The nightclub business in New York City is a revolving door of black leather banquettes and autocratic doormen. The delicate balance of hot new night spot and so last year is always at a tipping point. This year, one of the most talked about clubs in the city is the lounge formerly known as the Boom Boom Room in the Standard Hotel. This Andre Balazs hotel made headlines when it first opened for the floor to ceiling windows and reported bedroom antics in full view of pedestrians on the Highline down below. As locals ambled down the West Side Highway men and women on the 6th, 11th, or 15th floors could be seen in their birthday suits in not quite PG-13 scenarios no matter the time of day. Some say they were paid to appear to raise hype and awareness for the hotel - clearly a non-orthodox and cutting edge brand management philosophy. Others simply chalked up the tabloid revelations to the excess and revelry that took place behind the glass facade of one of the hippest hotels in New York City. If the room with the double beds on the 3rd floor was getting this much action, one could only imagine what happens behind the firmly shut doors of the top floor in the so-called Boom Boom Room.
Hype eventually met reality when I found my way inside last weekend after a birthday dinner at The Standard Grill. After passing what seemed like multiple security checkpoints and an awkward confrontation in the elevator where two bystanders did not make the cut to go upstairs, we found ourselves face to face with some of the most breathtaking panoramic views of New York City. The entire bar was encased in windows overlooking Manhattan and the combination of height and startling landscape was almost vertigo-inducing. Even the bathrooms were a box of windows complete with lone toilets hovering over the Hudson River - clearly this hotel is not big on privacy. I think we may have been the last to leave, captured below in the barren 4AM snapshots. We were clearly none the wiser and if you had asked me at the time I would have said it was a very happening scene. Goes to show hype is really just that and all you really need is your favorite people and an empty dance floor. Something to remember if you find yourself en route to the Boom Boom Room and end up not passing go to collect your 200 dollars, which in Boom Boom speak is getting pulled from the elevator by a burly doorman.
Hype eventually met reality when I found my way inside last weekend after a birthday dinner at The Standard Grill. After passing what seemed like multiple security checkpoints and an awkward confrontation in the elevator where two bystanders did not make the cut to go upstairs, we found ourselves face to face with some of the most breathtaking panoramic views of New York City. The entire bar was encased in windows overlooking Manhattan and the combination of height and startling landscape was almost vertigo-inducing. Even the bathrooms were a box of windows complete with lone toilets hovering over the Hudson River - clearly this hotel is not big on privacy. I think we may have been the last to leave, captured below in the barren 4AM snapshots. We were clearly none the wiser and if you had asked me at the time I would have said it was a very happening scene. Goes to show hype is really just that and all you really need is your favorite people and an empty dance floor. Something to remember if you find yourself en route to the Boom Boom Room and end up not passing go to collect your 200 dollars, which in Boom Boom speak is getting pulled from the elevator by a burly doorman.
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