“There are a couple of big changes to the 2009 racing season, which kicks off on Wednesday, July 22. The most noticeable is the reduction of the weekly racing cards from six days to five, leaving the track falling quiet on Mondays.”
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Cheetahs Club & Restaurant
So what if it offers nyotaimori (all-you-can-eat sushi served on a naked woman) in its private Kabuki room? Cheetahs is a real strip club through and through. Think iced urinals and doormen who resemble characters from Boogie Nights—and not ironically, either. The girls here are a tad more desperate than at other clubs (expect to be invited to their weekend DJ gigs) but not pushy, and they don’t mind putting their hands near your crotch during a lap dance. 252 W 43rd St between Seventh and Eighth Aves (212-819-9300, cheetahnyc.com)
Flashdancers
This basement-level space fills up on Friday and Saturday nights, but by day it’s still a popular destination for tourists, businessmen and the odd celeb. Its taxi-top ads, pamphleteers and proximity to Times Square ensure regular foot traffic—including a dozen or so girls looking for jobs each night. The high worker turnover makes for a roomful of the city’s most beautiful transients (with Eastern Europe and South America well represented); a lap dance here is like getting up close with a Renaissance-period statue—a bit cold; and a bit awe-inspiring, if a bit boring for its lack of imperfection and personality. 1674 Broadway between 52nd and 53rd Sts (212-315-5107, flashdancersnyc.com)
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Head Quarters
The slimmer pickings of this loungey club’s “boutique” staff—35 girls on an average night, 75 at most when busy—aren’t a plus for the variety-is-the-spice-of-life type. But HQ’s hospitable staff has a genuine appreciation for repeat customers, making birthday phone calls, doling out promotional freebies like baseball tickets and discounting dinner packages at the upstairs restaurant. Moreover, this is where you go to find women who might not fit into a typical club’s ideals—e.g., between the ages of 30 and 35. On a weeknight, you’ll likely spend more time chatting with the pretty Hungarian after you’ve paid for the lapdance than before—a pleasant bonus if you’re into that “talking” stuff. 552 W 38th St between Tenth and Eleventh Aves (212-967-4646, hqnewyork.com)
Lace
Despite its frilly name, this location of Lace is a no-frills establishment: It’s roughly the size of some other clubs’ bathrooms, and there isn’t even a bar to drink at—just a handful of seats on the cabaret floor and one lonely stripper pole. Of course, what it lacks in flash and velvet it makes up for in intimacy: Don’t be surprised if you catch a nipple in your mouth during a lap dance—the girls here are mighty forward. 689 Eighth Ave at 43rd St (212-765-5047, laceclubs.com)
Penthouse Executive Club
For all the raunch the Penthouse name connotes, this club is remarkably refined—classy is not an ironic description. Catering to well-padded expense accounts (charges show as “Robert’s Steakhouse”) and bonus-laden financial types, the Executive Club crams 19 private rooms—spaces range in size from coffin to a Hell’s Kitchen 3BR, with price tags from $150 to $1,000 an hour—into a deceptively cozy 2.5-level arena. A small stage sits dead center, with two single-occupancy go-go platforms accommodating additional pole dancers upstairs. Lured by VIP expenditures and repeat customers, the city’s most sought-after entertainers perform here—as many as 80 on a weeknight. The net is a bevy of attractive pros—sexy, flirty and experienced veterans of the New York–Las Vegas–Miami megaclub scenes—savvy at parting men from their paychecks. Still, a Jackson is all anyone needs to enjoy a well-practiced caress from a perfectly made-up seductress. 603 W 45th St between Eleventh Ave and West Side Hwy (212-245-0002, penthouseexecutiveclub.com)
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Some people are saying now that the current state of our economy is helping the nightlife industry.
The one good thing about bars and nightclubs is that people always need a release. And essentially, going out for a couple of drinks is a relatively inexpensive way to forget about your life for a couple of hours—depending on how many drinks.
Does that have anything to do with the size of one’s pocketbook?
I think what has happened is that people save up the big blow-out days for the weekend. So instead of going out every day of the week, and especially in the summertime, the early days of the week are very popular … people are blowing it out on Friday and Saturday, and in the city on Thursday. The concept of bottle service has taken a bit of a beating.
You once said that you hated the direction bottle service was taking the club industry.
Yes, and so for me, Avenue is a step back to a time in the nightclub industry—nightlife industry, lets not say nightclub—that I loved and which is kind of representative here. It’s a step back to the lounge times.
I’m not sure if many people know that Avenue is a restaurant.
I think the term we’ve been using is gastrolounge. We have a full menu, and it’s kind of smaller portions. I’m very pleased that we were able to step back into that kind of time where it was not specifically about how much you could spend in a place and that gets you entry … but more about what you brought to the overall vibe of the room. You know you don’t have to be a black-card-toting person to really create or help a room—most of the time those people don’t anyways. It’s good to have a place for people who are just artists and may be struggling and just really cool people. And so it’s easier when you’re not as focused on generating bottle service to have that type of mélange.
But this is going to be quite a bottle service-type place, no?
Well, you know one of my specialties, as I’ve said before, is I kind of adjust as the business adjusts, to perfect what is necessary. I am very good at generating table and bottle sales; I don’t mind that it’s not the main purpose of this place. And there are still plenty of people who are appropriate for a room like this, which is very, very difficult. The door policy’s very difficult.
What do you mean by “difficult”?
It means that it’s very difficult to get in. This is not an “I’m buying two bottles, let me get in” kind of place. This is a place where if you can get in then maybe you can get a table. But it’s not about how much you’re going to spend first; it’s about how much we want you in the place. At Marquee we kept the door policy very rigid as well … it still is … I mean, I’m still there two days a week, as well as here. But a lot of places had a door policy that was solely, you buy two bottles, then you’re in. I would never be affiliated with that … that’s not what I would want to have anything to do with.
You’ve become known as having impeccable taste. Is this sort of costuming for your job, or is your sense of fashion apparent all of the time?
There are certain sides. There are certain things that I think a man should do as far as personal style, and so I live by those rules that I have set for myself. There’s a consistency to the different genres. For instance, I’ll never leave the house without a pocket square if I’m wearing a sport coat. I like very high collars on my shirts, so I have them all made. I like French cuffs, and I like monograms. Every shirt I own has a monogram, and every shirt has French cuffs.
What are some brands that you like? Where do you shop?
I like YSL suits, and Paul Smith all of the sudden is a newfound love of mine, which I’ve been buying up like crazy. I love Brioni sport coats.
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
