Hit the Showers!
Sports bar for actual pro athletes.
At Tiki Barber’s surprise 30th birthday party last Thursday at Level V, “Tikitinis” were served, guests included fellow Giants Eli Manning and Jeremy Shockey, and nobody present seemed to know that this red-lit, cavelike space used to be home to the gay-sex club the Manhole. Which probably attracted on average far fewer pro athletes. “We have a strict door policy,” explains V’s Eugene Remm (it’s a different one than Manhole’s used to be). “Pro athletes aren’t going to get frat kids gawking at them, trying to discuss how their swing needs to be adjusted.” So Scottie Pippen’s been in, dancing banquette-top, and Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, and Drew Henson have partied there too. Still, “We’re not going to have any Red Sox players here when we’ve got a Yankee. That’d be like playing Ja Rule’s music while 50 Cent was hanging out,” says Remm.
——Amy Zalneraitis