BlackBook Magazine

Don't have enough Sacco in your life? Lucky you. In our Amy Sacco profile last week, we promised you even more later, and that later is now. Here's the force behind Bungalow 8 blasting the "police state" that is New York nightlife and revealing at last whether or not she'll see The Dark Knight.

So you’re in The Doorman. How was that?

I’m just in it for a cameo appearance. Lucas (the director) came to me, asking me if I’d be interested. He told me the story and what he was doing, and I thought it was super fun. I’m enthusiastic to see the show. It’s good to have a young person who’s coming up the ranks and doing something interesting and funny and working hard to do it with no budget, not even a dollar kind of thing. Seeing a dream come true, so it’s nice for him and I’m happy to help.

Do you go out every night?

Yeah.

Until what time would you say, on average?

Three, four. But it’s easy, when you’re used to it. It’s stopping the rhythm that’s hard. The great thing is, you don’t get jet-lagged. And the other fantastic thing is, it’s fun! If you’re gonna have a job, you might as well love your job. I can count so many people that hate their job, and then they’re miserable—what good is that gonna do you?

So what’s a night in for Amy Sacco?

I’m a huge movie buff. I go out for dinner with friends and see as many movies as I can. Mostly dinner with friends, because movie night I can do because I’m on so many airplanes.

Are you going to see The Dark Knight?

When I get a chance, definitely.

I read you said New York nightlife is overrated. Do you think that?

The comment I made was actually misquoted. I said it’s become a mess because of all the restrictions. We used to have the best, dirtiest, most fun, sexy nightlife in the world, that was open 24 hours, and when I see places like Florent getting closed down for rent, and my block being shut down forever, the top of the block they close down with the police every night, you can’t smoke, they’re outside the door checking IDs all the time. It just puts everybody off, it’s like a police state for nightlife. And the world is mocking us! Paris, London, these are places that are well-regulated but they’re not obsessive-compulsive and out of hand. That’s what that comment meant. There’s no one today but the robots. There’s no brownies. There’s no place you can get that underground little thing-thing—you can’t just homogenize the city, we can’t eat fat, we can’t smoke, we can’t go out and dance, we can’t drink. They want to close down nightclubs constantly, and they’re constantly doing it. They closed down Scores, they closed down several on my block, there’s less and less. They closed Martini Glass a couple weeks ago because someone came in and smoked pot. How can you possibly control that? Some random person walked in, you’re doing the best you can, stopping everyone, throwing them out, writing them up, working with the police hand in hand about drugs and lost purses or credit card frauds. We’re always working with them, but you can’t stop someone from doing something crazy! And then they punish the club, shutting them down for a week, letting their staff lose a huge amount of income. A lot of smaller clubs can be bankrupted by that kind of action, they’re putting them out of jobs. What is that really doing for the image of New York being the city that never sleeps?

Who do you think is responsible for this?

I think that the past two mayoral incumbents have rocked that world up. I don’t blame them for wanting a clean, well-run, safe city. I think Bloomberg did the most amazing job as mayor, but not in terms of nightlife. In terms of reaching and working with people like the New York Nightlife Association. Not all of us are absentee owners. I’m in my club, I know all of my staff by name and by heart, we’ve worked together for years, they stayed on board. A lot of them have gone on to super-successful careers. These are good hard-working people in New York, and it’s a major center for tax income, too, for the city. Nightlife a $9 billion industry.

When do you get up in the morning?

9:30-10 at the latest. Depending on how late I went out. Usually nine. If I’ve been out really late I’ll try to sleep in, and if I’ve been traveling I might sleep later.

Who would be the biggest Bungalow 8 regular of all time? Or three people who are always there, over the last six years.

The Olsens, Benicio del Toro ...

What about Lindsay?

Lindsay, but she’s no longer going out that much. And the Hiltons. We have a huge list of people that do come in quite a bit, but not so frequently that you could count on having a sighting. And they’re in New York more.