Bungalow 8

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Bungalow 8 is considered by many to be one of New York City's hottest and most exclusive nightclubs since being created in 2001.^[1] Some observers contend that Bungalow 8 is a modern-day Studio 54, and the club was featured heavily as one of the settings in Lauren Weisberger's second novel Everyone Worth Knowing.^[2] Bungalow 8 is on Chelsea's 27th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues.

1 Background
2 Membership
3 Celebrity sightings
4 Notes
5 References

[edit] Background

Founded by Amy Sacco in 2001, Bungalow 8 quickly became a hotspot due to its celebrity clientele. The club, modeled after the enclave of the same name at the Beverly Hills Hotel, is meant to resemble a sultry California bungalow. The interior is replete with palm trees and poolside murals. The service is unique: Clients are provided with a portable phone and mini-bar at each table. A concierge service can book flights and order late-night pizza.

The New York Observer served up a front-page story on December 7, 2006 headlined, "A Nightclub Queen Gets Ready to Sell Her Chilly Nightspot." But Amy Sacco later revealed in an interview that, "The whole thing is a fabrication." She admits she complained to reporter Spencer Morgan that too many liquor licenses had been issued for her West 27th Street block and that the unwashed masses were scaring away her wealthy, celebrity clientèle. "I had calls from about 800 brokers," Sacco said, "But I'm not selling Bungalow 8."

On May 11, 2007, reports surfaced that restauranteur to-the-stars Nello Balan had claimed that he was beaten senseless at Bungalow 8. The Nello's owner charges in a lawsuit that he was "struck, abused, harassed, assaulted and battered" by security guards at the nightclub, and wants the club and owner Amy Sacco to pay for his "severe and permanent" injuries. The suit alleges that the unprovoked beating occurred during May 2006, after an unidentified manager pushed Balan's 21-year-old daughter. "He [Balan] said, 'Why are you pushing [her]?' and the next thing he knew a bouncer came over and punched him in the eye." Then another bouncer allegedly wacked him in the head "with a metal object which cut his head open." The bloodied Balan needed 10 stitches and the orbit of his eye was also fractured, leaving him with "floaters" that obstruct his vision. He added nobody from the club ever apologized.^[3]

With partner Ben Pundole, Sacco opened the United Kingdom version of Bungalow 8 during September 2007 at the St. Martin's Lane Hotel in London with a series of Fashion Week parties that drew such people as pop star Prince, Sienna Miller accompanied by Welsh actor Rhys Ifans, Courtney Love, Ralph Fiennes, Kevin Spacey and Sophie Dahl.^[4] Unlike New York's Bungalow 8, the London club will be members only, so that Sacco, despite being in New York, can ensure that only "the right kinda people" are getting in.^[5]

[edit] Membership

Often, a membership is needed to get into the club. Unless you have a coveted membership, or are a well-connected socialite, the doorstaff are very strict, just as Sacco intended. Unlike most club owners, Ms. Sacco requires no promoter other than herself for Bungalow 8. She owns about half of each of her two clubs (the other being Lot 61), with investors funding the rest. She often polices the door herself, keeping the right people in (socialites, celebrities, certain journalists), and the wrong people out (everyone else, including the paparazzi). Former President Bill Clinton is reputed to be a Bungalow man. He has given staff parties at Ms. Sacco's clubs, and Bungalow 8 will be the scene of an after-party for a New York fund-raiser next month for his presidential library. An aide to Mr. Clinton asked her to be on the committee for the library benefit.