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

So you want to be a trophy kid....

Well first, I guess you should know what a Trophy Kid is-

trophy kid (trf kd)Part of Speech: nDefinition: Also called "Millennials," they often received trophies and other praise just for participating and not necessarily for excelling. They were rewarded to avoid damaging their self-esteem. As a result, trophy kids feel confident and accomplished, but the coddling has led them to feel entitled and to have great and often unrealistic expectations about their jobs and life in general.

Left: Brandon Yankowitz, Right: Josh Sugarman

If making movies is an "unrealistic job expectation," then Brandon Yankowitz, Josh Sugarman and Duke Greenhill are the poster-boys for "Millennials" every where. Yankowitz and Sugarman both left lucrative careers as attorneys to co-write Trophy Kids, and chase their dreams of filmmaking. Greenhill, a former producer of controversial political ads (remember the Swift Boat ads?) did the same. There's even a reality show in the works about their "irresponsible" departure from stable, lucrative occupations to search for filmmaking fame.

So, what is their maiden project together? A movie about Manhattan Trophy Kids, of course.
And what better way to launch the development of the movie than with a gathering of real-life Millennials at one of Manhattan's most exclusive night-spots?

"We wanted to bring together the people that inspired this film to celebrate the beginning of this journey of ours," says Greenhill, "and to show that we may be 'Trophy Kids,' but that doesn't mean we can't do it.

In attendance will be the filmmakers themselves (Yankowitz, recently designated by Gotham Magazine, one of Manhattan's Most Eligible Bachelors), cast members from Project Runway and America's Next Top Model, and a host of Millennial representatives from the spectrum of the New York social scene, including Entertainment Weekly, GQ, Broadway, and Manhattan's fashion and underground music scene.

Below is one of their films for TRUTH THROUGH ACTION:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWQrAoAhD4I

See ya there tomorrow night :) As good as it's guests