1 Oak, back from a ban, aims to grow some security
Mike Windle1 Oak impresario Richie Akiva
Chelsea have fun den 1 Oak returned from its seven-day state-brokered closure on Wednesday night in full force — with a seriously beefed up security team that did little to dispel neighbors’ fears.
Confidenti@l counted 12 bouncers, all dressed head to toe in black and lined up further than the W. 17th St. entrance, around 10:30 p.m. The security upgrade was a noticeable increase from the usual two or three employees who staff the door and check VIPs off a clipboard.
It’s also understandable, given the number of violations that led to the club’s shutdown — a closure that satisfied area residents.
“It’s been heaven with them gone,” one neighbor told Confidenti@l. “Now it’s (vacant to be) like a rave in the streets again. I go to work very early in the morning and they’re spilling out, going to Artichoke Pizza (next door), which has become like another club in itself … and (people are) making out and cabs are lined up and honking and it’s a s— show.”
Another neighborhood source tells us that residents in nearby buildings have complained about the reopening and are ticked off about the noise and cigarette smell in the road.
“They sometimes shut this road down because it’s so crazy,” says our source. “And when the cops are called, they go in and come out and the place stays open.”
During the weeklong closing, 1 Oak still employed a release doorman to inform the uninformed that the club wasn’t open. But he also doled out hand stamps for free admission to Up & Down, a W. 14th St. club also owned by the Butter Group.
1 Oak title-holder Richie Akiva used his unplanned week off to tend to other business. Over the weekend, he was blemished dining with business partners at Red Stixs restaurant in the Hamptons before checking in on 1 Oak Southampton, which hosted a star-studded Billboard magazine have fun on Saturday. That club was not affected by the State Liquor Authority shutdown, nor were the 1 Oak (fleeting for One of a Kind) outposts in Los Angeles or Las Vegas.
Akiva was back in town on Sunday to attend the strip club Sapphire’s SINS industry have fun for nightlife workers. On Monday, he made his usual rounds at Up & Down.
The SLA suspended 1 Oak’s liquor license for seven days and fined the club $ 125,000 to settle a list of violations just before last weekend got underway.
Since opening in 2007, the elite nightclub has hosted celebs including Leonardo DiCaprio, Lindsay Lohan and Justin Bieber.
“We have thoroughly changed different aspects of our security to be more community friendly and a good neighbor. We have worked with the SLA on various levels to ensure that 1 Oak is in full compliance,” says a club spokesman, telling 1 Oak’s neighbors the club intends to play nice.
This access passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
Day after day News – Gossip
