Westway

West Village, New York –

Although the venue still has an awning reading “Westside Gentleman’s Club,” which confuses out of towners looking for a lap dance, Westway is now a fledgling nightclub helmed by Jane Ballroom nightlife impresarios Matt Kliegman and Carlos Quirarte. The duo retained much of the original décor, creating a sexy spot for the twenty-something clientele to dance until dawn amid multiple bars, a stripper stage, mirrored walls, and flashing lights.

Black-and-white tile floors enhance the sparse retro strip club vibe, and lead thirsty patrons to a long wood bar and raised stage where inebriated exhibitionists can dance without losing (all) their clothes. Couples looking for a more intimate nook can venture through the black curtains behind the stage where a shadowy VIP space offers private seating and tables.

Guests wandering further into Westway will find a third room filled with an unpretentious and attractive crowd of scruffy hipsters, downtown socialites, and occasional suits dancing to a mix of Top 40, rap, and random rock ballads, while the always packed bar serves up strong vodka sodas to the sweaty revelers. The DJ fires up the crowd from his station in back, usually overrun by Jil Sander desert-boot-wearing girls in short shorts and the occasional Olsen twin dancing right up in the booth.

Westway may be a former strip club, but it’s much more reminiscent of how downtown New York hotspots used to be – think defunct Don Hill’s – where the music is hot, the crowds are hotter, and dads can rest assured that their daughters’ salacious dancing is staying off the pole.