Profile

Designer Philippe Starck endowed the Hudson Hotel’s bar with an Ivy League air: impressively high ceilings, overstuffed Ralph Lauren leather furnishings, and a working fireplace. Sure enough, the Wasps followed. Jean Baptiste Mondino’s designer-hat-wearing cows stare down at them from mounted photographs on the cherrywood walls, and the lamp-lit shelves are stocked with monographs of Toulouse-Lautrec, Willy Ronis, and Wolfgang Tillmans. During the winter, patrons literally curl up by the fireplace while waiting for a shot at the vintage purple pool table. During the summer, it’s all about snagging a seat on the spacious outdoor terrace. The conversation-friendly soundtrack is part bossa nova, part Euro piano lounge. Until 11:30 p.m. on the weekends, that is, when bass-thumping, top-40 music lures clubbers tired of the line at the Hudson Bar. — Rachel Wolff

No shorts, no sandals.