The Bungalow 8 Blues

I got this story secondhand -- and like sweaters I get that way, it's bound to have a few holes in it. It seems that Bungalow 8 was closed for ten days, and excuses like “Amy isn't around” and “They were taking a break or renovating” were thrown out for their adoring public. A source with some chops told me it was the collapse of parts of the roof that caused the closing. Plexiglas panels came detached, and in a sky-is-falling late night incident, the party came to a stop. Repairs were long overdue, and staff did their best to control the elements with strategically placed buckets and such. Amy is indeed traveling some, but my source revealed that with only about a year and a half left on her lease, Ms. Sacco has decided to ride it out. She has some money put aside from the sale of her West 23rd Street boîte as well as a flow of consulting fees from the Griffin, the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, and the "Living by Amy" condo project on John Street. Bungalow 8 London, which according to another source isn’t hitting its marks, is still another revenue stream for the queen of nightlife.

This second source—a Brit with firsthand knowledge—says that though the membership thing is very common for upscale London clubs, in this case it wasn’t as successful as projected. “She should have gone with a strict door policy and doorman New York style; she would have made more money and been cooler.” I don’t like these secondhand, heard-it-through-the-grapevine stories, so I called up Amy Sacco confidant Tiana Reeves for comment. Tiana would neither confirm or deny the validity of the story. She would only volunteer that “Amy is very happy.”

There is little doubt that Bungalow isn’t what it used to be. One of the main reasons is that none of the feeding clubs—i.e., Marquee, Cain, Pink Elephant, Home, Guesthouse, or M2—are supplying the A-crowds like they used to. In fact, Scores may be the best source for Bungalow 8 clientele. Scores is bringing people in, these people are spending money, and the girls are doing well. My source said that, “The Bungalow New York City is being treated like a stepchild.”

The realities of the woes of 27th Street have indirectly brought the sky down on Amy’s gin joint. A continuous police presence, the distractions of Noah Tepperberg and Jason Strauss with Tao Vegas and their new spot, Avenue (which is in previews), Jon B’s good crowd moving to Greenhouse, Cain’s crowd to GoldBar, and the change over of the “trying to be great Mansion” to the “trying to stay crowded M2” has drained Bungalow of its crowd. As I said, some of this was from semi-reliable sources and should be taken as just that—secondhand smoke. For instance, one of my contacts reached over to my friend’s hair, tasted it, and correctly diagnosed it as Sebastian with a little Paul Mitchell molding wax. With sources like that, how could I go wrong?