The Jane Hotel Is Well on Its Way to Being Shut Down
Manhattan's newest hotspot is in grave danger. Just as it's reaching critical mass of cool, its death is on the horizon. How can we tell? The neighbors are starting to whine about the noise.
With the death of the Beatrice Inn all the celebs and people who are too cool to talk to you needed someplace to go and drink expensive drinks and pickle in their own exclusivity. That place became the Jane, which rose to prominence this summer with a host of sightings in Page Six, hot parties, and general fabulousness outside its velvet rope. Along with a good party inevitably comes lots of noise, and the fuddy-duddies in the West Village are not going to stand for that.
Guest of a Guest got a hold of a newsletter for the Jane Street Block Associate that tolls the death knell for the club. They have retained a lawyer and are petitioning the State Liquor Authority claiming that their original license claimed the club would have "background noise only." Just as happened at the Beatrice, once a bunch of well-to-do residents with a lawyer get a bee in their bonnet, a venue is doomed. The cops, the health department, the fire department and rest of the regulators will start showing up to enforce how many people can be in the club, how loud it is, that the coolers are at the right temperature, that the limes are cut a certain way, or any of the million draconian rules that govern how a bar operates. If the residents have enough money and tenacity, they can hold out forever and eventually drive the place out of business, dispute its liquor license, or have it shuttered for good. This may be the opening salvo in the war, but congratulations, Jane, you have about the same chance of survival as the polar bears.