For some time, Manhattan’s private-club scene has experienced vertiginous growth. Mario Carbone launched a Hudson Yards joint, ZZ’s Club, in 2023; chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten descended upon the Meatpacking District to open a point-one-percent-filled catacomb, Chez Margaux; Sunset Tower proprietor Jeff Klein descended upon the city last year to open one of his San Vicente clubs in the former Jane Hotel (disclosure: I am a member); even Kith, the clothing brand, joined the trend with Kith Ivy, a $36,000-initiation-fee hideout that opened a few months ago near Hudson River Park.
But as the new guard of hospitality impresarios dot the Big Apple with high-priced venues and piles of zucchini chips, blueblooded New York institutions such as the Union Club, the University Club, the Knickerbocker Club, and the Racquet & Tennis Club haven’t ceded their ground. A growing number of the city’s twenty- and thirtysomething men are flocking to the old-world clubs, joining the older guard in the locker rooms, according to interviews with several members. (These club rats, of sorts, insisted on anonymity when speaking to me, given the historic privacy of the organizations they belong to. One person said he’s more likely to commit a misdemeanor than break the “sacrosanct” rules of his association.)
