纽约中国城的一家酒吧莫名当红

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纽约中国城的一家酒吧莫名当红

In the hottest days of summer, the heat sends funk rising from the neighborhood fish markets, and directly overhead, in plain view, the subways rattle over the Manhattan Bridge every few minutes. Location, location, location, the real estate adage goes. But Mr. Fong’s, a new bar at the forlorn corner of Market and Madison Streets in Chinatown, is packed every night, from 10 p.m. until it closes at 4.

在夏季最热的日子里,附近鱼市的臭味弥漫到空中,每隔几分钟,地铁就从头顶的曼哈顿桥上呼啸而过,很是显眼。地产公司的格言是,地段、地段、地段。但是位于中国城市场街和麦迪逊街偏僻拐角的新酒吧“方先生”(Mr. Fong’s)从每天晚上10点到凌晨4点打烊都是熙熙攘攘。

The owners are striving to make it a neighborhood joint, but so far, it’s the fashion industry that has made it a destination. On any given night, a conclave of young Vogue editors may be holed up in one of the sparse few booths, a powerful stylist swaying to the vinyl-only D.J. set or any number of models toasting any number of other models. (It is a popular birthday destination, provided the birthday you are celebrating is somewhere below 30.)

酒吧的老板们想把它做成一个社区酒吧,但是到目前为止,来这里的大多是时尚界人士。不管哪个晚上,《Vogue》杂志的一群年轻编辑躲在为数不多的几个卡座里;一位著名造型师摇摇晃晃地走向只有黑胶唱片的DJ台;一群模特向另一群模特祝酒(这里是举办生日派对的热门地点,如果你庆祝的是30岁以下的生日的话)。

On Tuesday, Matthew Foley, a former associate of Thom Browne, was there with his boyfriend and boyfriend’s twin sister, and not for the last time. “We’re going for their birthday on Saturday,” he said. “It’s the thing to do.” (It is even the thing to do if you don’t drink; Mr. Foley doesn’t.)

周二(7月28日),时尚品牌桑姆·布郎尼(Thom Browne)的前合伙人马修·福利(Matthew Foley)和他的男朋友以及男朋友的双胞胎妹妹(或姐姐)来到这间酒吧,他是这里的常客。“我们打算周六在这里给他们庆生,”他说,“这儿很合适”(就算你不喝酒,这儿也合适。福利先生就不喝酒)。

What draws the crowds? Mr. Fong’s isn’t glitzy or snobby. “Just a cool bar in the middle of nowhere,” said the model Janice Alida, who called in from a shoot in Montauk to rave. It is mostly absent the undesirable bro contingent choking Lower East Side bars, even without any official door policy.

这里的魅力在哪里?“方先生”酒吧既不炫目也不高高在上。“就是一个偏僻角落里的酷酒吧,”模特贾妮丝·阿莉达(Janice Alida)说。她在蒙托克(Montauk)完成拍摄工作后来这里狂欢。这里基本没有挤满下东区酒吧的那些烦人的兄弟团,甚至没有正式的门卫政策。

“This weird jaunt, through alleyways that are rat-filled and streets that are only one block long, might be a good filter for that sort of clientele,” said Lucas Moran, 41, one of the owning partners.

“来这里要经过老鼠横行的小巷和一些只有一个街区长的短街,有些人就不会想来了,”酒吧合伙人之一、41岁的卢卡斯·莫兰(Lucas Moran)说。

The room is dark and handsome, and the drinks cheap (no beer more than $7, and the $9 house vodka tonic is infused with Chinese celery and herbs, in a nod to the neighborhood). But the secret to Mr. Fong’s success probably isn’t the cocktails any more than it is the convenient proximity to the First Chinese Presbyterian Church. It’s the seven-man synod of owners’ deep roots in several industries, including fashion, hospitality and Hollywood — six identifiable, one a press-shy rock star — whose wide reach seems to summon the throngs.

“方先生”酒吧昏暗精巧,酒水便宜(啤酒没有超过7美元的,9美元的招牌伏特加汤力水加入了中国芹菜和一些草本植物,以向酒吧所在的中国城致意)。但是这家酒吧成功的秘诀很可能既不是鸡尾酒,也不是因为它离第一个华人基督教长老会教堂很近。真正的原因是七位所有者在时尚、餐饮和好莱坞等多个行业人脉深厚(我们知道其中六位的名字,另一位是不爱抛头露面的摇滚明星)——似乎是他们的广泛影响力召集了这么多顾客。

“I ask everyone how they got here,” said Emerson Barth, an agent at IMG Models, who lives next door, “and it’s always, ‘I’m a friend of a friend of a friend of the owners.’ ”

“当我问你为什么来这儿时,”住在酒吧旁边的IMG模特公司(IMG Models)的经纪人埃默森·巴思(Emerson Barth)说,“大家的说法总是,‘我是老板的朋友的朋友的朋友。’ ”

Mr. Moran’s partners include Noah Shelley, 35, an owner and partner of AM Casting, an agency that connects labels like Rick Owens, Opening Ceremony and Ann Demeulemeester with models.

莫兰的合伙人包括35岁的诺亚·谢利(Noah Shelley)。他是AM模特选派公司(AM Casting)的老板和合伙人。这个公司负责里克·欧文斯(Rick Owens)、Opening Ceremony和Ann Demeulemeester等品牌与模特之间的联络。

Then there is Aisa Blue Shelley, 33, Mr. Shelley’s brother, and like Mr. Moran an alumnus of the Brooklyn restaurant Rucola; Adam Moonves, 31, a Los Angeles transplant whose sister, Sara, is a contributing fashion editor at Vogue; Jordan Hadley, 41; and Daniel Eric Gold, 39, an actor whose face is recognizable from his stint as Betty’s sometime suitor on “Ugly Betty.”

还有33岁的艾萨·布鲁·谢利(Aisa Blue Shelley),他是诺亚·谢利的弟弟,和莫兰一样,他也曾在布鲁克林的Rucola餐馆工作过;31岁的亚当·蒙维斯(Adam Moonves)来自洛杉矶,他的姐姐(或妹妹)萨拉(Sara)是《Vogue》杂志的特约时尚编辑;41岁的乔丹·哈德利(Jordan Hadley);39岁的丹尼尔·埃里克·戈尔德(Daniel Eric Gold),他是一名演员,曾在《丑女贝蒂》(Ugly Betty)中短暂出演贝蒂曾经的追求者,也许有些人能认出他。

The bar has no P.R. strategy, no sign and no more marketing than a bare-bones Instagram account, but between the seven, they’ve coaxed out a crowd that also includes skateboarders, locals from the nearby Knickerbocker Village houses and cops, or at least those who play them on TV.

这家酒吧没有任何公关策略,没有招牌,除了最基本的Instagram账户外没有其他营销手段,但是这七位所有者已经吸引了众多顾客,还包括滑板选手、附近荷兰村(Knickerbocker Village)的居民以及警察或者在电视上演过警察的演员。

“Walking through fish smells and then to come to a place like this — it’s an oasis,” said Peter Scanavino, a friend of Mr. Gold’s who plays a detective on “Law & Order: SVU.”

“从鱼腥味中一路走来,然后走到这里,就像到了绿洲,”戈尔德的朋友彼得·斯卡纳维诺(Peter Scanavino)说。他在《法律与秩序:特殊受害者》(Law & Order: SVU)中饰演一名侦探。

You will not find the titular Mr. Fong himself, though he is a real person, a local Chinatown real estate manager and power broker. “Half the people I’ve ever met, they’re like: ‘Named after the Mr. Fong? He got me my first apartment in ’98,’ ” Noah Shelley said. After he found the owners the space, they gratefully named it after him.

你找不到酒吧名字中的方先生,不过确有其人,他是中国城的一位房产经理和权力经纪人。“我见过的人中有一半人对我说过,‘以方先生命名?98年的时候我的第一套公寓就是他介绍的,’”诺亚·谢利说。方先生给酒吧老板们找到这个空间后,他们以他命名,以表谢意。

Two years ago, the Shelley brothers had planned another bar, in Brooklyn, which foundered.

两年前,谢利兄弟曾打算在布鲁克林开另一间酒吧,但是没开成。

“Thank God,” Mr. Shelley said. “It was in Fort Greene. It would have been a freaking stroller bar.”

“谢天谢地,”谢利说,“那时候我们是打算在格林堡(Fort Greene)开酒吧。要是真开在那儿了,它会变成一个可怕的推着婴儿推车的妈妈酒吧。”