Profile: Kenny Kenny
If you have been to any club worth its salt in New York City over the past three decades, then you have undoubtedly run into transter Kenny Kenny (who these days can frequently be seen clad in high heeled zipper boots and a fur lined bomber hat, even in August). Kenny Kenny, the ubiquitous and fabulous queen of New York nightlife has run the door at The World, Red One, Palladium, USA, Limelight, Sound Factory, Spa, Plaid, and more recently HOME to name a few. He is now more focused on running parties such as Ultra, Buckingham, Distortion Disco, and Happy Valley Tuesdays.
Kenny Kenny got his her start as a Club Kid running with the infamous Michael Alig and his crew in the late 80s/early 90s. But the days of Club Kids were numbered, and Kenny Kenny eventually became a door fixture for the next two decades. His first door was Susanne Bartsch’s SAVAGE which he ran with Gene Crell and partied with some of the greatest including Andy Warhol, Jean Michel Basquiat, Faye Dunaway, Debbie Harry, Bette Midler, etc. Certainly Peter Geishen’s limelight was one of Kenny Kenny’s biggest gigs in the late 90s, when Peter and Steve Lewis basically ran the entire New York scene.
But our fondest recollection of Kenny Kenny was when he she was at Spa. For those of you who never ventured inside, it was a truly tremendous club with a super eclectic crowd and a great layout (which you can see part of in the movie Made, starring Vince Vaughn, P. Diddy and John Favreau). But we digress…the point of our story was that as you neared the front of the line, Kenny Kenny would start taking notice of you, and checking you out. And at the moment he started to let your party in, he would line up everyone in your group and scan them from head to toe, scrutinizing each and every little fashion detail. He himself had been involved in fashion his entire life, studying it along with textile design at the Dublin National College of Art and Design and starting his own line under Rachael Auburn in London. If Kenny Kenny spotted a fashion faux paus, it was generally something you could not recover from, and that was the end of your night…it was true hilarity!
We just can’t get enough of Kenny Kenny, and will stop by HOME on occasion just to hear those whispery words out of his puckered pressed lips “You look FAB-U-LOUS dahling!” When you hear that from Kenny Kenny, you KNOW you’ve still got it, the bitch wouldn’t lie.
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It makes me feel good to know that Kenny Kenny is still around. God knows a lot of his friends unfortunately bit the dust awhile ago.
It will be a sad day in nyc when he leaves the scene.
YEY for Kenny Kenny! This was my favorite post yet!
I like how he (she?) has remain relatively low-key. I had never heard of kenny kenny until now, however nanette lapore, richie rich, and the Heathrettes seem to love the spot light. kenny kenny seems to just want to keep it real, and that’s cool.
Low-key? um i’m not sure if the painted face is low-key lol.
He’s the original fierce badass.
[...] is one of your favorite photos? Favorite shoots? Seducing Kenny Kenny into letting me take the photos I knew we could take. Snapping J-Lo while performing a turn on the [...]
My friends and I had like / dislike relationship with dude.
We never personally knew Kenny,..so we couldnt “hate” him, but he / she really was a asshole to a lot of people. People who overstood the scene, were “connected”, understood the scene, and in fact - helped make the scene in ways trendy types would and will never understand.
I think at times (not all times) door people and club kids abused their power, and 15 minutes of popularity.
Sometimes when Kenny was at the door (ex: The World), we would get in. No problem, Sometimes, we didn’t get in, or had to wait (Red Zone).
We were young urban kids (male and female) from the rough area’s of Brooklyn. In our youth we were on some ole’ ” Ohh..its because we are black” shit. We felt like, why is this muthafu-ka’ discriminating, and being selective when he / she more than likely has the same thing done to them?
Why do we have to wait to get into a club that plays good music? Black music?
We simply came to have a good time, go home and come back again. We didnt care about a guest list. 15 - 20 bones was not a problem. Hip Hop clubs in that era were prone to mad drama. They werent diverse musically, and nor were they diverse in terms of the crowd, so sought out places we “thought” might be open to have people who just wanna have a good time and party.
Long story short, no hatred against Kenny.
My peeps and I are grown.
Some of us have families and do the family thing only. Some of us have careers AND families - yet still live a active social nightlife, but on another level. I’m almost sad to say, (drumroll) we control and judge who attends our events.
(Yea yea muthafu-ka’.. I know..the irony.)
Once and a while when we get together, and the conversation turns to our “clubbing” days, we look at that era, as a good time in our youth.
BUT…….
If I ever saw Diane Brill again..I swear, i’d have my wife smack the dookey out of her instantly.
(laughing)
-Ron Art