In New York City, there hasn't been a place to party on Thursday nights for a long time. Since opening in 2022, The Nines has been that hotspot, but when the bar saw a wave of staff changes late last summer, many of the then-regulars decided to find somewhere else to to go out.
Some people went to Georgia Room or Casablanca; some hung out at Balthazar's bar. Others would go to Deux Chats or the Hotel Wythe. Some would even consider joining a membership club. But none of these factions is better than the sum of its parts, because it scatters the friends you used to see all over town in one fell swoop. That's why two of the people at the center, Ana Rosenstein and Frankie Carattini, decided to throw their own Thursday night party to bring everyone under one roof.
Rosenstein, founder of amaro brand Amante 1530, and Carattini, a nightlife expert who runs the door and VIP guests at The Nines and Laissez Faire, met on April 18 to host a party for the coolest people in New York on the top floor of The Golden Swan. For the first hour, going to the bar in the restaurant's gated quarters meant getting an inevitable tap on the shoulder from a friend you hadn't seen in a while. The group included nightlife mainstays like Sofia Hublitz; Eden Pritikin, fresh from the buzzing sale of her Balenciaga archive; Romy David; Emmet McDermott; Faith Brown; and lots of regular faces and friends from when Carattini was at The Nines.
In the past, when this circle came together, crowds poured into the street waiting to enter. Here, at the unremarkable door of The Golden Swan, which opened last summer in the former Spotted Pig location, taxis or Ubers would roll by. get up and be greeted by Carattini. It was an invite-only party by and for the group looking for the next big bar.
For Carattini, hosting his own night made as much sense as naming a new “It” bar for this crowd. “We were bored, so we took matters into our own hands,” says Carattini. “It's a little bit of the old Beatrice Inn vibe, in a beautiful space, and [it brings] cool kids together better than current options. Let's have our own party… because why not?”
Although the event was not necessarily about Amante 1530 had a signature cocktail that the crowd loved: a mix of amaro, tequila and soda. On the other side, Yaz Saloom (also formerly of The Nines) was in the DJ booth playing a mix of Barry White and ABBA favourites.
“There hasn't been anything like this lately, and we missed seeing all these people, all our friends together,” Rosenstein says. “I live a couple of blocks from [The Golden Swan], so I grabbed a few bottles of Amante and we started putting it all together. And it turned out great: we're all together and dancing again.”
