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Opinion: Members Clubs Just Aren’t What They Used to Be

A new generation of private clubs has commodified elitism, argues Allison Schrager.
The Twenty Two New York
The Twenty Two New York, a hotel and private members' club located in Union Sqaure, opened in 2024.
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BoF PROFESSIONAL

I recently met a man who’s lived in New York for about 25 years. Like most people who’ve been here that long, he was lamenting that the city isn’t what it used to be. Back in the 2000s, he told me wistfully, you could go to some random event — and he knew whereof he spoke, he is an events planner — and meet someone who could change your life, or at least your career. Now things are much less organic: Instead of crashing a fashion party in a Soho loft, he said, people are just retiring to their private club.

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Further Reading

How to Make a Members Club Work in New York

Private clubs like LA’s San Vicente and London’s The Twenty Two are flooding New York City. Can they make membership a ‘must-have’ for a new generation of affluent New Yorkers?

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