Having a 250th birthday may be nice for America, but for New York City, a semiquincentennial is old news. Literally. New York City was founded — depending on who you ask — about 360 years ago, more than a century before the United States. In all that time, we’ve been busy.
New York is widely acknowledged as a hub of industry and creativity, as it should be. Yes, this is the land of Wall Street and Ellis Island, of Stonewall and the Statue of Liberty. But alongside the city’s big landmarks are smaller ones, ones you can't necessarily visit, the quirky ideas that emerged from New York's melting pot and spread across the country.
For the next month, we’ll be celebrating the concepts that came from the city (and our beloved neighbor, New Jersey), talking to experts about how the United States would not be what it is without New York City. You’re welcome, America.
Did you know that Manhattan’s Webster Hall is widely considered the first ever modern nightclub? Constructed in 1886, the extravagantly ornamented Queen Anne style structure quickly became one of the Village’s leading public halls-for-rent. It hosted balls, dances, receptions, lectures, concerts, conventions, union rallies, military functions and more, “particularly for the working-class and immigrant populations of the Lower East Side,” its Landmark Designation Report states. It has continued to be a hot spot for historic happenings and hedonism in the over a century since, hosting luminaries as varied as Marcel Duchamp, Tito Puente, Langston Hughes, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Tina Turner, and Prince.
Indeed, a great deal has changed in the world since Webster Hall first opened 140 years ago, but a night club’s purpose remains functionally untouched: It still provides people with a space to congregate and dance together.
Chelsea Hotel resident and party queen Susanne Bartsch is an expert on bringing New Yorkers together to dance. The Swiss-born event producer and subject of the 2017 documentary “Susanne Bartsch: On Top” has been throwing weekly parties in Manhattan for decades — once at long shuttered nightclubs like Savage and Bentley’s, for a good while at the Copacabana, and currently at Le Bain. Her extravagant party attire has been the subject of museum exhibits, and her parties are reliably a scene to behold and enjoy. She spoke with Gothamist about how today, in an increasingly atomized, digital world, spaces like Webster are more relevant and vital than ever.
SUSANNE BARTSCH: The dance floor is still that one experience where people seem to be in the moment. There's no phones, generally. People are dancing to the beat, doing whatever they're doing, but they're united by the music. It's a beautiful experience.
I think the one thing that will always be necessary, that will never die out, is that people do need to look in each other's eyes, feel their energy. Not sex, just…be connected. The dance floor to me is almost like a religion. People are moving in different styles, but they’re all moving to the same beat. It's like meditating. It's like an out-of-body experience. Everyone's in that moment together, to the same beat, doing whatever they're doing.
And I think that's really important and makes nightclubs special, that you can still go and feel that, you know, go through that moment, spend time going and experiencing that connection of people.
When I was young, we had new things. Every generation does. But I think this generation, they have it the worst, you know? They had the pandemic, they had the iPhone, social media. Now they’ve got AI hitting them.
They do turn up looks still. I love when they come in in outfits and make an effort. Preparing and getting ready to do a look, it's like a foreplay, you know?
But people don't have to go out anymore. You can do everything on the phone. The one thing you still have to go out for is dancing. I mean, you can dance at home alone or with a couple of friends, but the real energy of a dance floor has not been replaced.
Regarding Webster Hall, my first major memory is opening the club [in 1992] for the Canadian guys, these four brothers, the Ballingers [the same nightlife impresarios who at points operated clubs including The Boom Boom Room, Ballinger’s Heartbreak Hotel and Twilight Zone]. It was a huge night, a madhouse, a fantastic party.
Nightlife's changed in New York. Tuesday used to be a good night, a big night; Thursday's a much bigger going out night now than it used to be – it's part of the weekend. In the old days, the '80s and even the '90s, we never went out Friday and Saturday, they were amateur night because of the bridge and tunnel. Bridge representing Brooklyn, tunnel representing New Jersey. But now it's cooler in Brooklyn than in Manhattan, so that's a huge change. I think Manhattan nightclubs are barely there now. They're all in Brooklyn.
And we all wanna make money, but it's not really about the money, you know? New York has soul and I think that's the difference here. The late hours also help, the fact that we can go till 4 a.m. in New York makes a big difference. And there's quite a few after hours again. And the mix of people is always a huge asset to a party. There's no other mix of people in the world like there is in New York. It's just amazing. So New York is definitely the best.
People come to New York and it's almost like an addiction. Once you've tasted it you always want more. My favorite thing is when you arrive at the airport, you drive from Kennedy or LaGuardia, and you see that skyline. I call it a B12 shot. It just lifts you up. That skyline just energizes you. I find it really beautiful. I've been coming to New York a long time. I've been in New York since '81, and to this day every time I come back from a trip, that skyline just uplifts me.
