An Evening At: The Standard Biergarten

While there is some debate over the best time of year to open a nightlife venue, we are going to go with in or around Fall Fashion Week.  Better to nail it and open the first weekend of Fashion week, but close can be good enough.  While the Standard was open before Labor Day, and the Standard Grill the same, Boom Boom Room came seemingly out of nowhere to take the Fashion Week crown, using a monster lineup of events and dinners to catapult itself to the head of the pack for Fall openings.

However, now that the cat is out of the bag and you don't stand a chance in hell of getting in, what is one to do?  Why not try to have some of that hotness rub off on you from 20 floors below?  The Standard Biergarten opened to little fanfare last week, but what better way to kick of Oktoberfest this week with a little Monday night visit?

Located under the Highline, the Biergarten was packed on a balmy and breezy Monday night.  Buy your beer tickets at the outhouse on the way in and you have a choice of three German brews on tap.  We opted with the Bitburger.  Add a couple of ping pong tables (take that Spin!) and pretzel girls (yes) and there you have your new MePa alternative to the new hot mess that is Boom Boom, Simyone, Abe & Arthur's, etc.

Say a Prayer for the Jane

For all that's been said about the Beatrice Inn, no one ever started a website to document their gripes about it. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the Jane Hotel, where the Jane Ballroom has inspired a blog The Nightmare on Jane Street to let the world know about just how horrible things have become in the once sleepy corner of the West Village. Beyond the video seen above, NOJS has been covering each big night with a blow-by-blow account, including:

• And everything bad about Fashion Week has descended on the Jane Hotel.  The traffic guys are debuting their neon orange coats–this must be in an honor of the festivities, because it certainly isn’t keeping the traffic moving along.  Music thumping through the walls, calling 311.
• Apparently the existing sound system (which shakes the neighboring walls) is not loud enough for this evening’s event!  Apparently these guys told Community Board 2 that “music would be background only.”  Is this set-up just for decoration?  Maybe they are hosting Mime Rock tonight!
• Live band seems to be finished but quickly replaced with a DJ.  Music thumping through the windows.  Orange coats yelling at taxis.  Obnoxious French people who didn’t get in cursing and smoking outside the window.  Oh, and turns out cops were here earlier to deal with some disorderly person who got kicked out.

There are not many things that would make rich neighbors long for a run-down SRO, but I guess living next to the hottest nightclub in New York will make a person pretty desperate. No matter, the chances of the Jane losing their license before it is up for renewal (unless they are found to be breaking the law or have imminent code violations) is almost nil. But we certainly love to watch the show! [Via Curbed]

Gossip Girl Goes Nightlife

Anyone can spend a little time watching some trashy TV, especially if it is on topic. Last night's Gossip Girl hit the nightlife beat, and here's a little recap, DBTH style.

• The dark haired girl asked her new college roommates which club was the best to attend on Saturday nights. Wrong answer: Marquee. Right answer: None, because everyone knows clubs  are filled with B&T on the weekend.
• Low talker guy wants to open a venue in a fancy coop building that used to be a bank, with plans to have a restaurant on the ground floor and run a decadent speakeasy in the basement's bank vault. His plan is foiled when the drunk girl tells the crusty old Board member about his nightclub dreams. Oopsie. We can tell you that he had hired Lewis/Dizon Designs to do the renderings, and the project was going to be awesome.
• The puffy dark haired girl tries to break up an NYU roof party in order to get everyone to head to Monkey Bar. Like that would ever work. Who writes this stuff?

What an amazing hour of television. Posting may be limited today because we poked our eyes out immediately after the show ended.

Channeling Your Inner MacGyver

Still looking for a way to get into the Jane? One cheeky Little Birdy who is neither weird nor old channeled their inner MacGyver to breach the hotspot, saying "best way to get into the jane is to use a butter knife or screwdriver to pop open the emergency exit door on the 2nd floor which leads right into the VIP balcony! I'm a skinny white dork and was hanging with tommy hilfigger on Thursday night! Holler! Pro tip - if the door says "emergency exit alarm will sound" at a nightclub, chances are it wont." We never support vandalism or B&E, but do admire their ingenuity. Expect one of the Jane's Hells Angels-esque security guards to be positioned at the spot from now on.

The Dangers of NYC Nightclubs

Last night, Inside Edition ran a piece on the dangers that woman are succeptible to inside New York City nightclubs. The show managed to get the security footage from inside Marquee showing a man dragging a uber - drunk customer out of the club one night in March, 2009, leading to a vicious attach in the man's apartment in Queens. The show reccomends the normal precautions (stay in groups, don't accept drinks from anyone you don't know), but the real eye opener to us was how two undercover female staffers were treated by men at the club.

When two women, Kim and Allison, working undercover for INSIDE EDITION left a nightclub together, they heard the typical come-ons.   But when Kim left a night club alone, something more alarming happens. She is immediately approached by two men who want to give her cocaine, get her in their car and take her home. "You won't even try a little bit?" asks one man.  "We can go back to my apartment."

"I don't know what they were going to do if I had gone with them, and that's the scary part," says Kim.

While we certainly don't think that this means no one is safe if they go out on the town, it is important that we stay alert and try to look out for one another. Let's try to keep it fun out there.

La Pomme Opens Tonight

Last weekend was the Boom Boom Room and Abe & Arthur's, this weekend it's La Pomme's turn to welcome customers inside its gilded doors. The former Ultra space officially opens its doors for paying customers this weekend, and promises to offer an abundance of debauchery and live acts all weekend. Sounds like a real hoot! It's going to be a rough go trying to get party people up to Chelsea when all of the action is back in the Meatpacking District, but we wish them luck in the endeavor.

Flyer Follies: Is New York Ready For Rony Seikaly?

After his NBA career ended, Rony Seikaly hung around South Beach and has become a major force in the South Beach scene, DJing at numerous clubs and also dabbling as an investor. But now the former Syracuse star is ready to take New York City by way of Quattro at the Trump Soho, and is kicking things off tonight with a special set at 1OAK. We think that anyone who put up 15 and 10 over a decade in the NBA has the ability to do pretty much anything, but Miami nightlifers who try to bring their game up to New York learn a lesson pretty quickly. Just because they are both nightclubs, its a completely different business. And if they want to fare better than the last Miami group that set out to conquer Manhattan, they better be prepared with a different business model.

Tonight's Party at the ClockTower

Thursday night is still party night in this town. So while the event will be beyond boring, the place to be tonight is the famous penthouse of the ClockTower building in Dumbo, where David Walentas and Jared Kushner are hosting an event for some of the top real estate people in New York to debut the apartment to the industry. While we don't have much interest in hob knobbing with residential realtors, we do have an interest in sipping drinks in a $25,000,000 apartment that has 4 giant clocks on each of its walls and wrap around views of the entire city. Or maybe we will just buy it for a lark.

[Image Via]

Remembering The Club Kids

Here's another video blast from the past, when the oh so cool Club Kids got invited on to the Joan Rivers Show to talk about being so cool. That's why they went on the Joan Rivers show of course. Our favorite part is when Joan asked them, "what do you do for Halloween". LOL. Of course, she seems to have stolen their bit for her current look, but whateva. Doesn't this just make you long for the "good old days"?

How to Get Into the Jane

Have you still not managed to party at Jane Hotel yet? What is wrong with you? Seriously. If you have tried and failed, our good friends at the Daddy managed to get some advice on cracking the door from Lyz who works the Jane door every Tuesday and Thursday. Key takeaways:

Who gets in: "You have to be awesome, cool or really funny." But if you aren't deemed awesome, she suggests being weird, because "If there is someone really weird, I'll be like: yeah, go ahead."

Who doesn't get in: People who wait, since, "No one has ever gotten in by waiting. Ever."

Exceptions to the Rules: "I have a special affinity for cheesy hot New Jersey–type girls, sometimes. Also, grandma and grandpa types that come out."

Now we know where to take Grandma next time she is in town! All in all, she sounds like she really knows whats up, especially after her years of training at the Tribeca Grand and Maritime Hotel. Now if she could just do something about the music.

Rumor of the Day: Pink Elephant to Room Service

Here's a fun little rumor that we just heard. According to a Little Birdy, Pink Elephant on 27th Street is no longer the real Pink Elephant, and the owners of Pink Elephant are hoping to take over another venue. Confused? So are we, so we will let our Little Birdy explain. According to our LB, "M2 is operating the space & the Pink owners (David and Bobby) are gone. They went to court this morning in order to get an injunction against the M2 people to have them stop using there name." Not only that, but our LB also tells us that the Pink team are hoping to take over the former Room Service space on 21st Street that is currently hosting Mr. Black on Friday nights. Got all of that? We called Pink Elephant a few minutes ago, finding out that they are still open for business Wednesday through Sunday nights. Who is actually in charge, we don't know.

Simon Hamerstein Unleashes Purgatorio

News is breaking this afternoon that Simon Hammerstein and the Box crew will be taking their show to Times Square for a special 2 week run in late October. Named Purgatorio, the club will operate from October 15-October 31 in the former China Club space (268 W. 47th Street), and according to its website, promises to "offer an interactive Halloween experience unlike anything seen before in New York nightlife. Adults 21 and over will be immersed in a multi-level world of macabre fantasy complete with interactive variety acts and installations, all set in a dynamic environment that is at once frightening, erotic and whimsical." Freaky deaky! Tickets range from $39.99 to $59.99 while VIP tickets range from $59.99 to $79.99 and include two complimentary beverages and preferred access. That is a bargain for us!

Does Purgatorio sound like fun to you? Wait until we tell you the rules of the house . . .

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