Upstairs
Upstairs was our Mecca. And sadly, it’s been entirely erased from the history of nightlife. Trying to find a picture of Upstairs for our social posts was nearly impossible. I’m not sure if it was purposeful because of how Upstairs came to close or simply because it was so secretive in its heyday.
Upstairs was the actual upstairs of Café Bari, which was open in SoHo for a long time. The club entrance was around the corner from the café on Spring Street. And it was an impossible door. Wayne, who has since passed would only let you in if you said the right promoter name. But he knew me by name in those days.
We would be at Upstairs almost every single night. There were usually several clubs that our group of friends was spread out within during any given night, so around 2:30am when those parties died down, we would all meet at Upstairs to hang out until about 4 or 5 in the morning. It was the same group of us, nearly every night.
And the celebrities. One of my first nights at Upstairs was during Fashion Week, and I remember meeting JC Chasez. Nightlife was all glitz and glamor to me at that moment. We also partied alongside celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio at Upstairs. But it was never about the celebrities. It was about our group of friends. Because we had just as much fun on the nights when it was only 20 of us in the club. And the manager couldn’t for us to leave.
For all my friends reading this who went to Upstairs. I hope this brings back tons of amazing memories. While Upstairs isn’t featured in the story, it was an important part of my story in New York.
Johnny Utah's
Where to begin with Johnny Utah’s! This place is in the novel multiple times. It’s unique because it’s actually a bar, not a club. And it’s across from Rockefeller Center and Radio City, off of Fifth Ave. In New York when I was going out, clubs tended to be in neighborhoods, like Meatpacking, SoHo, or Chelsea. Johnny U’s isn’t near anything else we frequented.
But it was one of my favorites. Every Monday, we would pack into tables around the bull riding ring and drink tequila and Bud Light. During football season, the MNF games would be playing. And when we first started going to Johnny’s, you could have multiple riders on the bull. So three of us at a time would pack ourselves onto the bull and hold on for dear life. Generally speaking, if you were a pretty girl, you would stay on the bull longer.
It was another place I met a lot of lifelong friends. It was also our dress down night. We had so many fun nights at Johnny’s. COVID aside, Johnny Utah’s is still open in NYC. I highly recommend it as a much visit for a snack and some bull riding next time you are in New York.
Cain
Cain is another club that went through a renovation. However, it happened during the time I was still living in New York. So I experienced Cain and Cain Luxe. Both are actually described in the novel, and you will see Cain Luxe play an important role in the story.
That’s because of the location. Cain (Luxe) was on 27th Street, closer to 11th Avenue. Back when we were going to Cain (Luxe), you also had Pink Elephant, Bungalow 8, Suzie Wongs, Maison/M2/Home. It was a busy street for nightlife. Using this setting allowed me to get the reader very close to the killer’s moves, while still keeping Jones and Bresnahan from figuring out where he was. I hope you enjoy that scene when you read it.
I loved going to Cain. It wasn’t a club with a lot of fancy DJ’s or special events. Although, we did celebrate Chauncey Stuckey’s birthday there one year. It was just a cozy little club with a great layout that was busy with good music. And we had fun every Thursday. Not to mention the doorman became such a close friend. We are still friends today. Love you, bunny.
One of my favorite memories of going out to Cain was the night I met my future roommate, who is also in the story. The night we met, I actually pulled into a parking space on 26th Street, and when I got out of my car, I could hear something that sounded like air blowing. Turns out, I had driven over a bottle while parking, and a piece of glass punctured my tire. Well, since I was already out, I left my car and headed to Cain. While I was at Cain, a friend introduced me to David, who was able to get me a new tire when we left around 2am. We’ve been friends ever since that night.
While Cain is long gone now, I have such fond memories, I had to include it in the story. I met so many amazing people at Cain that became lifelong friends. I hope you enjoy my retelling of the space in the novel.
Mr. West
As I am sure you can infer from the name, Mr. West was Kanye’s club. It wasn’t open long, but we did go on the occasional Monday night when we didn’t feel like going to Greenhouse after Johnny Utah’s. It was on the west side, off the West Side Highway and south of the Meatpacking District.
Mr. West was small, and it wasn’t my favorite venue. It was never super busy, and the hype around it was short lived. I think the buzz came from Kanye’s association, but in New York, that’s not enough to keep a stop trendy.
It also opened as my days of 5 nights of clubbing a week were dying down. A lot of our original nightlife crew had disbanded at by then. And Mr. West became a poor substitution for Upstairs. I don’t think any of us really fell in love with it.
But I did use Mr. West in the story. It sets a lowkey vibe, which is uncommon in the nightlife. And it was needed for that scene. That’s how I remember Mr. West. It wasn’t overly loud or overly crowded. It felt like a place to have a drink, listen to the DJ and wind down after the excitement of Johnny U’s.
Kiss n Fly
Kiss n Fly in the Meatpacking District is another club that went through a lot of changes while I was going out in New York. Changes in music, changes in crowd. It started out attracting the usual promoter set, so lots of models. We used to eat at the restaurant next door and then walk, through the kitchen, to our table in the club. Then the scene shifted to a hip-hop vibe and the crowd changed. I enjoyed it both ways.
There are two very real parts to the novel around Kiss n Fly, besides the general description of the club. First is the coat check policy. It is actually true that I got into several arguments with the doormen about the mandatory coat check policy. And I always forgot to hide my coat, so they were always bothering me to check it.
The second is the scene at the bar. That was pretty accurate most nights we went to Kiss n Fly. Angel’s real-life counterpart and I did usually trade in our promoter vodka cranberries for free glasses of champagne from the bartenders at Kiss n Fly.
Kiss n Fly has also since closed. And I don’t think another club has replaced it. The Meatpacking District has changed quite a bit since those days. And the number of clubs in the area has dwindled. Tenjuene is still standing, but most of the others are long gone, replaced by rooftop lounges and fancy bars.
Marquee
It’s crazy to think about all the changes Marquee has been through over the years. And yet, some of the faces still remain the same. In 2013, Marquee did a major renovation. I have only been a handful of time since then. But my favorite version of Marquee will always be the 2007 Marquee. We were there two, sometimes three nights a week.
Generally, our table was upstairs. But every once in a while, we would be in the downstairs back private room when it wasn’t rented out. I’ll always remember the biggest challenge at Marquee was making it down the massive staircase at the end of the night in heels after lots of vodka. I don’t think I ever fell down the stairs, but that remains up for discussion.
Back then, Marquee wasn’t really known for live performances. It was more about hanging out with friends. A lot of us would jump around from table to table to say hello to other promoters. It was the spot to be on ‘Tuesday Baby, Tuesdays’. And there wasn’t a ‘bridge and tunnel’ crowd. It was all people who lived in the city. And occasionally celebrities. It was always Wass at the door back then. And he was, and still is, very well known in New York. Shout out to you, Wass, for always letting me in.
So many great nights were spent inside of Marquee. I hope you enjoy the scene in the book at Marquee. Since it has been renamed, you’ll have to figure it out for yourself as you read. Thinking about Marquee will certainly bring a lot of memories for some of you. Enjoy them.
Greenhouse
Greenhouse didn’t exist when I first started going out in New York. But it became extremely popular shortly after it opened. Located on the corner of Varick and Vandam in SoHo, Greenhouse was a conceptually unique space. It was marketed as New York’s first ecofriendly club.
How ecofriendly it actually was, I have no idea. But the design of the space held a certain appeal. Greenhouse was two stories. And it felt like two unique clubs. One door managed both spaces, but having two DJ’s, one upstairs and one down, created two different parties every night. Especially when it first opened, Greenhouse had a lot of special events, including Darrell Revis’ birthday party. I also remember attending live performance nights for several different musicians. And even if it wasn’t a special event, for the first few months it was open, I enjoyed Greenhouse, even on its slowest nights.
It plays a prominent part in the story for several reasons. To begin with, several of my characters have direct tie-ins to the club. I met Johnnie Okafor’s real-life counterpart at Greenhouse. And we celebrated Carrie’s real-life counterpart’s bachelorette part at Greenhouse. Additionally, I used Greenhouse as the origin point for the case to showcase Bresnahan’s loathing for the nightlife. He was directly exposed to two clubs in one visit during his opening scene of the book. And this lay the foundation for his character’s opinion of the nightlife.
Greenhouse closed in 2014. But it will forever remain in infamy within the pages of Concrete Jungle. The description of the club you’ll read in the novel is accurate to the space as it existed when we started going in 2009. I believe the space has been turned into a paint store now, but it’s been a while since I took a stroll in that part of SoHo. For now, enjoy Greenhouse as it lives in my memories.
