As a neighborhood, Hudson Sq. is maturing

Hudson Square, which some residents believe for a long time was the dumping ground for all sorts of unpleasant uses, is becoming a real neighborhood and beginning to define itself. 

Though residents have fought off nightclubs and bars for years, now they are finding they don’t even have to try too hard. The neighborhood is developing a reputation, so to speak.

Santo is a “mega-nightclub” in South Beach, Miami and was rumored to have been named one of the top ten “sexiest nightclubs” in the country by Playboy magazine.

Last July flyers were posted throughout Hudson Square urging residents to come to the Community Board 2 meeting to oppose the club’s application for a liquor license.

The flyer worked and the club withdrew its application before the community board was even held.

Another club that according to some residents promised the same rowdy atmosphere, Marlowe, was slated for the corner of Vandam and Greenwich Streets. The club, named after the 16th-century writer, was billed as a “high-end lounge and performance arts salon.” The applicant said the place would feature an artist painting on a canvas on the wall nightly, creating a “funny, bawdy, Funhouse mirror” of a scene.

Hudson Square resident and C.B. 2 member David Reck was in the process of organizing a community meeting to hear the club’s plan, but was skeptical from the beginning.

“How many art studios do you know that have a full liquor license and lounge?” Reck said. “After a month or two, we’ll be left with a bar/lounge.”

Reck though didn’t have to worry.

Last Monday the applicant contacted the community board office to let them know that it was also withdrawing its liquor license application.

— John Bayles
and Lincoln Anderson