Lounge Takes Up Temporary Residence in Limelight Space
Steve Lewis
March 03, 2009
I’m not fully recovered yet, so my entries will be much shorter and less informative, and some will find that refreshing. People passing by the old Limelight space on 6th Avenue were surprised to see a large sign and flag that said "Lounge." As reported in the Observer a few weeks ago, this is a temporary outlet for the store which used to be on Broadway and Houston. Lounge's run is almost up, and Joe Dirosa of the New York Artists Series informed me that he will be booking the historic space. "The people from Lounge are in there currently doing a clearance sale for the next several months. I spoke with Ben Askenazy and Jack Menash, the owners of Lounge, and we agreed to make the space available for rental for events, including fashion shows, filming, photo shoots, and branded experiences, so the New York Artist Series is marketing and booking the space.” With landmark status preventing most things from happening there, the ex-Limelight will earn its keep in the arts, and this makes me feel great. Despite its less-than-savory end, Limelight was one of the great clubs, and I hated seeing it dormant for those many years.
Joe Dirosa continued, “The future of the space is uncertain. We are making it available in a raw state for things like the Stoli Hotel, House of Campari, or Bacardi Beach, where brands come in, take a raw space, and keep it for several weeks doing different events. They can come in and paint it and really decorate the space with their own branding, etc. It’s a great location for that type of use.”
The talk of condominiums doesn’t make much sense, since there are no windows (except of course the Tiffany stained glass). I always felt that a hotel should be built above it with the old church/club housing the lobby/reception and restaurants. The Observer article pointed out that a great deal of the people walking in to the Lounge installation weren’t interested in shopping but were just looking around at the old beauty. I met my second wife there, and it has other great and also not-so-great memories. I wonder what they will call it?
Comments (7)
Posted by steve lewis on Tue Mar 3, 2009 at 06.59 pm
i understand the bar in the main room has been removed making the place seem very large..
Posted by 20th&6th on Tue Mar 3, 2009 at 07.30 pm
Yes, it has. But it also seems like the stage has been extended, so the place seemed smaller to me. There are also ugly white boards up everywhere so the place just doesn’t look the same, except for the infastructure. The entrance to the sample sale is the big altar door, so essentially you’d be walking straight through the old main room bar if it was still there. And that side room just upstairs from the old coat check is all boarded up. It was a bizarre experience being inside there anyway.
I say we organize a meet up of everyone that used to hang at limelight, and just storm the sample sale one day. For some reason that sounds like it has Michael Alig written all over it.
Posted by Bob Egan on Wed Mar 4, 2009 at 05.16 am
Does anyone know who owns the building? I have an art collector looking for original Tiffany Church Stained glass art.
It would be a shame to loose a historic artwork such as tiffany to disrepair or vandals if another collector is willing to save it.
Thanks
Bob
Posted by steve lewis on Wed Mar 4, 2009 at 01.54 pm
its landmarked and cant be sold
Posted by steve lewis on Thu Mar 5, 2009 at 09.33 am
i meant the glass.. im sure the building is for sale.. ben askenazy owns the building
Posted by EJS on Wed Mar 11, 2009 at 10.06 pm
I hope we see a good party in this space at least a few more times
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Posted by 20th&6th on Tue Mar 3, 2009 at 05.03 pm
I work across the street, so I had to stop in and have a look.
I don’t want to sound poetic here, but it really sent shivers up my spine to be in that place. This really took me back to when NYC nightlife was fresh, exciting and a genuine New York experience.
I bumped into another guy in there who clearly wasn’t shopping, and we spoke and reminisced about the fun times we had in there, and discussed the old lay-out, etc.
RIP to a truly amazing chapter in New York nightlife history.