Nell’s, Amy Sacco, Citrine as Latrine, Os Gemeos, & My New Intern

I call it Nell's. Despite my deep affection for everything Noel Ashman, a space always maintains the name of its greatness, and 246 West 14th Street had its fame when it was named Nell's. Scott Sartiano and Richie Akiva received unanimous approval of the full community board yesterday, and they will open a restaurant on the ground floor and a club/lounge downstairs. Their success at Butter and 1Oak guarantees that this place will be grand, plus, I and my partner Marc Dizon have been hired to design it. We feel very honored. I designed Butter for them a number of years ago, and that experience really boosted my design career. They are a couple of bright guys who are very hands-on and deeply motivated to create something hot and fresh. This is a very sexy project, and I'm quite excited.

Amy Sacco has been linked to a Bravo network show which will chronicle the launch of her new New York City nightclub. I have, despite stories to the contrary, the greatest respect for Amy. She is one of the top-tier nightlife players, and I believe with a new place she will maintain her crown as the queen of New York nightlife. Bungalow is a legendary place, but the problems facing the West 27th Street club mall did not leave it unscathed. She is a class act, and I can’t wait to see the show and hang at her new place if she still loves me.

Moving on from a class act, I will now address an ass act. The firing of veteran doorman Ross Hutcoff by Citrine management two days before the birth of his son is despicable . Ross is one of the real good guys in this town, and more than that, he does a great job. I went to Citrine once to attend owner Adam Elzer’s wife Sachi’s birthday bash. She is a wonderful person and can’t believe Adam and Dave have done this. I don’t enjoy Citrine. It’s a young, not-too-classy crowd listening to common-denominator music in an awfully designed place. Yet all these kinds of shortcomings can be forgiven if the energy from management is honest and positive. When I went to attend Sachi’s party, Ross greeted me at the door. I was glad to see a familiar face amongst a faceless crowd. Again I like all three of the owners and am shocked by the severance. Ross is a great doorman and will get work I’m sure—I totally endorse him. Until I hear of a reasonable explanation, Citrine will now be referred to as “Latrine” in this column.

The wall on the corner of Houston and Bowery has a new mural. This will always to me be the “Haring Wall” because of the piece Keith did there so long ago. That piece was restored in honor of the late artist’s 50th birthday but was whitewashed the other day for a new masterpiece by Os Gemeos. The new mural has hundreds of delightful images hiding in its complexities. It is, in fact, dedicated to two people that have died recently. One (Iz the Wiz) was a legendary train bomber (tagger) from back in the day. The other was Sace from the Irak crew, who died of a heroin overdose last week at the age of 27. He was more commonly known as the downtown polaroid and installation artist Dash Snow. I saw another giant mural by Os Gemeos on a daytrip to Coney Island last week and was awestruck. The image at the top of this post is by photographer Mari Lowery; it shows a small section of the Houston Street wall. Keith would have loved it.

Pacha, on trial for its life, is awaiting a verdict from state supreme court justice Joan Madden. She will allow New York’s great mega-club to be open this weekend. Everyone is hopeful that the club will be allowed to continue operations as Judge Madden seems like an intelligent and fair hand. Without Pacha, the greatest city on earth is left with M2, which has been designed as an ultralounge but may pick up some of the slack; and Webster Hall, which. to paraphrase Yogi Berra, is “crowded but nobody goes to it.”

Last but not least, I need a new intern. Nadeska “Nasdaq” Alexis is moving on to tanner pastures, and I will be lost without her. I am looking for someone to help set up interviews, transcribe them, prepare me (which includes making sure my shirt is buttoned correctly and I’m not wearing two left shoes), and laugh at my bad jokes. You need to like going out of course, as you’ll get lots of invites through me, BlackBook, and otherwise. There is further major upside potential, as BlackBook likes to hire from these ranks too. Writing your own stuff can and has happened, both for online and print. Look up Nadeska’s body of work; she did a great job and I will miss her. If you’re interested, email me at .