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Boîte
By BEN DETRICK
As anyone who will spend this weekend in a sultry nurse uniform or a tangerine-hued Trump mask knows, it’s not a Halloween party without costumes. But for the rest of the year, can the Vnyl, a 1970s-themed club that opened in September and stands for “Vintage New York Lifestyle,” capture that era without bell-bottoms, sepia shades and disco?
Last Saturday night, a table of 20-something women tossed back tequila shots over the archaeological remains of a $74 rib-eye steak. Nearby, a man wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Dope” lifted his miniskirted dance partner into the air. “I don’t know if the name fits the place,” said Colin Donlevy, a guy in a suit who was watching the revelry. “They played Ja Rule earlier.”
THE PLACE
The Vnyl is on a busy stretch of Third Avenue, in a space once occupied by the soccer bar Nevada Smiths. Visitors enter through a coffee shop and retro record store (the collection is “directed” by the “Entourage” actor Adrian Grenier). The sleekly designed four floors include a restaurant and cocktail bar, a bottle service mezzanine with private bartenders and a cedar-wrapped champagne lounge. “The different rooms are all interconnected,” said James Morrissey, the owner, who described his establishment as a “lifestyle brand.”
THE CROWD
Standard East Village weekend singles crush, with few Walt Fraziers or Jane Birkins. Men wore blazers, V-neck tees and dress shirts; women, A-line dresses, Burberry scarves and chokers. Oh, so many chokers.
PLAYLIST
With tracks from the Bee Gees and James Brown, the music downstairs hailed from the advertised decade. On the third floor, where attendees bobbed beneath portraits of Liam Neeson and Sinead O’Connor, a D.J. boomed Fetty Wap and Beyoncé, as well as an O. T. Genasis medley.
GETTING IN
There’s a velvet rope and a “controlled door policy,” but Mr. Morrissey insisted it isn’t too strict. “We didn’t want to create a pretentious atmosphere,” he said, adding, “We don’t want mobs of people coming out and getting sick on the street.”
DRINKS
Twenty beers and four cocktails are on tap. A bottle of Tiger lager is $9, and cocktails average $15. A dinner menu includes chicken tacos ($13) and salmon poke ($23).