Bang Bang
First it was The Witherby. Then Airr. Then a vacant room for moths and ghosts.
Some might call it a tough location. Others are calling it the most anticipated opening of the summer. Because it’s now Bang Bang.
Opening this weekend, Bang Bang is not a place for men with awful marriages. It’s an “over-the-top Japanese social house” from Mauricio Couturier (architect/designer/owner of Little Italy’s El Camino) and Johnny Shockey (co-founder of LED Presents and Voyeur). The duo first worked together on Voyeur, one of the few highly creative Downtown nightclubs that’s managed to not be overrun with farcically vain, impolite people who make real humans cringe. Bang Bang is their second major collaboration.
Executive chef Jose Ruigomez crafted a menu based on Asian street food, while Syd Marshal (former sushi chef for Carl Schroeder at Market) helms the raw fish program. There’s an extensive sake list, specialty cocktails and punch bowls. They’ll also have live music, focused mostly on DJ sets like Voyeur.
Now, the fun stuff. Couturier is one hell of a creative designer. Guests will enter through a tunneled staircase, reminiscent of a Tokyo subway station with all the fixings—shuffling feet, horns and hurried conversation playing through hidden speakers. There’s video projection, oversized Japanese lanterns, a women’s bathroom stall dedicated to Ryan Gosling, and yes, the largest disco ball on the west coast.
It’s pretty stunning. Enjoy the first photos known to the universe of Bang Bang.
