How New York's Social Life Went Members-Only

A new wave of private restaurants, workspaces, wellness centers, and nightclubs has taken New York City by storm. Emily Sundberg gets inside most of them-and helps us understand why so many young New Yorkers are gleefully shelling out membership dues.

- EMILY SUNDBERG

BEFORE I BEGIN THIS story, I must disclose that much of it was written within the lacquered mahogany walls of Casa Cipriani New York, the 115-year-old ferry terminal turned members' club next to where the Staten Island Ferry comes into Manhattan. My spot was a corner couch in front of the crackling fireplace, not because the club was a subject of this story but because I'm a member there and I like to watch the buzzing traffic of private helicopters and boats in the harbor. I would tell you about the characters I see in the Jazz Café on Thursday nights (often in sunglasses at 10 p.m.), and what I hear in the sauna on Tuesday afternoons (this town's private schools are nuts)-I swear, sometimes it's a full-Scorsese fever dream-but I can't, because writing about the club's members, along with baseball hats and photography, is not permitted.

I am not alone in warming up to the members-only experience. Since the waning of the pandemic, private clubs have proliferated in New York City. It is not a new phenomenon in major urban areas around the world, but this is the crest of a whole new wave of options in a city that has not regarded club membership as a signifier for cool in quite some time. Good for a Christmas party or a cocktail with your dad's friend? Sure. But not cool.