Kenny Guido
Well-known member
How to get in that hot Hamptons club
BY JEFFREY SLONIM
Special to Newsday
May 23, 2007
Revelers who aspire to party at pricey nightclubs on the East End this summer, take heart; even the Hamptons' top doorpeople have trouble deciding what to wear before a big night on the town.
It is 7:30 p.m. on the Tuesday before Memorial Day weekend and Rachel Uchitel, director of VIP operations at Tao, a top nightclub in Las Vegas, is getting ready for a date. But tomorrow at Dune in Southampton (formerly Cain, previously Jet East, 1181 North Sea Rd.), Uchitel will stand at the velvet rope and dole out tables to deep-pocket VIPs (Friday will cost guests $1,500, and $2,000 on Saturday).
A sandy brunette, Uchitel is whipping shirts off over her head as she dresses. "I can't find an outfit," she says, laughing. "This is devastating."
The financial stakes this summer are high for club owners of Dune (6,000 square feet with 36 tables); Pink Elephant, with its rebuilt sea of outdoor cabanas (281 Country Rd. 39A, aka Route 27); the recently torn-down-and-remodeled Stereo by the Sea (formerly Tavern, 125 Tuckahoe Rd.); and Wainscott's Star Room (55 tables, $300-$400 per bottle at a table, 378 Montauk Hwy. at Eastgate Road).
The men and women hand-picked to work behind the velvet ropes at these clubs are top guns with biblical-scale followings. On a big night, mid-season, they will face well-dressed walls of humanity, easily 1,100 strong.
Uchitel, a former television reporter whose fiance died at the World Trade Center on 9/11, thrives on the madness at the door. Her favorite line is "Rachel told me to come by."
"Dude," she says, "I'm Rachel, and that's the most idiotic thing you can say."
Binn Jakupi, who is Jude Law-handsome with tousled curls, hails from Kosovo by way of the University of Oklahoma. In the winter, he controls the A-list at Butter, Manhattan's most model-centric, starry club. Jessica Simpson partied there Tuesday. This summer, Jakupi will be the man to know at Stereo by the Sea. "People will say, 'I'm Domenico Dolce's cousin. I own this hotel,'" he says. "I don't care what you own. If someone is cool and I want to take care of them, I take care of them."
Pink Elephant's doorman, Alexander Julian, of Tenjune, a hot spot in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, is known for his athletic build and sleek, shaved head. His coif may have inspired Britney Spears' recent, if temporary makeover. Spears requested that he join her table at Tenjune a week before she went skinhead. Julian's least favorite opener is "Do you know who I am?"
"If you're poorly dressed in flip-flops and khakis," says the straight shooter at Pink Elephant, "you're not getting in."
An eccentric dresser, Star Room's Bey Archer, who introduced Heather Graham and Star Room co-owner Charles Ferri last summer (they're still dating), dons white Muslim skull caps and J. Lindberg suits. But he doesn't ban flip-flops. Archer says he's looking for "elegant casual."
And, at 5-foot-11, with light stubble, it is Michelangelo L'Acqua who backs up Uchitel at Dune. He claims he is compassionate. "I'll turn you down in a nice way, take 30 seconds to tell you why," he says. "If you roll up with six guys, chances are I won't let you in unless you're willing to spend money for a table. I don't like baseball caps or fraternity looks. For girls, I like it light and beachy, not a lot of makeup."
L'Acqua's least favorite gambit: "Do you know who my dad is?
"I'm part of the older generation," he says. "We got in because we were cool."
BY JEFFREY SLONIM
Special to Newsday
May 23, 2007
Revelers who aspire to party at pricey nightclubs on the East End this summer, take heart; even the Hamptons' top doorpeople have trouble deciding what to wear before a big night on the town.
It is 7:30 p.m. on the Tuesday before Memorial Day weekend and Rachel Uchitel, director of VIP operations at Tao, a top nightclub in Las Vegas, is getting ready for a date. But tomorrow at Dune in Southampton (formerly Cain, previously Jet East, 1181 North Sea Rd.), Uchitel will stand at the velvet rope and dole out tables to deep-pocket VIPs (Friday will cost guests $1,500, and $2,000 on Saturday).
A sandy brunette, Uchitel is whipping shirts off over her head as she dresses. "I can't find an outfit," she says, laughing. "This is devastating."
The financial stakes this summer are high for club owners of Dune (6,000 square feet with 36 tables); Pink Elephant, with its rebuilt sea of outdoor cabanas (281 Country Rd. 39A, aka Route 27); the recently torn-down-and-remodeled Stereo by the Sea (formerly Tavern, 125 Tuckahoe Rd.); and Wainscott's Star Room (55 tables, $300-$400 per bottle at a table, 378 Montauk Hwy. at Eastgate Road).
The men and women hand-picked to work behind the velvet ropes at these clubs are top guns with biblical-scale followings. On a big night, mid-season, they will face well-dressed walls of humanity, easily 1,100 strong.
Uchitel, a former television reporter whose fiance died at the World Trade Center on 9/11, thrives on the madness at the door. Her favorite line is "Rachel told me to come by."
"Dude," she says, "I'm Rachel, and that's the most idiotic thing you can say."
Binn Jakupi, who is Jude Law-handsome with tousled curls, hails from Kosovo by way of the University of Oklahoma. In the winter, he controls the A-list at Butter, Manhattan's most model-centric, starry club. Jessica Simpson partied there Tuesday. This summer, Jakupi will be the man to know at Stereo by the Sea. "People will say, 'I'm Domenico Dolce's cousin. I own this hotel,'" he says. "I don't care what you own. If someone is cool and I want to take care of them, I take care of them."
Pink Elephant's doorman, Alexander Julian, of Tenjune, a hot spot in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, is known for his athletic build and sleek, shaved head. His coif may have inspired Britney Spears' recent, if temporary makeover. Spears requested that he join her table at Tenjune a week before she went skinhead. Julian's least favorite opener is "Do you know who I am?"
"If you're poorly dressed in flip-flops and khakis," says the straight shooter at Pink Elephant, "you're not getting in."
An eccentric dresser, Star Room's Bey Archer, who introduced Heather Graham and Star Room co-owner Charles Ferri last summer (they're still dating), dons white Muslim skull caps and J. Lindberg suits. But he doesn't ban flip-flops. Archer says he's looking for "elegant casual."
And, at 5-foot-11, with light stubble, it is Michelangelo L'Acqua who backs up Uchitel at Dune. He claims he is compassionate. "I'll turn you down in a nice way, take 30 seconds to tell you why," he says. "If you roll up with six guys, chances are I won't let you in unless you're willing to spend money for a table. I don't like baseball caps or fraternity looks. For girls, I like it light and beachy, not a lot of makeup."
L'Acqua's least favorite gambit: "Do you know who my dad is?
"I'm part of the older generation," he says. "We got in because we were cool."
