Somewhere Nowhere, a lately opened club atop the Renaissance Resort in Chelsea, has occur underneath fireplace adhering to purchaser problems about mismanagement at the venue and alleged discrimination by its bouncers.
The freshly opened venue is located on the 38th and 39th flooring of the Renaissance Hotel in Chelsea. The nightclub opened in July, at a time when a rooftop bar with an open-air pool must have been a surefire strike. But much less than a month right after opening, the location is now contending with dozens of shopper grievances on Google and Yelp, detailing several hours-extensive waits at the doorway, last-moment reservation cancellations, and bouncers that allegedly have been turning away clubgoers dependent on their race and overall look.
“I have in no way been so mistreated by a staff members everywhere, and would not arrive back again here if they compensated me to,” 1 reviewer wrote on July 24, 2021.
In a statement to Eater, Somewhere Nowhere denied the problems. “Due to high desire, reservations are extremely encouraged at Someplace Nowhere. Most persons who arrive at the door without having a reservation do not achieve entry. Visitors with a reservation are just about always admitted, pending location potential. We do not make conclusions at the door dependent on race.”
For Aniekeme Umoh, a customer who tried using to go to Someplace Nowhere in July, her issues with the club began in the hours in advance of she arrived. Umoh suggests she acquired a phone at 6:47 p.m. informing her that her reservation for 8 p.m. on Saturday had been cancelled due to “renovations” at the nightclub, according to a voicemail message reviewed by Eater.
Umoh went to a different club that night, but later in the night, she discovered that Someplace Nowhere had posted various shots and videos to its Instagram, which appeared to demonstrate the club entirely operational and packed with consumers. She left a overview on Yelp about the encounter, which is when she found out that various other Black prospects had remaining a person-star scores, describing incidents in which they say their reservations have been cancelled past-moment or their get-togethers ended up turned away at the door.
“All they experienced entry to had been the names of the folks who manufactured the reservation,” Umoh suggests. “In my head, it’s not considerably-fetched to see a name of another person who sounds international and choosing that you can terminate it.” She claims that she later contacted the location by cellular phone about the cancellation, and an employee explained to her that they ended up not conscious of any renovations at the club that night.
Somewhere Nowhere denied the account in a assertion to Eater. “Our venue occupies two floors, which are different reservation bookings,” a spokesperson for the club stated. “Unfortunately, we did have a person flooring that was not operational that day, and desired to cancel existing reservations for necessary repairs.”
Perenna King, who visited Someplace Nowhere in July, promises that one of the venue’s bouncers was dismissive of two gals of color standing in line powering her, although allegedly showing endurance and preference to the groups of white shoppers around them. “They were specifically targeting individuals of shade at the door… and ushering in people today that they considered proper for the club,” she suggests. King explained the venue’s clientele as mostly white and eye-catching.
“They are selectively choosing like they only want white persons,” says Monica Pham, who frequented the nightclub on July 31. Multiple reviewers on Yelp also declare to have witnessed or experienced similar difficulties when interacting with bouncers at the location. Someplace Nowhere declined to remark on details surrounding its bouncers’ admittance practices.
The incidents surfaced amid other grievances about management at the bar, creating it complicated to say no matter if the venue’s alleged challenges with customers are constrained to its BIPOC patrons. Other prospects, who are not BIPOC, also described stories of last-moment cancellations and currently being turned away at the door in on line critiques.
King, who is white, claims that her reservation for 8:30 p.m. was cancelled a lot less than 30 minutes before she arrived at the nightclub, immediately after she was already en route, and the up coming day she was billed a $50-for each-individual cancellation fee. In the meantime, Pham, who is Vietnamese-American, statements that two of her mates were denied entrance to the nightclub due to the fact they were being “too hideous,” she suggests, allegedly quoting a staff member at the location. Someplace Nowhere declined to comment on this alleged incident.
A set of tips posted the venue’s web page states that “final admittance is at the discretion of the door host and Administration. Venue reserves the appropriate to refuse entry to company for any cause, which includes but not confined to: underage patrons, obvious intoxication, customer provides a threat to himself or herself, or failure to adhere to dress code. All reservations are subject to doorman’s discretion.”
A solitary line on Somewhere Nowhere’s web site describes its gown code as “upscale” and “trendy.” As is the situation with the venue’s reservation guidelines, “final admittance is at the discretion of the doorway host and administration.”
Discrimination at clubs and other nightlife venues is notoriously difficult to demonstrate, due to the autonomy and discretion that quite a few bouncers wield. Irrespective, shoppers have been turning to Google and Yelp to doc their experiences at the venue. The club has 2.9 stars on Google and 1.5 stars on Yelp at the time of publishing. Feedback are briefly disabled from the nightclub’s Yelp web page because of to an “unusual action warn,” as of September 8, 2021. “This business lately gained elevated community awareness, which often indicates men and women appear to this web site to submit their views on the information,” in accordance to the warning.
Somewhere Nowhere will come from hospitality group El Grupo SN, which also owns the Row Dwelling cafe in Harlem and Concealed Lane, a Union Square bar and situations space. The team options to open up a three-story club, bar, and cafe referred to as Gamehaus in Lengthy Island Town this drop, according to its web site.
Forward of Someplace Nowhere’s opening in July, El Grupo SN co-founders Sameer Qureshi and Nathan Leong expressed their fascination in building an inclusive place “that openly welcomes folks and cultures,” in accordance to an opening story from Time Out. “Our concentrate will be singularly on offering the very best hospitality working experience to anyone that honors us with a check out,” Qureshi explained to the publication at the time.