While illicit warehouse ragers, public binge drinking, street parties and raves continue to flout COVID-19 social distancing rules throughout New York City, a different scene has emerged independent of these gatherings, mostly in Manhattan, where party promoters are throwing exclusive and expensive parties with a club-like atmosphere -- pandemic be damned.
"In Manhattan, clubs pay hosts or promoters or models just to sit at a table and look good to fill up the club with beautiful people, in order to sell tables to the rich people willing to pay up to $5,000 to a table," said Kristina Alaniesse, who runs the kristinaformayor Instagram account, which has become a clearing house of sorts for photos and videos documenting reckless pandemic partying. "Those people wouldn't spend so much if the club were empty. Hosts or promoters usually get paid anything between $300 and $1,000, but it could be a lot more if it's a celebrity or influencer."
One of the spaces allegedly running these parties is Provocateur, a former Meatpacking District club that closed a few years ago, then remerged with popup events over the last year. According to sources who have been to events there, as well as videos and photos Gothamist reviewed, they have been operating out of the Café Tucano in the East Village, on 9th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, over the last month.
They bill their parties as the "most exclusive" in New York, with one former employee telling Gothamist that their door policy is extremely strict, and that they almost never saw a person of color inside. That former employee noted that SNL's Michael Che wasn't able to get in one night late last year at a popup event at PUBLIC Arts.
It often costs thousands for a table, and parties regularly go past the 11 p.m. outdoor dining curfew, especially on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. You can see a few videos below from an event there this past week.
"I’ve been getting texts about events there almost every single day, they’re open from Tuesday to Saturday some weeks," said one source, who asked to be anonymous because he works in the restaurant industry and knows many of the people who run the space. "Their kitchen closes around 11 p.m., then the parties go until 4 or 5 a.m. with some outdoor seating."
He said he attended an event there a few weeks ago and saw "hundreds of people, nobody is social distancing, nobody is wearing masks. It’s like the normal club scene. There’s a lot of spenders there. If they do social distancing, they can’t make money. They need to have a packed room full of people to make money."
Another person who went to an event there in the past week told Gothamist, "it's obviously a nightclub environment. People are rolling up in Ubers, Maseratis, everyone's dressed like it's a nightclub."
Among other things, Gothamist saw at least one online posting from a Provocateur email address (noting it was "from the developers and operators of" Provocateur) looking to hire cocktail servers for the venue, stating they planned to open with Phase 2 and would be operating from 12 p.m. to 4 a.m. Gothamist was also sent an invite to a party there from one of the alleged organizers, as well as a video showing half a dozen people sharing a hookah at the venue recently.
Emails sent to Provocateur seeking comment were not returned.
Travis Bass, the co-owner of Avenue A dance venue Lola, explained that Provocateur has developed a negative reputation among people in the NYC nightlife community. "People in my group don’t want me to throw parties right now because they think it's wrong and dangerous, because they have a consceince, they’re at protests, they’re good people," he told Gothamist. "The people who go to Provocateur and run it are largely not people who are socially conscious. They're very insecure rich dudes."
Several of the other underground Manhattan parties have been taking place every weekend in various locations in Midtown, spread via WhatsApp chat groups and text chains with promoters asking people not to publicize the illicit events. Some of these events are specific marijuana parties (run by the same group whose event was busted on April 20th) that take place in a Flatiron building, and an event space near Bryant Park that has been used for mask-free parties that sometimes include lap dances.
Some of these groups are currently attempting to throw yacht parties, including one called the "Yacht Party Covoid Kickoff" scheduled for August 8th from 7 to 11 p.m., and another planned for August 23rd. (Two promoters were arrested over the weekend for a separate illegal East River party boat.)
At least two of the parties have been described as sex parties. One of those alleged events was recently raided by the Sheriff's Office, who did not offer any comment on the ongoing investigation.
Because of that raid last week, some of these promoters have temporarily paused their regular events. One organizer has been telling people that there's been "too much attention" because of Cuomo's task force, but they are hoping things can restart this month.
There have been multiple COVID outbreaks in New Jersey, Connecticut, Westchester and Long Island in recent weeks which have been linked to parties and gatherings involving younger people. The New York State Department of Health has opened an investigation into The Chainsmokers' drive-in fundraiser which took place in the Hamptons this past weekend, after videos surfaced from the event showing many attendees not social distancing or wearing masks.
