GANGS OF NEW YORK
MAKING the cut at a Meatpacking District club like Tenjune isn’t easy. On a typical Saturday more than 1,000 people flood Little West 12th Street, begging entry to a space that holds just 350. Same deal a block north at Kiss & Fly, and tougher still at smaller boites like 1Oak and Beatrice Inn.
Yet at nearby Soho House, a six-story club with a rooftop pool and a billiards room, nary an Axe body-sprayed male nor cosmo-swigging coed even bothers to try. There’s no doorman to barter with. Just a receptionist and a list of carefully selected members.
From fly fishermen to comedians to scientists to ex-presidents and captains of industry, New York City’s private clubs offer something for most folk. Trouble is, most of them won’t have you. And since you’re not likely to get inside any time soon, we offer a glimpse into the city’s most exclusive social enclaves, along with an exclusivity rating, from 1 (think the Y) to 10 (you’ll never belong).
Colony Club
* 564 Park Ave.
Founded: 1903, for well-heeled
female travelers
Colony is unique in the city’s social club history, being the first established by and for women, offering lodgings at a time when ladies of a certain class didn’t check into hotels alone. It remains an all-woman club, complete with squash courts, running track and a lavish basement swimming pool. As Blair Waldorf discovered on a recent “Gossip Girl,” getting into the Colony is no easy feat. “The Colony Club is the oldest, most prestigious ladies’ club in the city,” she squeals. “I’m honored just to be considered.” But by episode’s end, she decides she wants nothing to do with the Colony’s pompous henhouse.
Exclusivity factor: 8
Core Club
* 66 E. 55th St.
Founded: 2003, for power brokers
Even if you can afford the $15,000 registration fee, you’re probably not worthy to cruise the Core’s sleek furnishings and private screening room, but it’s hard to imagine it becoming more selective in this economy. It’s rumored to have already lured Bill Clinton, Harvey Weinstein and Ari Emanuel. “It was targeted at the filthy rich, the new global jet set,” says Christopher Tennant, author of “The Official Filthy Rich Handbook.”
Exclusivity factor: 8
Downtown Association
* 60 Pine St.
Founded: 1854, as a bankers’ lunch club
This Wall Street retreat is among the oldest of its kind and boasts of having “the oldest clubhouse in New York City,” though it added a pool table, gym and wine cellar to stay current. One member estimates there were 2,000 of his brethren when he joined, but three-quarters have left since the financial meltdown. “It’s still a good place,” he adds, suggesting wannabe members might have luck negotiating the $3,500 initiation fee. (Everyone must spend a $150 minimum on food or booze every three months.)
Exclusivity factor: 5
Explorers Club
* 46 E. 70th St.
Founded: 1904, for adventurers and scientists
Chances are you’ve been here for a book launch or something along those lines. On most nights, nonmembers who swing by for a drink may find the stuffed polar bear (inset) near the entrance more welcoming than the receptionist. Geared toward globetrotters who study science (no travel agents, thank you), the 105-year-old club offers several levels of “association,” though full-fledged members need to be invited for the privilege of paying a $595 initiation fee and an annual fee of the same amount. Members relax around fireplaces ringed with elephant tusks, red leather club chairs, and oil paintings of club luminaries and rhinos.
Exclusivity factor: 6
Friars Club
* 57 E. 55th St.
Founded: 1904, for Broadway insiders
“Behind this plaque is a sealed time capsule containing a sampling of items reflecting the lifestyle in the year 2004. It is to be opened in the year 2104,” reads a sign in the entry. But the lifestyles of the funny folks who’ve belonged to this club don’t reflect anything typical at all. Considering past members include Milton
Berle, Buddy Hackett, Steve Allen and Henny Youngman, it’s no wonder the Friars are famous for celebrity roasts. Rates for members who can take advantage of a private barber, steam room and card room are $3,000 to join, $1,700 in dues and $3 to use the phone (perhaps an inside joke).
Exclusivity factor: 7
Harmonie Club
* 4 E. 60th St.
Founded: 1852, for Jews denied entry to WASP clubs
Despite its beginning as a refuge from anti-Semitism, the Harmonie, which occupies a Stanford White-designed clubhouse filled with marble and Grecian columns, has more recently come under fire for having “no minority members.” Barack Obama canceled a campaign event there and Mayor Bloomberg resigned to avoid charges that he belonged to an all-white club. Prospective members must be nominated by one of the approximately 1,100 on the current roster. The very old-school, very secretive club was one of the first to allow ladies to dine with men and opened its membership to women in 1986.
Exclusivity factor: 8
Knickerbocker Club
* 2 E. 62nd St.
Founded: 1871, by Union Clubbers who thought it was going downhill
Regarded in some circles as the standard bearer for blue-blood society with all respect to the Racquet, Metropolitan and Union this 138-year-old boys’ club boasts past members such as Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Alexander Hamilton, FDR and a few Astors. $200 entrance fee, $60 annual fee but that was in 1903, the last time such information was made public.
Exclusivity factor: 10
The Leash
* 41 E. 63rd St.
Founded: 1925, by defectors from the American Kennel Association
Membership at this tiny gentlemen’s club is about pedigree. Canine ownership is no longer mandatory, but lockers bear brass plaques engraved with dogs’ names. The townhouse is awash with dog photos, the only way a lassie could make it inside until recent times. “It’s a certain kind of old-school, Pringle-sweater set,” says one observer. “They hunt partridge, pheasant and quail. And they fish for trout. They don’t do any of that saltwater stuff.”
Exclusivity factor: 8
Metropolitan Club
* 1 E. 60th St.
Founded: 1891, by J.P. Morgan and pals who couldn’t get into other men’s clubs
It was started by people whose last names were Morgan, Vanderbilt and Whitney. (Yes, those Morgans, Vanderbilts and Whitneys.) More recently, it listed names like Nixon, Reagan and Clinton. Rooftop dining, an exquisite bar, gilt fixtures and ceiling murals all designed by Stanford White make the clubhouse look like a palace.
Exclusivity factor: 9
Montauk Club
* 25 Eighth Ave., Brooklyn
Founded: 1889, by the first generation of rich Park Slopers
The 120-year-old club’s Web site promises jazz performances and a raucous bar scene during Yankees games, with “just enough Boston fans to make it interesting.” In the 1980s the club, which boasts lavish, wood-
paneled interiors, a billiards room and a defunct bowling alley, faced two choices: open to new members or go bankrupt. The result: “The Montauk Club is a private club open to all.” Individual membership is $550 a year. A three-month trial is $150.
Exclusivity factor: 2
National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park South
Founded: 1898, by arts intelligentsia
While many private clubs court blue-haired bluebloods, the National Arts Club makes an effort to add youth to its constituency by knocking hundreds of dollars off the initiation and annual fees for those younger than 35. Cheeky kids say it’s like hanging out on a Wes Anderson movie set.
Exclusivity factor: 4
Norwood
241 W. 14th St.
Founded: 2007, as an alternative to Soho House
“Way harder [to join] than Soho House,” says one member who joined when the 1845 mansion-turned-club opened. “They’re looking for a specific person in the arts or people heavily involved in supporting them.” A couple Soho House members mentioned that “Snorwood” was guilty of “bait and switch” tactics where they give creative types free memberships so financial types will sign up and pay. Ask Moby, who’s been spotted there.
Exclusivity factor: 6
The Players
16 Gramercy Park South
Founded: 1888, by theater folk
From Morgan Freeman to Ernest Hemingway to Frank Sinatra to Ethan Hawke, Players past and present have been a veritable Who’s Who of marquee stars since being established by Edwin Booth (brother of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes). The Players has always been more than a hideaway for the rich and powerful, safeguarding a large collection of theatrical antiques and today hosting hip events like The Moth spoken-word competitions. “Pipe Nights” are a century-old tradition honoring theater personalities with group smokes. The Players have run afoul of the city’s smoking ban, but now take tobacco out on the terrace.
Exclusivity factor: 7
Soho House
29-35 Ninth Ave.
Founded: 2003, for ex-pat Brits and NYC Anglophiles
“I’ve been trying to get in for two years,” says a current applicant who claims to have turned down an offer from Norwood. The rooftop pool is a big selling point here, as is the billiards and foosball room. Some complain the club took a bad turn when creative types were replaced by publicists, ad execs and bankers who, as once source said, “couldn’t get into Bungalow 8.”
Exclusivity factor: 6
University Club
1 W. 54th St.
Founded: 1865, by Yale and Columbia grads looking to extend their
social network
Though membership now is technically open to City College dropouts, this club started with Ivy League grads. In 1899, the roughly 2,500-member club also expanded physically, now taking up half a city block with a gift-shop at its entrance. In 1903 membership cost $200 plus a $60 annual fee. In the 106 years since, mum’s been the word on money.
Exclusivity factor: 8
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