“The idea was that we found some old speakeasy that burglars would use to store their gear before fencing it.” So says Simon Hammerstein, great great grandson of the ballroom’s namesake and proprietor of The Box. Although it’s been active since December 2006, the theater and nightclub dinner theatre 189 Chrystie Street is not expected to be “officially” open until June. That’s because Hammerstein is busy schooling dancers’ routine and searching out new acts to dazzle the crowd.

“Three nightly shows will be put on, and Hammerstein and his team have been scouring circus schools and the like in France and Russia for guest stars. One of his favorites is a twenty-inch-tall woman named Firefly whom he wants to live in a glass house suspended above the bar and read aloud from her diaries.”

Is that even legal? If you can’t wait, head over to Brooklyn to hear teenage diaries read aloud at Freddy’s Back Room.

Photo by Mike Duva.

You can change your name, change your look and change your friends, but you can’t change your past. It’s too bad that 205 Club, the downtown collaboration between A-Ron, Serge Becker, and Guy Jacobson may find this out the hard way. In August, in its previous incarnation as 6’s and 8’s, the club received some violations for underage drinking and drug use and must go to State Supreme Court on Tuesday to fight a possible closure. Earlier in November, the New York State Liquor Authority imposed two fines totaling $5,500 to 205 Chrystie Street for unspecified violations.

Considering the club’s legal troubles, it was quick thinking to keep out Keanu Reeves, aka FBI Special Agent Johnny Utah. It doesn’t matter that he let Bodhi surf that last wave. He’s still a narc.

205, the rumored “bar-lounge-restaurant” alliance of Serge Becker (nightlife impresario of La Esquina fame) and Aaron “A-Ron” Bondaroff (cool kid of aNYthing fame) was confirmed last week. Who cares that New York Magazine broke the news back in August.

On Friday night, 205 hosted the after party for ThreeAsFour’s fashion week show. Rub N Tug fueled the danceparty, free drinks flowed, people got sweaty on the floor, and Vincent Gallo was skeezy as ever (pushing up on Mark, the Cobra Snake’s girlfriend).

Silver walls, tinfoil covered fixtures, exposed pipes, and disco balls on the upstairs level suggest ThreeAsFour’s own loft a few blocks away (and the Factory of some dude named Andy Warhol). Downstairs, the shady carpets and rec room vibe of 6’s and 8’s are replaced by hand lettered plywood and stacks of broken televisions. It’s the aftermath of a night dumpster diving and robbing construction sites.