From the Daily News:Private clubs have long been a staple in New York society. These clubs are extremely expensive, with membership dues that reach into the thousands. As such, they are unavailable to most of us, who have to do with a cozy corner of Starbucks for our social needs.
That’s why the Oracle Club in Long Island City is such a welcome addition to New York’s cultural landscape. It strives to be a meeting (and working) place for writers, artists and intellectuals.
Nor is it, technically, a social club, but a hybrid of an intellectual salon and the kind of writers’ spaces that have become popular in recent years. One book-lined room is reserved for writers and another for painters. A third serves as a gathering place where readings and classes (ballet, cosmology, art) are held; in this airy “salon,” a member can also simply read a book or chat with another Oracle member over a beer (yes, there is a bar).
The Oracle is the brainchild of novelist Julian Tepper and painter Jenna Gribbon, who run the club out of the ground floor of a building owned by a friend. Tepper and Gribbon live above the club with their 1-year-old son.
This wouldn’t be a New York social club without some exclusivity. Tepper and Gribbon interview all members, who — if they are accepted — gain access for $175 per month for artists, $125 for writers and $50 for salon-only members.
The club already has 25 members, who might be sequestered away in a library nook working on a novel or painting the next masterpiece downstairs — or simply enjoying a drink in the salon.
You know, just like they do on the East Side.
Artists living in LIC can afford $175/month to lounge around? My, how times have changed.
Isn't a liquor license required? They're not in the system.
I wonder if patrons are told upfront during their screening process that this place never got the C of O they were seeking and that their latest plans were rejected by DOB, meaning that collecting money from people to hang out there is not exactly kosher. Why don't reporters ever check into the legitimacy of the places they hype before they go ga ga over them?
