Soho House Letter by The Lo-Down
Here’s a certified letter from Soho House CEO Nick Jones to residents living near 139 Ludlow Street, which is destined to become the exclusive club’s second Manhattan location. The letter was sent to fewer than 2,000 households within two blocks of the former funeral home, which is set to undergo a major renovation in the months ahead.
Soho House is scheduling open houses on several dates, beginning this weekend. The club is expected to be on the April Community Board agenda. This past month, Soho House briefly appeared on the liquor license docket but quickly withdrew the application due to scheduling conflicts and a desire to conduct more neighborhood outreach. The company, owned by billionaire Ron Burkle, has hired high-profile lobbying firm Capalino and Company to help navigate the liquor application through the community board and the State Liquor Authority.
The LES Dwellers, the relatively new neighborhood group, is mobilizing to fight the proposal. We expect to hear more from them in the next few days.
I received this certified letter today and I would share a wall with this place. Sounds like they’re starting with deception. Soho House is not a quiet coffee shop type of place – unless they’re planning a huge change from other Soho Houses. This is a loud disruptive club, not a place to get away from “coffee chains and home offices”. Too bad they can’t be honest and have a real conversation with local residents instead of trying to dupe them with a watered down description. A certified lie is no good. 143 Ludlow Tenants are currently suing their landlord for trying to mow them down and subject them to an unlivable development situation. We should not be taken for granted. Honest communication and consideration or go away.
I was in Soho House for a charitable fund raiser, where one of the members of the organization was a Soho House member, and rented a small room in the club with hors d’oeurves and drinks for a very low key evening.
Towards the end of the evening, I politely asked the club staff if I may go to the roof to see the pool that they are known for.
The staff firmly told me no, that because I was not a member, even though I was an invited guest to this small event, I could not view their roof pool.
And that is emblematic of the type of inclusiveness that Soho House actually represents.
Pick any Friday night. Go check out the Soho House in Meatpacking. Look at the long line of gleaming black vehicles idling outside. Gaze upon the Armani-clad international-types with skinny models on their arms as they rush self-importantly in and out. Accompany a member and get vetted by security and an anxious front-desk battery of gorgeous young women. Ascend to a private screening room, or to the packed rooftop bar, jammed with fashionable people accessorized at five figures. Enjoy a mini-quesadillas and other tapas fare, with drinks. Bill for two people: $75. For snacks and a drink. Then tell me that anything in that letter is even remotely believable.
The Soho House is super-cool, but it is not a quiet, creative environment for sweet young artists starting out in their careers. It’s an exclusive haven/meat market for the wealthy and successful, and the women who want to be next to them. Whenever I’ve gone there, I’ve felt surrounded by Wall St. types. Membership dues are $1,800 annually — assuming a starving artist could even get in, could they afford it?
Functionally, above all else, Soho House is a night-club. Night-clubs impact neighborhoods. Expect fresh crowds, lingering bodyguards, and long lines of gleaming Teutonic automobiles idling until 4:00am. LES residents should do the due diligence or pay the price — again.
I used to work at Soho House on Miami Beach. It’s far from low key and they are a terrible company. Everyone I worked with quit complaining that “their” tips never actually made it on “their” paychecks. Constant turnover there, or spin it around, “we create a lot of jobs for your community!”, but really no. Terrible place and yes it attracts the spoiled people of the world that will flash their cash in your face.