OG New Yorkers Reminisce On Their Favorite Nightlife Hot Spots Of The Past

The last hot spot that I truly miss is The Beatrice Inn - or “Beatrice” as regulars called it. It was truly a nightclub in that it felt very clubby - you could go on any night and run into all your friends plus "Bea" habitués like the Olsen twins and Chloë Sevigny. 

I was pals with the doormen Angelo Bianchi and Simonez Wolf and Angelo and Simonez really knew who belonged inside and that kept it very family-style - albeit a family of fashion designers, rock stars, hipsters and a few socialites, back when people used the term “socialite.” 

Beatrice was tiny and shabby-cool. It felt like you were hanging out in someone’s West Village apartment. Everyone chain smoked. And did tons of cocaine. The one big bathroom was always filled with four or more people at a time snorting up a snowstorm. But I liked it because in the back room, people danced like crazy to randomly amazing music like The Sex Pistols or Frank Sinatra or The Go Gos. 

When it finally closed there was a “Save Beatrice” party but it was too late and now everyone that went there either has kids, a serious job or got sober. Like Studio 54, it had a fast and furious few years of fun and debauchery. It’s a fancy restaurant these days and every time I eat there I think to myself: thank God these walls can’t talk.