NYC Nightlife: Everything You Need To Know Friday

by Ross Kenneth Urken · March 4, 2011

    The Times discovers the Native Society, Bagatelle announces new location and worldwide expansion, a performance venue comes to the East Village, subway performers stun, and Blake Lively wows Chanel at La Grenouille. It's all here in today's nightlife round-up.

    1. The Native Society Discovered By The Times [GofG, NYTimes]

    "We've taken great pleasure in discovering and exploring the Native Society, the social network of rich kids hailing from Manhattan. The Times finally found out about tNS as well, and the account is worth the read. But the reach of the article's goal may extend the writer's grasp...

    When the writer tries to resolve the difference between old-time silver-spooners and today's social media, the result is mixed."

    2. Bagatelle Announces NYC Relocation & Worldwide Expansion [GofG, GrubStreet]

    Bagatelle's owners, Remi Laba and Aymeric Clemente, closed down the Meapacking District location and have announced they will be opening the restaurant at a new New York City location in the fall of 2011. In addition, they will bring their dining experience to cities from Los Angeles to Cannes.

    Restaurants will open in London, Dubai, and Los Angeles in addition to pop-ups in Cannes and the Hamptons.

    Beaumarchais Brasserie has opened in the former Bagatelle spot at 409 West 13th Street. The decor is the same and Nicolas Cantrel has stayed on as chef, as have the staff. A rose by any other name.

    3. Performance Venue Coming To Former Mo Pitkin Space [EV Grieve]

    Apparently Phil Hartman has plans to bring a 'performance venue' to the former Mo Pitkin's space.

    "Phil Hartman is going to make another go at 34 Avenue A, which was most recently Aces and Eights. Hartman and his brother opened Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction--the two-level restaurant/bar/performance space--in 2005."

    New York Magazine summed up the place in a pretty solid boiler plate:

    "[Mo Pitkin's] was the promised land for the busy neo-burlesque stars, pseduo-sane performance artists, and guitar-playing trapeze acrobats rendered homeless by the closing of Fez (and Surf Reality and Collective Unconscious and every other small, anything-goes downtown venue."

    But Hartman's name has been listed in the CB3 flyer outside the joint, so game on.

    4. Subway Performers Near You [New York Mag]

    New York Magazine has a great chronicle of some of the top subway performers on your platform.

    5. Blake Lively Is The Toast Of Chanel [WSJ]

    "An intimate dinner at the Midtown institution La Grenouille for the actress, hosted by Chanel, to celebrate her as the 'ambassadress' for (read: face of) the brand's new Mademoiselle of handbags.

    Ms. Lively was pretty much the only celebrity in the room. (The actor Justin Long, with whom she appeared in the college comedy 'Accepted,' was the other.) The rest were the ladies (and their escorts) who are oft referred to as the city's 'real life' Gossip Girls. Like Lauren Remington Platt, a satuesque blonde who once worked in finance and is now embarking on her own business that offers clients hair and makeup house calls before social events."