Area (nightclub)

History

The brick building housing Area was originally built in 1866 to house the stables of American Express.

From its inception, the club became known for its creative invitations. 5,000 invitations were sent in capsules for the September 1983 opening. They sent champagne-bottle crackers for New Year's Eve, hollowed-out eggs for Natural History, and black handkerchiefs for Halloween.

The club was opened on Mondays and Wednesday through Saturday. The themed decors changed every six weeks with themes such as Art, Confinement, Suburbia, and Science Fiction that incorporated elaborate installations. Serge Becker was the art director. Their art department also consisted of Jennifer Goode, Michael Staats, Kenny Baird.

Ben Buchanan was the official photographer for the club and was there most nights documenting the scene. These photos were in Details every month and often in the New York Post and Daily News.

Area attracted many celebrities such as Grace Jones, Andy Warhol, Malcolm Forbes, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. There are several mentions of Area in The Andy Warhol Diaries. Michael Musto, writing for Details magazine and The Village Voice respectively, chronicled the doings there. Musto's book, Downtown looked back on the phenomenon. In February 1985, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jonathan Larson conceived of his unpublished musical Superbia while in Area's projectionist's booth.

By early 1987, Area had closed. Of the "three hot clubs" in lower Manhattan in the 1980s—Area, Limelight, and Danceteria - Area "[died] a natural death", Limelight survived with a less artistic clientele, and Danceteria "[gave] way to expensive office space," said Musto.{{cite book|title=Consumption: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences|author=Miller, Daniel|publisher=Taylor & Francis| page=447 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAe6U6y-i1EC&q=Downtown+Musto&pg=PA427| year=2001 | isbn=978-0-415-24269-1}}

After the gentrification of the neighborhood, the building was renovated by Kevin Kennon Architects to multifamily residential use, with terraced penthouses atop the existing structure.

References

References

1. [[Glenn O'Brien. O'Brien, Glenn]]: [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/style/tmagazine/t_w_1576_1577_well_area_.html "Culture Club"], ''[[T: The New York Times Style Magazine]]'', August 27, 2006.
2. Kornbluth, Jesse: [https://books.google.com/books?id=JrwBAAAAMBAJ "Inside Area: The Wizardry of New York's Hottest Club"], ''[[New York Magazine]]'', pp. 32-41, March 11, 1985.
3. (2013-12-26). "Excess Area".
4. “The Club Beat” ''[[New York Magazine]]'', July 2–9, 1984, pp. 70-76.
5. Lewine, Edward. (May 25, 1997). "Is Downtown Dead?". [[The New York Times]].
6. Stein, Joshua David. (November 1, 2013). "Memories and Photos of Area Nightclub -- New York Magazine - Nymag".
7. Rosenthal, Emerson. (July 7, 2015). "The Exclusive Story Behind Warhol & Basquiat's Boxing Photos".
8. Savig, Mary. (2017-08-15). "Acquisitions: Ben Buchanan Photographs of Artists".
9. [[Andy Warhol. Warhol, Andy]]; Hackett, Pat (ed.), ''The Andy Warhol Diaries''. New York: Warner Books, 1989: 633.
10. Socolov, Emily. (1985). "Area: The Human Form in Tableaux (MA Thesis)". New York University.
11. Musto, Michael. (1986). "Downtown". Knopf.
12. McFarlane, Skye H.. (October 13, 2006). "Building lofts where clubbers and horses once roamed". Downtown Express.