Let's be honest: Partying never looks as good as it feels.
Like many other things in life—losing one's virginity or getting shot, for instance—boozing, dancing, talking to strangers, piling into a single bathroom stall, and everything else that clubbing entails is all a lot more glamorous in the movies. My pet theory is that this is at least 20 percent of the reason why filming on the dancefloor is discouraged or outright forbidden at a certain kind of party or venue these days. (The kind of venue, for the record, that I tend to frequent.)
Sure, it's a privacy thing. Yes, excessive filming in lieu of dancing fucks up the vibe. But a party that's been caught on video also risks facing a morning-after scrutiny that memories, and even photos, aren't subject to. I'm not saying that what we've got going on today is better than Paradise Garage or Studio 54—just that if Instagram stories were around back then, and everybody had cameras in their pocket shooting at 48 megapixels, we'd probably know a little too much about what the Golden Age of New York City nightlife was like.
Pacha, the new nightclub on the premises of what was once the Brooklyn Mirage, is operating under no such restrictions. You can take out your phone and shoot video at Pacha. You're supposed to take out your phone at Pacha New York. Video footage of the crowds at Pacha has already attracted some derision from lookie-loos in the rest of the city's nightlife "scene." And you bet your sweet ass that when I went to Pacha New York in late June, I did take out my phone—and not just because I was on assignment.