New Seaport hotspot bucks NYC’s members-only trend — but you still have to get past the bouncers

A new nightclub will buck the members-only trend that has swept New York City by welcoming the masses – at least those who can get behind its black velvet rope, Side Dish can reveal.

Nightlife up-and-comers Grupo Gitano will open Club Bohemia later this month at South Street Seaport’s Pier 17 – offering bottle service and intoxicating views of New York Harbor.

“We decided not to follow the trend of private member clubs,” James Gardner, Grupo Gitano’s founder and CEO, told Side Dish.

“Club Bohemia is a champagne house and a dance lounge that takes us back to the fabulous, fun times of New York from the late ’70s to the ’90s, celebrating freedom, hedonism and individuality,” Gardner said. 

The 3,000 square-foot club will be far smaller than cavernous sin dens from the past like the Studio 54, the Tunnel, the Limelight and the Palladium – but getting in will still require getting past a bouncer.  

“There will be a natural selection, along with a black velvet rope and gold stanchions,” Gardner said. “We can be inspired by the past but never try to bring it back or re-create it. We have to move forward and innovate.”

The goal is to bring back the vibrancy of New York’s nightlife scene, when creative minds from different backgrounds met and mingled — before private nightclubs filled with walking pocketbooks mushroomed across the city like a toxic plague.

“Everyone broke out into separate eco-systems,”  said veteran hospitality/nightlife guru Richie Romero, adding that the members-only clubs “plug the country club model into New York.”

The model works, Romero said, because member fees can help clubs pay rent and then generate income through food and beverage.

Velvet rope clubs, meanwhile, have a harder time generating income with bottle service.

But they can also work if the nightclub is connected to a restaurant with its own vibe in the same location, such as Jean’s on Lafayette St., or Catch and STK before that.

That’s called the resort model, Romero explains, where people stay for the night, instead of going to one place to dine and then leaving to go to a club, which is what happened in the old days of Studio 54.

The resort model dovetails with Gardner’s other Seaport venue located just below Club Bohemia, Gitano – the boho-chic modern mezcal-and-Mexican restaurant that opened last month.

“We are still a business, selling tables and bottle service,” Gardner said. “You just have to put a look together to get in. It’s a place where people can show off their creativity and not just their black cards.”

Club Bohemia will be open from 10 p.m. to 2 am, and it can also be rented out earlier for private events — which include sunset cocktails.

By the end of the month, Gardner said the club will be open Thursdays to Saturdays, with plans to expand to Wednesdays through Sundays.

The Seaport location is also ideal for a nightclub because there are less noise constraints.

A roster of “cool, downtown” resident DJs, like Dangerous Rose, Fashion, Tia Mobley, Lafayette Bless and Fried Platano, will provide the entertainment.

For Gitano’s debut last month, FKA Twigs performed with guests including Adam Lambert, Chloe Sevigny, Cristian Siriano and Francisco Costa at the private dinner.

A British import, Gardner landed in New York in his early 20s to work in finance. By 2003, he had moved into the fashion world, creating the first online stores for clients, starting with Marc Jacobs and expanding to include Tom Ford, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Calvin Klein and Burberry.

Ten years later, after falling in love with Mexico while traveling, Gardner launched Gitano in Tulum in 2013, creating a distinct look, from its hot pink neon sign to the sand and palm trees flanking the entrance.

He then decided to bring “the tropical jungle of Tulum to the city with large outdoor, seasonal spaces.”

Gitano opened its first seasonal pop up in New York in 2018 — transforming a Soho parking lot from a concrete jungle into a tropical paradise.

That lasted until the 2021 season ended and the lease expired.

From 2022 to 2024, Gitano had moved to Governors Island, which had unique challenges because it required getting there by city ferry.

“It was more challenging than our current location on a downtown pier. But even on the island, we were able to bring tens of thousands of people to a place they had never been before,” Gardner said.

At the Seaport, Gitano’s first indoor/outdoor year-round restaurant is an Instagram-worthy 14,000 square-foot space overlooking the water.

The main dining room is filled with hundreds of tropical plants, including many that were rescued from their prior Governors Island location — including Majesty Palms, Cat Palms, Areca Palms and Birds of Paradise.

Set against the eatery’s charcoal gray plaster walls, the green makes the room feel both tropical and chic.
“We saved many of our plants from the island, shipping them over to Pier 17 last October before it got too cold and keeping them warm and watered through the winter, and we imported others from Florida,” Gardner said.

There’s also a black-and-white cement tile “carpet” down the center of the restaurant, flanked by tall Adonida palm trees and a giant disco ball, imported from Mexico City.

“No one in the US would make it that big, so we made it and imported it,” Gardner said.

The striking spot has 30-foot ceilings, and a wall of hydraulic glass “garage” doors that open to the outdoors, with views of the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Other Yucatán touches include handmade cement tiles from Mérida, rose-gold rope chandeliers, Zapote wood tables made by Tulum artisans — and a black stone fountain from a hacienda in Merida. It’s all set against a backdrop of black plaster walls and a satin black-painted ceiling “which, at 30 feet high, gives the feeling that there is no ceiling, and that you are outdoors, especially at night,” Gardner said.

The menu also adds to the magic — from executive chef Sebastian Cacho, a Mexican City transplant who has worked at Michelin-starred restaurants including Bâtard and Aska.  

Signature dishes include ceviche Gitano, lobster tostada and carne asada. There’s also hamachi tostada, duck huarache, slow-roasted lamb birria, and roasted cauliflower, while cocktails feature mezcal options, botanical infusions and non-alcoholic drinks like a ‘virgin marg’ and ginger mint.

The space is large enough to feature three bar areas — the Jungle Bar at the entrance, a main bar that seats up to 15 people, and the gold bar, flanked by two 19th-century columns trucked in from a mansion in the Catskills, where Gardner and his partner, artist Andrew Cramer, own an 18th-century stone home, featured in Architectural Digest.

The brand expanded last year with Gitano Dubai.

A hotel in Tulum is next, with 40 rooms, including three beachfront villas with private pools, and a beach club.