• Cipriani Upstairs

  376 W. Broadway, 212-499-0599

  New York’s private clubs tend to follow a downward trajectory. The memberships don’t sell. The club opens its doors. Soon it’s indistinguishable from Lotus on South Jersey Night. The Alpine-inspired bungalow atop Cipriani Downtown has alone avoided this fate. The gold-plated membership list—you need a recommendation to get on it—ensures that the cushy banquettes are filled nightly with glitterati. Models, moguls, and nobles, from Jay-Z to Salman Rushdie, sip cocktails supplied by beautiful waitresses. Suddenly, even the crowd dining on $36 steaks at the Cipriani restaurant below seems common. Upstairs, meanwhile, is the only place in modern Manhattan where you could shoot the orgy scene at the end of La Dolce Vita.

From the 2006 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine