Making An Entrance

Area on Hudson was one of New York's most popular nightclubs in the 80s.

Every night hundreds of people waited beyond the velvet ropes for entrance.

Admission wasn't a given.

But in this photo the baldish man in the foreground was headed to the bar to order a cognac and coke. It was his drink. I know, because later Jack Lesko was part-owner with Scottie Taylor at the Milk Bar. He loved the nightlife.

"Ah, the magic of Studio."

He was a little magic himself and I was glad to hear recently from a diamond client that Jack had survived a bout with the Big C.

"Give him my best."

And I meant it.

We are the nightlife.

AREA - NYC

Last month Area held a re-union party to celebrate the lives of the club-goers.

I skipped the event to babysit my landlord's two children.

Area wasn't really my scene.

I was living in Paris throughout its heyday.

The doorman Joe Breeze couldn't stand me, but the bouncers were part of my crew.

I entered without paying and drank for free.

I can't remember anything special happening there.

But most people can.

Both owners Eric Goode and Sean Hausman had a touch for fun.

Sleeping Beauty

The actress Tilda Swinton has been scheduled to sleep in a glass box at Mew York's Museum of Modern Art throughout the month as a performance called THE MAYBE. Museum goers enjoy the spectacle of celebrity within arm's length, but the talented Ann Magnuson related her sleeping beauty story at Area in 1983. "Eric Goode and Sean Hauseman set up a bed in one of their dioramas along the corridor at the entrance. When I heard they were paying someone $100 a night to just sleep there, I said HIRE ME! (I was so broke.) It was a nightmare. Strobe lights going off in the room, you could hear the disco music even earplugs, assholes were pounding on the plexiglass window screaming WAKE UP BITCH! I toughed it out for a few hours then quit. Made Eric pay me the full $100." $100 was good money back in 1983. Hell, I'd do it now for the same sum, but who would want to watch me sleep. HAL WINDSTON the great London Art Spiv said the following about Tilda's slumber, "I don't get the tilda-swinton-sleeping-in-a-box thing at moma, ny. well, I do, but it's depressing. why give away valuable museum real estate to a non-artist? anyway, james franco has that territory well sewn up. wasn't tilda's box (office) a cornelia parker piece from 1996 now being repackaged as a tilda original? can someone please pour in some formaldehyde? Or Jello.