Southside celebrates a birthday

To pack in fickle New York crowds, clubs have to reinvent themselves. Even if a venue appears to be going strong (as Bella’s did when it became Southside last fall), overhauls are not unheard of. Still, as much as nightspots like to shed their own pasts, they often look back in time for inspiration. And so Southside mimicked the palm fronds and reservation policy of Bungalow 8, which itself recalled the tropical motif ofIndochine, the cokey ’80s celeb magnet (who are celebrating their own 25th Anniversary with a party tonight at Bergdorfs). And of course, Bella’s was widely seen as a downtown satellite of pearl and pastel-friendly Dorrian’s.

In their race to avoid becoming cliches, club owners constantly rely on a big one: everything old is new again. 

Guest of a guest