After some very strident local opposition and the requisite haggling with the community board, the folks at Soho House have finally managed to turn an old funeral home into Ludlow House. Although the privacy policy at the members-only club keeps its gatekeepers from telling us how many film, media, and creative types have signed up to “eat, drink, work and play” there, we were able to score you some other data.
Here’s a look inside the Ludlow House by the numbers.
Restaurateur Billy Gilroy, who 11 years ago introduced downtown NYC to the prohibition-style cocktail joint with his West Village speakeasy Employees Only, wants you to “make yourself at home” at his new TriBeCa bar and restaurant Belle Reve, according to a press release we received Friday. More →
Two of the Lower East Side’s most controversial projects just entered new phases of construction. First up, the Ludlow Street outpost of Soho House, which faced considerable opposition from neighbors when it applied for a liquor license last year, has raised its sidewalk shed, obscuring the facade that had become a magnet for taggers and street artists while the building’s renovation seemed to sit in limbo. More →
You’ll Be a Man is an indie French movie. “I know what you’re thinking!” says LES Film Fest director Tony Castle. “But it’s truly amazing—just a really captivating film about a 20-year-old boy. He becomes a live-in maid. The mother and son love him. The father hates him. Super weird and sexy!” It’s one of the hardest to market, Castle laments, but a brilliant film nonetheless.
Soho House made the case for a liquor license at their impending Lower East Side location, Ludlow House, at the State Liquor Authority in Harlem today, with the LES Dwellers and several Ludlow Street residents in attendance to oppose it. Ludlow House’s legal representation, Donald Bernstein, attempted to prove that Soho House’s cultural programs, responsible leadership, relatively low-key nightlife, and classy members who “won’t be puking on stoops” will be a public benefit to the neighborhood. More →
With a critical hearing coming up later this week, the LES Dwellers have launched a petition against Soho House‘s plan to dance on the grave of Max Fish by plopping down on Ludlow Street.
Since spring, the mostly anonymous crew of Lower East Siders who make up the Dwellers have campaigned heavily against Soho House’s plan to occupy three stories and a rooftop bar at 139 Ludlow. In late May, Community Board 3 recommended that the State Liquor Authority deny a liquor license application, and now the club will plead its case to the SLA at a “500 foot” hearing on Thursday. More →
