The Elsinore a “Couple Weeks” from Opening at 17 Stanton

The Elsinore (named for the castle in Hamlet), a new club in the works at 17 Stanton Street, has been in previews for the duration of Fashion Week. Noel Ashman joined forces with Amit Zaman, who scrapped his years-old Stanton Public, and they are now collectively trading up for the pretty party people.

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We ambled past the establishment last night, and were greeted with more than a dozen computer printouts indicating that the Elsinore is to launch in “the next couple weeks.”  That we should pardon the appearance during construction.  So we sniped a photo of the interior. Quite a departure from the predecessor.

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Word first broke about the Elsinore back in November, with news that the bar would boast a heated garden area and be open by the end of December. Obviously there were some hiccups.  Along the way, we learned that nightlife impresario Steve Lewis was tasked with designing the joint in order to foster the “downtown-hip” vibe.

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Wearing his conflict of interest on the proverbial sleeve, Steve Lewis interviewed co-owner Noel Ashman for Blackbook last week. Two questions of note…

What is The Elsinore doing to fill a void in nightlife or push the envelope of nightlife?

I think many clubs/lounges in NYC have gotten very commercial and seem to be almost copying a Las Vegas formula, which can be profitable but I find very stale. They have lost a lot of the NYC authenticity and artistic flavor that, in the past, had made NYC the envy of nightlife all over the world. I think we are trying to bring an updated version of some old-school, more selective NY clubs/lounges like my old club Veruka, Spy Bar, Bungelow 8, etc. but with some new twists. We are designing the space for many of the creative high-profile people that do not feel protected in current venues, to give them a more private place to hang.

The location seems to be getting hotter by the minute. Why did you choose to be in this area?

I spent a lot of time looking at venues and areas of town and I felt the Meatpacking area was way too over-saturated and commercial. The Bowery, to me, is the next great nightlife destination and The Elsinore was just perfect for what I wanted to do. It is small (holding approx imately 175 peeps at a time), but has a feeling of being very spacious because of the high ceilings and has a great backyard, outdoor area so I just fell in love with it.