Below 14th Street, Travis Bass is a familiar face to the locals, downtown creatives, and nightlife regulars. Being a resident of Chinatown since 1998, Travis has done the event design for parties in the same neighborhood he calls home. He is known for New York-centric popup parties in converted Chinese restaurants, such as Madame Wong’s and Red Egg, that have attracted models and socialites. His new pop-up party, Inga, is at the space 141 Chrystie Street. To this event designer, inspiration comes from the retro, the glamorous, the cinematic, and the real.

Guest of a Guest met with Travis at the Bowery Hotel to discuss his latest pop up party, Inga. Over coffee and wine, Travis spoke enthusiastically about his projects and the things that keep New York and downtown nightlife authentic. [Travis Bass, Photo via Purple Diary] More»

Persistence, persistence, persistence -- Justin Ross Lee is never one to give up. After recounting his list of bans from clubs and restaurants up and down the island of Manhattan about a month ago, a few bad memories resurfaced. One memory in particular that hit a sore spot: his longstanding feud with doorman Aalex Julian. A Twitter war soon erupted after the article was posted, and since then tensions have been high. So high, in fact, that when JRL stopped by Dream Downtown last week, the night ended with Lee filing a police report for harassment against Julian! JRL has been flashing this little report on all forms of his social media, so I asked to hear his side of the story. Below, JRL relives the night in his own words: More»

With less than 24 hours notice to pull off a debut soft opening for the L.A. rendition of NYC's beloved barbershop speakeasy bar, the Blind Barber boys drew quite an impressive crowd seldom seen west of La Brea to Culver City last night. After receiving news their liquor license was active on Wednesday night, they rallied the troops and got emergency backup from mainest men Will Crimes and Nick Foster to supply tunes for the first night of operation at Blind Barber L.A. We swung by to help christen the new digs with cocktails and snapped some shots (alas, with camera phone) to give you a sense of what the place is like in action along with our notes on the experience. More»

Bantam, Stanton Street’s newest bar, can be easily missed due to its small and clandestine store front. From the street, nothing is revealed besides for a neon lit “17” that is installed above the door. But like its boxing-based definition, “small but powerful,” Bantam is the new hip hub of partners Scott Hockens, Seamus Regan, Norman Reedus, and Amit Zaman.

The owners of Bantam pride themselves on the exclusive nature of their new lounge. The latest nightlife spot, only 3 weeks young, recently opened in place of the once beloved Stanton Public (and for a very brief time, the Elsinore). Stanton Street’s popular dive bar has been replaced with a chic new décor that is better described as elegantly eclectic. More»

If you've seen The Hangover Part II, you know that Bangkok is a city that has no shortage of nightlife spots. From dive bars to rooftop cocktails, Thailand's largest city has a place to drink for every type of party-goer. So if you find yourself inspired to take a trip down to Bangkok, here are 8 great places for you to create your very own “Hangover” experience.

Nima Yamini, the man behind Avenue A's Soundcheck (a new party on Monday nights that highlights up and coming bands with live performances), talks about his role in NYC nightlife, and how he's changing the game on Monday nights.

[Photo: Nima Yamini, far right] More»

Yesterday we asked our Twitter followers to play a nightlife version of Mad Libs and fill in the blank:

One thing I absolutely hate about nightlife is ________.

From old men in clubs to clothes-ruining drink spillage, these nightlife pet peeves are almost (but not quite) bad enough to make us want to stay home. The responses were varied, but the general consensus was that everyone really hates crowds...no surprise there! More»

Friday night, Marquee went down under in Sydney to see if Australia could keep up with the NYC/Las Vegas party scene. Apparently, it was such a huge success that organizers were forced to send away a substantial amount of people at the door, even after waiting 2 hours on line. Was it worth the wait? Take a look inside... More»

For most of us New York City folk, crossing the velvet rope into the hottest club is a moment of pure ecstasy. A moment when you can take a hard look at your life and give yourself a pat on the back for being cool enough (or wealthy enough, if you bribed the bouncer). But as Justin Ross Lee sees it, anyone can sneak into a place, and who cares anyway? What's really important are the places you have been banned from -- the hot spots that when you walk up to the door they take one look at your face and know exactly who you are and tell you to turn around and leave immediately. JRL wears his bans like badges of honor, and offers me a piece of advice, “Embrace your lifetime bans: The only thing better than being able to go anywhere- is not being able to go some places. 86 is my favorite number.” So where has the infamous Facebook Jewjetter been banned from? Click through to see, and find out the one place that JRL would never want to be banned from... [All photos via Facebook]