Bungalow 8 was an exclusive

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

chain with locations in Manhattan's West Side,

London's West End The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...

, and Amsterdam's nightlife neighborhood

Leidseplein Leidseplein (English: Leiden Square) is a square in central Amsterdam, Netherlands. It lies in the Weteringschans neighborhood ( Centrum borough), immediately northeast of the Singelgracht. It is located on the crossroads of the Weteringschans, Ma ...

. The New York location in particular was popular with celebrities in the early 2000s. Frequent guests included

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conra ...

Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at the age of three. Having appeared as a regular on the television soap opera '' An ...

Zelda Kaplan Zelda Kaplan (June 20, 1916 – February 15, 2012) was a fixture in New York's art, nightclub, and fashion worlds. Her trademark outfit was a matching African-print dress, handbag, and shoes, and a tall cloth hat. She made numerous philanthropic ...

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

, and

Nicole Richie Nicole Camille Richie (; born September 21, 1981) is an American television personality, fashion designer, socialite, and actress. She came to prominence after appearing in the reality television series ''The Simple Life'' (2003–2007), in whic ...

. In the interest of privacy, Bungalow 8 had a strict no photography rule.

Locations

New York

Amy Sacco opened Bungalow 8 in 2001 in a small garage in

Chelsea, Manhattan Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The area's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, the Hudson River and West Street to the west, and Sixth Avenue to the east, with its northern b ...

with décor inspired by the bungalows at

The Beverly Hills Hotel The Beverly Hills Hotel, also called the Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows, is located on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California. One of the world's best-known hotels, it is closely associated with Hollywood film stars, rock stars, and cel ...

. The club closed annually for renovations, which in part fed frequent speculation that Sacco was selling or closing the business. The club's popularity peaked between 2005 and 2007 before closing in 2009 under the guise of renovations. It was never directly announced that Bungalow 8 was permanently closed. The brand was purchased in 2012 by LDV Hospitality and plans to reopen in another location were set into motion. LDV filed for a liquor license as a

gastropub A gastropub or gastro pub is a pub that serves gourmet comfort food. The term was coined in the 1990s, though similar brewpubs existed during the 1980s. Etymology The term ''gastropub'' (derived from gastronomy) was coined in 1991, when David E ...

rather than as a club or lounge and were careful to keep the name Bungalow 8 under wraps, as Sacco had problems with neighborhood complaints at the previous location. When the Community Board learned the new addition to the neighborhood was indeed Bungalow 8, they pushed back, leading to their liquor license being temporarily frozen. After back-and-forth between LDV and the Community Board, LDV opened under a different name, No. 8, having agreed not to hire Sacco as a consultant, publicist, contractor, or employee. Despite this, Sacco hosted a number of exclusive parties, informally under the Bungalow 8 banner, and several Community Board members saw her working on-site nightly. Since the business still called itself a gastropub, LDV was able to circumvent neighborhood expectations for nightclubs and lounges. No. 8 again faced pushback due to community concerns about insufficient security for the number of guests and about garbage left out overnight. Despite this, No. 8 remained open until 2016.

London

Sacco opened a second location in London's

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

area at the St Martins Lane Hotel in 2007. Unlike its New York counterpart, this club was designed to be members-only. It lost its license in 2011 and closed.

Amsterdam

Bungalow 8 opened in Amsterdam in 2009 in the nightlife-heavy

area. The new location was designed by

Winka Dubbeldam Winka Dubbeldam (born 1966) is a Dutch-American architect and academic. After her education in architectural design at Columbia University, she established her own firm, Archi-Tectonics (with 15 employees), in 1994 in New York City. Her use of a ...

. It closed in 2013.

Sydney

Bungalow 8 opened in Sydney in 2003. Located at the edge of a wharf in Sydney Harbour the interior of Bungalow 8 was designed as a 'pacific' taverna. Conceived as a sea of yellow light reflecting off a black split bamboo texture the interior space mediates the intensity of the Australian sunlight by day and becomes a magical painting by night with a dance floor that attracts the best movers and shakers in the region.

Pop-ups

Sacco held a number of Bungalow 8 pop-ups at festivals including the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

starting in 2010, the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

, the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

, and the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. In 2013,

Beulah London Beulah London is a British fashion brand founded by Natasha Rufus Isaacs and Lavinia Brennan. History Beulah London is a luxury fashion brand founded in 2010 by Natasha Rufus Isaacs and Lavinia Brennan, it is a British fashion brand that speci ...

and Bungalow 8 collaborated on a pop-up at the Belgraves Hotel on

Chesham Place Chesham Place is a street in Belgravia, London UK, running between Belgrave Square and Pont Street. It is home to several embassies and has had many distinguished residents. It was first laid out in 1831, and includes a number of listed building ...

ahead of

London Fashion Week London Fashion Week (LFW) is a clothing trade show that takes place in London twice a year, in February and September. Showcasing over 250 designers to a global audience of influential media and retailers, it is one of the 'Big Four' fashion wee ...

. The

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

Art Basel Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel, Switzerland; Miami Beach; Hong Kong and from 2022, Paris. Art Basel works in collaboration with the host city's local institutions to help ...

, and the

Oscars The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

have also been followed by Bungalow 8 events.

In popular culture

In the fourth season (2002) of ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...

'',

Carrie Carrie may refer to: People * Carrie (name), a female given name and occasionally a surname Places in the United States * Carrie, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Carrie, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carrie Glacier, Olympic Nati ...

refers to Bungalow 8 as a "completely pretentious, members-only, tiny, crowded club that you need a key to get into." The same year,

P. Diddy Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent directo ...

's Coast 2 Coast remix of "

Welcome to Atlanta "Welcome to Atlanta" is a 2002 hip hop song by Jermaine Dupri featuring Ludacris. It was released in 2002 as the second single released from Dupri's 2001 album '' Instructions'' and also appeared as a hidden track on Ludacris' second album, '' ...

" includes the lyrics: "Sunday, we layin' low at the Halo, sippin' Cris and we straight/Monday, we go to Bungalow 8."

Lauren Weisberger Lauren Weisberger (born March 28, 1977) is an American novelist and author of the 2003 bestseller '' The Devil Wears Prada'', a ''roman à clef'' of her experience as an assistant to ''Vogue'' editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Early life and educa ...

' 2005 novel '' Everyone Worth Knowing'' is set primarily at Bungalow 8 in New York and the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

of ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...

'', Serena refers to dancing on the tables at Bungalow 8. In 2008, the film ''

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

'' shows the main character waking up at Bungalow 8 on

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

and a fifth season episode of ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series of ...

'' has

Pam Beesly Pamela Morgan Halpert (née Beesly) is a fictional character on the U.S. TV series, television sitcom ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'', played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of ''The Office (British TV ...

joking about going to Bungalow 8 with

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

. The nightclub Maisonette 9 in '' Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony'' was based on Bungalow 8. Sacco voiced Larissa Slalom, a radio guest and nightclub impresario heard on the in-game radio station WKTT.

References

{{coord, 40, 45, 02.8, N, 74, 00, 11.1, W , display=title Defunct nightclubs in New York (state) Defunct drinking establishments in Manhattan Nightclubs in Manhattan Nightclubs in London Defunct nightclubs in the United Kingdom Nightclubs in Europe 2001 establishments in New York City Chelsea, Manhattan