Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid have finally met their match. Well, they would have, at least, if 1969 had warped itself into a time-space continuum of monochromatic, retro-western hideouts filled with modish prep-sters drinking on daddy’s hard-earned 2008 tax-return dollar. Tom and Anthony Martignetti, two of New York City nightlife’s leading men, have created a gritty, underground lair out of Southside, their 1 Cleveland Place reinvention. Southside is every bit of cool that it has been made out to be.
Down the stairs, past the coat check and into the lengthy corridor, lined with leafy-green, bamboo branches, a modest, black and white checkered dance floor awaits. The walls of the venue are covered in slightly kitschy, fauna-stamped wallpaper, adding an eye-catching contrast to the slick flooring. The vintage, burnished, brown leather banquettes which line the perimeter and are strangely reminiscent of my grandmother’s couches, add to the venue’s old school, down-home feel. The single, but entirely self-sufficient bar, sits beneath a row of dangling, green, light fixtures, the final touch to this minimalist, underground space.
