With the end of the summer underlined by chill winds and daily highs hovering around room temperature, the business of nightlife is readily anticipating the opening of some new businesses. Between now and the drop of the ball on New Year's Eve, a club space odyssey will change nightlife as we know it. Although it isn't raining money, there is enough of a drizzle to support new growth in a constantly evolving and extremely vibrant scene. These new contenders are diverse and seem organized to succeed. In no particular order, here are nine spaces that will soon be on your lips and minds.

Or is that boobness? I got a call from my pal Richie Romero, who is a marketing director at the new Scores New York on 28th Street, around 8 p.m. last night as I was walking my dogs. “Have you written tomorrow yet?” he asked. My mind immediately went to that mural of Joe Strummer east of Avenue A on 7th Street which says, "The future is unwritten," so I said, "No.” He told me to grab my camera and run over to him at the joint. I felt like Jimmy Olsen; I got the Canon out (see gallery) and changed my shirt as he promised the entire staff was there, and I am still single, and it was a Monday night, and the agenda till then was a book with a Gossip Girl interlude.

Like a diabetic avoiding a candy store, I avoid strip clubs. I don't want to want what I can't have, and even if I could have it, I really truly don't think I want it really anyway -- I think. Anyways, I don't frequent them, but whenever I would lumber down 27th Street (back when that was something some people did), the guys at the back door of Scores would flag me down and invite me in. They knew I wouldn't go, but in some old school ritual they extended the invite anyway. My man Clint used to say, "A man's gotta know his limitations." I've got a weakness for women, and as Brian Ferry once said, "Love is the drug for me." So anyway, I don't go.

Our Industry Insiders series has covered the personalities that drive nightlife, dining, hotels, and related scenes throughout the world. We'll continue targeting more movers and shakers throughout 2009, but from the past year, here are the ten people who generated the most fervent reader reaction (both love and -- the other thing).

ICRAVE's mastermind talks technique and why New York is his junk.