Lenny Kravitz: Bullish on GoldBar

In the current edition of Spin Magazine, writer Jonathan Ames, gets to spend an evening with Lenny Kravitz at GoldBar. Ames, probably the only music writer who does not know who John Mayer is, is the ultimate fish out of water. He describes himself as "a journalist with bad breath, bad teeth, bad hair, and bad debt", but for one night, he gets to be Lenny's wing man. Hilarity ensues, including Ames blowing his chance to dance with Cameron Diaz, imagining a favorite author writing a murder scene in the lounge, and generally creeping his interview subject and every female out. Good stuff Ames. But the piece does give those not in the know a glimpse into the life of the true GoldBar elite. European models, celebs, bankers and oh those sweet truffle fries. Enjoy.

The Gold Standard

Some people love to hate on the state of nightlife in New York City. Not us of course, but some people. But the City is still very fun, and it is possible to have a great time going out. On that note, a Little Birdy filed this report after what seems to be a lonnnnnnng night out, saying:

u know gold bar? place is pretty serious stuff. degenerates of nyc in full swing at gold bar. 19 yr old brazilians having makeshift photoshoots as the party floods into the dj booth to play with the new mac computers. bottles of goose everywhere. i have 2 brain cells right now. give me some verbs.

Was that English? Our Little Birdy's goose is done and done dirty. But you all get the drift. It seems that they had a killer time, and so can all of you.

Keep sharing those stories everybody. We love em.

Golden Years

Do you work at GoldBar? If no, that's too bad. If yes, then we hear that someone has an early holiday gift for you. Izzy Gold, the bad ass clothing makers and sometime DJ's at the swanky spot on Broome, has created a special t-shirt just for GoldBar staff and friends. Swanky. So if you are a GoldBar Elite, congrats. You get a t-shirt. If not, you can stop by the new Blue and Cream store on the Bowery to peruse some of their other goods, none of which are as special as this t-shirt.

Papabubble Parties Down

On a warm Saturday night, with about 70 close friends and family members enjoying themselves both inside the store and out on Broome Street, Papabubble officially opened for business. Just two days late to boot. Not too shabby. The walls were fully stocked with fresh candy, open jars with samples were everywhere, and we had a choice of some bubbly and Tecate for our sipping pleasure. Chris and Fiona, your stateside Papabubble proprietors, even put on a little candy making show for us. Then we got more samples of fresh warm candy, which is pretty tough to beat. Our favorite? The oh so decadent Gold Ring, made by the Illuminator himself. You can ask for him by name when you stop by, which we expect each of you to do sometime very soon.
Check out our Flickr page for some more great shots of the Papabubble Party!

Update: Vig Bar

After the initial shock wore off from Vig Bar's possible and untimely demise, our intrepid commenters have come through to calm the nerves. Apparently there has been a management turnover at the Spring Street watering hole, not to mention a small run in with the SLA. Says our commenter, "The sign on the door said that they were forced to be shut by the SLA for 2 infractions going back to 2005. Looks like they lost their appeals. But the mandatory shuttering was only for 1 week. They'll re-open this Thursday." Huzzah! Being closed must have put a dent in their bottom line. Why doesn't everyone pop in there sometime soon for a drink and show some support.

Spring Street Surprise

We may have lost an old friend over the weekend. A little birdy says, "Was meeting some friends at Sweet and Vicious over the weekend. As I was approaching, I noticed that Vig Bar was closed. The iron gate was pulled down, and there was some kind of sign in the door. I couldn't read what it said though, and didn't head over there to look." Wow. Vig Bar seemed to be doing alright. They also seemed well positioned for the nightlife shift that is taking place. We certainly didn't see this coming. Hopefully, it was just a one off thing. Calls to the establishment went unanswered. Consider this developing.

From Russia With Gold

GoldBar made a statement with their location choice and their liberal use of, well, gold. Not to mention their drink prices. It seems obvious that they would also take their door policy next level. So how did they do it? A little birdy who has spent some time in Russia reports, "behind the gold mirrored front windows, GoldBar's host and owners utilize a 'face control' policy where they stare down prospective party-ers from the safety of a trick mirror and let them in based on appearance. Seriously straight out of Moscow. Not that we're complaining, but the club itself was full of old French men with their sweaters tied over their shoulders and their mistresses. Not fun and thumbs down." Old French men? For all that hassle, we would expect just a bit more.

Reduxe: 40 Deuce

While the city went gaga over David Bowie and Sting's partnership with Ivan Kane to bring 40 Deuce to Little Italy, we had some other things on our mind. Then we got an interesting email. Says our little birdy, "I am half surprised that it's headed to that neighborhood. i was under the impression it was going to be westside. I knew for a couple of years that they were looking, then a broker i know supposedly found them a space. In fact, there was a thing on it in page six, so I thought it was a done deal." You know something birdy? We remember that too. Unfortunately, the post's archives suck. But we found some text

VAN Kane's Forty Deuce is finally coming from Los Angeles to New York. Seven months after we first reported on the plan to export the burlesque-themed boite, a deal was inked Wednesday afternoon with Sting and David Bowie as partners. Kane is set to take over the space at 539 W. 21st St., which was tacky teen club Crush.

Not that you can blame Ivan and company. We've been trying to tell you that Chelsea is in trouble.

GOLDBAR: The Follow Up

Well that didn't take long. A little birdy just forwarded us a note from the good people of Goldbar, that informs us:

GOLDBAR will now open daily from 6pm til 4am. Please join us after work and in the early evening to experience our new menu of aperitivi and Italian Snacks. Pressed Tramezzini Sandwiches, Porcini risotto balls, and more. It's the perfect way to end the business day or start your evening out.

Sounds delicious, but really makes us wonder what kind of super-exclusive, trend setting global nightspot is this anyway? We thought the business people were only welcome once the hipsters abandon the joint.

In the Dead of the Night(life)

Some interesting developments in the last few days regarding two of the more important bars to open in the last few months. First, it seems Death and Co. ran into some neighborhood opposition regarding its quasi-restaurant service. We've been to D and C a few times, and well, why we appreciate the name and above average cocktails, we are going to give it a pass.

We have also seen Gold Bar go from impossible door to posing for pictures. We admit we haven't been yet, because well, we aren't that hip. But early reports to DBTH are troubling, with one birdy who has been reporting "tons of models, cool space, and the best old-fashioned that $18 can buy." Seems about right, until our resident nightlife expert (yeah, we got one of those too!) saying "They have not gotten any good pr and the opening was not as exclusive as I thought it should be, so they are trying to drum up some pr. Thing is, they usually go Page 6 or NY Mag, which makes me question what is going on if they go to Blogs." I guess they can bend with the best of them.

Well, we like the blog PR route, since you know we are one. (And they love us). But, with Sacco-ville cooked, the irrelevant MeatPacking district, and the Lower East Side's Dunzo status, the state of NYC nightlife is in serious flux.