Rabbit in the Moon, Sky Room and the Standard Hotel Rooftop

The Nightlife Report for June 17, 2010
Compiled by Gamal Hennessy

…I hunt down the nightlife news so you don’t have to…

Opening
Rabbit in the Moon
(Thrillist)
A new gastropub has hopped into the Village (sorry, I had to throw in that pun). Sample the foie gras with strawberry gastrique before the NYU kids come back for the fall semester and discover this place.

Standard Rooftop
(Urban Daddy)
Boom Boom Room, the club of the moment nestled inside the Standard Hotel, is opening up its rooftop this week. If you consider that Boom Boom is one of the hardest doors in the city right now and rooftop bars are typically hard to get into during the summer anyway, then you should be very proud of yourself if you get to enjoy a summer sunset here.

Sky Room
(Urban Daddy)
If you can’t get into the Standard rooftop, and you’ve had enough of Hudson Terrace or the Empire rooftop, head over to Times Square. Go into the Marriott Marquis before the park in the middle of Broadway and the tourists throngs piss you off too much, skip the revolving bar and visit this new rooftop lounge that will give you great views of everything in the city, except those people down below sitting in the middle of the street.

Government
NYC Sets Up Community Tools for Self Organizing
(Business Wire)
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is introducing a new online system that will help community boards and other citizens get access to and get involved with local government. This could make it even easier for “block associations” and community boards to band together to put pressure on local operators, but it can also be a way for nightlife supporters to get together and prove that not everyone in New York wants all the clubs closed.

Management
Trends in Successful Nightlife Operations
(Good Night Mr. Lewis)
I’ve already pointed out that various economic and political pressures on nightlife operators are forcing them to alter their business models and adapt to the changing times. Steve Lewis touches on a few of the major trends that have taken hold in the past few years including increased food service, nightlife/ hotel alliances, all digital DJ booths and guest list only events. The movement toward smaller multi purpose venues could be another sign of the end of big Pacha/ Santos type clubs in New York until someone can come up with a business model that can support it.


Have fun
Gamal

Amity Hall, Boom Boom Room, No Name Bar and The Norry

The New York Nights Club Report for December 9, 2009
Compiled by Gamal Hennessy

I hunt down the nightlife news so you don’t have to…

Opening
Amity Hall
(Urban Daddy)
The Village gets a beer garden that has more in common with a cocktail lounge than a pub crawl destination.

The Norry at Kampuchea
(Martini Boys)
The LES gets a gastropub based on Cambodian street fare. That’s different even for New York.

Closing
No Name Bar
(Eater)
A fire has temporarily shut down this Flatiron watering hole.

Opinion
Boom Boom Room vs. Studio 54
(Guest of a Guest)
An operator from the Studio 54 era explains why the newest A list venue can’t have the same cache or energy as the legendary club.

Have fun.
Gamal

Beatrice Inn, Drop Off Service and The Manhattan Inn

The New York Nights Club Report for November 5, 2009
Complied by Gamal Hennessy

Opening
Manhattan Inn
(Time Out New York)
Greenpoint gets a gastropub of its own...

Developments
Beatrice Inn
(New York Magazine)
The recently closed West Village hotspot might be looking to resurrect itself further downtown…

Drop Off Service

(Urban Daddy)

The newest cocktail menu combines infused liquor with OTC cold remedies to create the Flu Menu…

Have fun.
G

Ainsworth: The Venue with Something for Everyone?

by Gamal Hennessy

Nightlife venues used to be melting pots; microcosms of the city itself. Preppy, hipster hip hop, rocker, model, plain, professional, artsy, straight, gay all occupied different pockets of the same venue. The music would shift back and forth to cater to each crowd and mixing and mingling outside your comfort zone was as easy as crossing the room.

Niche venues and promotion companies that catered to a specific demo have largely replaced the mega venue melting pot. The multitude of choice has segregated the nightlife community into smaller tribes of like-minded patrons. This new era gives us more control over the type of night we want to have, but it doesn’t offer many opportunities to sample music and people from other walks of life unless we go to a new club.

Ainsworth might be a return to the venue that tries to be all things to all people. Billed as a gastropub (basically a pub or a sports bar that serves gourmet pub food), the 6,000 square foot Chelsea has a lot to offer. There are huge screens to watch sports. There is a pub menu that includes unique items like pineapple ribs, wild mushroom pizza, and miso duck spring rolls in addition to pub favorites like calamari and cheese fries. There is a DJ booth and a good sound system for music. There is a small place to dance. There is a space for bottle service. There is a brunch menu for the daytime crowd and there are specialty drinks for the ladies. The only thing the Ainsworth doesn’t have is an outdoor terrace. It might not do everything perfectly, but it does have the potential to do several things well.

The crowd is the most unique aspect of the space. Instead of instantly drawing in a huge sports crowd, or a big model and bottle crowd the operators are filling the room with a variety of patrons. The emo kids stood by the bar with the business suit crowd. The glamour girls hung out near the nerds. The DJ dropped a Michael Jackson tune and everyone went bananas. If you ignored the people staring down at their Crackberries, you might have mistaken the scene for the old melting pot venues of the 80s.

The novelty will eventually wear off and the free liquor will eventually stop flowing. When that happens, a specific group of patrons might eventually claim Ainsworth as its territory. You should get there before that happens. Who knows when you’ll find another venue that will let you mingle outside your comfort zone just by crossing a room.

Have fun

Gamal