Men,'" as he eloquently puts it) flock to clubs, where they start more trouble than normal-sized men because of their little Napoleon complexes. "All I see, all night long, is all these angry little dudes coming up here. I feel bad for them. Sometimes I want to bend down and say, 'Hey little fella, what's the matter? Why don't you go inside and turn that frown around?'" Ok, we'll give you that one. It's true. Another good reason to leave the club to the bouncers, while the short guys visit the homes of the bouncers' girlfriends for surreptitious assignations! What now, giant? [Clublife] More »