Many of the women I meet in nightlife only make me long for Amy Sacco. There are plenty of women present who give it just as good as the guys, but there are also plenty of women who realize they're a minority in the after-dark world, and carry themselves with a sort of defensive air accordingly, as if I need to be reminded. Which is why I was excited to see Page 6 Magazine's profile of Danae Cappelletto, the talent behind Travertine and the new club-entry XIX. Unfortunately, while the article directly compares Cappelletto with Sacco, the points of comparison veer away from the powerhouse ladies' nightlife resumes, focusing instead on all-important questions like who they're dating and what they wear.

A casual conversation yesterday ended with much confusion and no conclusions. Is New York nightlife one of the last/worst industries for women executives? I went online and read about progress in the workplace throughout America. I read how the disparity in wages and the percentages of women in management is chipping away at the gender gap. Yet in nightlife the opposite seems to be the case. With Bungalow 8 still closed and not likely to open anytime soon, nightlife’s leading lady Amy Sacco is without a NYC base. And with a hundred joints banging bottles and blasting beats, I can’t think of a single gal running a big show. Ariel Palitz has Sutra, a small but very viable offering on 1st Avenue and 1st, and I’m sure my wonderful readers will tell me about a pub here, or a joint there, but progress to the top of the heap seems to be stalled.

The aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks left the city's economy in shambles and redefined the psyche and habits of nightlife. Many clubs, lounges and restaurants could not withstand the loss of tourist dollars and general economic downturn. By mid-decade a new way of doing business and new problems changed everything again. The club world will never be the same. In the scheme of things, writing about the effects of the 9/11 attack on clubs is unbelievably trivial. Yet the business of clubs is ever changing, adjusting to the world at large and this event, and the events that resulted from it, defined the fading decade.

Years ago I went to the marvelous country of Belize, where nature's wonders and a diverse culture made me believe there was once a place named Eden. When you travel through this paradise, you might say something like "OMG, isn't that beautiful," to which a local Belizean will invariably answer, "You better Belize it!" The first time you hear this ,you laugh, you cry, it's as perfect as that tree full of iguanas or the manatees swimming past your flippers. But then it gets tired, and after a week of it, you want to murder someone. I'm getting that way with Tiger Woods chatter. I have been asking almost every person in clubs, "Have you slept with Tiger Woods?" The funny thing is, some take the question seriously. So I caught up with Tiana Reeves, a club hostess with the mostest (well, maybe she has just a little more than the rest) and asked her the big question.

Every field of endeavor has its icons, and nightlife is no different. To be an icon in this world, one has to be successful and stay relevant. After all, you’re only as good as your last party. For every genuine icon, there are swarms of scenesters who occupy the pantheon in their own minds -- putting the “I” and “con” in the word. But it takes a certain amount of swagger to succeed in this business, so they should be forgiven. Besides, they are always the easiest people to shop for around Christmas: any mirror will do. Listed below are my six New York City club icons -- solo artists and teams -- and the up-and-comers with the potential to replace them, if only their predecessors would move to India (or somewhere even more remote, like Brooklyn).

Bungalow 8's Amy Sacco keeps on keeping on in quest to follow in the footsteps of Nina Garcia, Jonathan Adler, and all the classy Housewives of New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, and SoCal: The New York Post follows up on the news that she’s filming a reality TV pilot for Bravo, by reporting the show will follow Sacco as she sets up a new joint on West 17th Street.

Remy Stern over at CityFile reported yesterday via a trusted source that Amy Sacco's legendary club Bungalow 8 is finished, gone, finito, over. Update: We've got it on good that Remy's source might not be right. Here's the deal:

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.

Last night we had the privilege of attending the splendid after-party for the Cinema Society's screening of surefire hit The Hangover. Packed into the midsummer night's dreamy yard at the Soho Grand was everyone from Zach Braff to Paula Abdul and Caroline Rhea (!!!). But the person we most wanted to speak to was New York nightlife dignitary Amy Sacco, regarding a recent, somewhat unflattering column our nightlife blogger Steve Lewis wrote about the state of her club institution Bungalow 8. I asked Amy if she really didn't know who Steve Lewis was, which sent her off on an mini-tirade against poor Uncle Steve. Amy was cool, though. It's when Leonidas himself showed up behind her that we shifted into shit-our-pants mode.

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.