Sunlight streams through the windows as harried New Yorkers rush by on their way to work or school — but inside, the party is far from over. It’s 7 a.m. on Friday, and Fashion Week ended just the night before. The Box’s third anniversary party finished hours ago. But this party, the night’s best party, shows no signs of slacking.
Neither do the dozens of revelers spread across two rooms. Through blurry eyes and slurred speech, downtown scenesters lounge on sofas and on each other. Cigarette smoke wafts between them like demons from one of Mike Bloomberg’s nightmares. There is no cash bar at this party. Instead, a fridge is stocked with beer while open bottles of vodka and whiskey sit at strategic locations throughout the room. All of it is free for the taking. There’s even a large supply of limes and club soda — usually in short supply at this late stage of the game.
The secret to this secret nightclub is that it is not a nightclub at all. This is just some dude’s apartment. Some dude named Mike.
PHOTOS: A LOOK INSIDE MIKE’S APARTMENT
Michael Herman is 32 years old and grew up in Rumson, NJ. His father helped invent the calling card for AT&T in the early ’80s and then diversified into investment banking and later partnered with family on other ventures, including Braddock’s Tavern in Medford, NJ.
Working for his dad, Herman managed both a flooring company and a paintbrush distributor — neither of which carries much caché in the world of downtown cool.
That’s where his parties come in.
For about a year now, Herman has been welcoming large crews of party people into his home on Great Jones Street in NoHo. He’s got an eclectic collection of friends, ranging from high-heeled to high finance to just high.
They are all attracted to Herman’s easygoing charm. He’s got none of that affected posing so common in night life. He favors ripped jeans and a T instead of the leather, metal and fur worn by many night-life bigwigs. If you were a young single lady, he is the kind of guy you would bring home to meet the parents.
His hangout first caught steam in March of last year, when Herman — who still works for his dad in “international security and commodity trading” — brought 50 people back to his place from a party at the nearby Bowery Hotel. That particular fete ended in a brawl between two drunken guests. But instead of souring Herman’s views on party hosting, it inspired him to make his parties even bigger.
It also put “Mike’s Apartment,” as it’s dubbed, on the radar as a chill pad for promoters to meet before heading out for the night.
When another apartment across the hall opened up two months ago, Herman and a few friends jumped on the chance to rent it as an auxiliary party pad. He leaned on a former neighbor, a night-life promoter, for contacts. Then they called all the NYC party promoters they knew to get the word out that an even bigger “Mike’s Apartment” was open for business.
“We threw out a lot of lines that we would have this space for parties and after-parties,” Herman says. “We told people we had a loft that we can use for a couple of weeks, and it’s legal, it’s not illegal [because it’s a private home]. A ton of people came through and the parties got big.”
During Fashion Week, Herman found himself hosting upward of 150 people night after night. After the nightclubs closed at 4 a.m., his iPhone would start chiming away with text messages from promoters. They all wanted to bring their parties to Mike’s Apartment, and Mike generally said yes.
Among the crowd was Axl Rose and Will.I.Am. There are rumors that even Mick Jagger was stumbling around outside early one morning in February, although Herman says he doesn’t know how those whispers started.
While much of Herman’s personal liquor stash has been consumed by guests (he keeps the rest in a locked cabinet), he says he doesn’t buy booze for his parties, and that it’s basically BYOB.
Otherwise, the rules of Mike’s Apartment are pretty straightforward: Just be cool.
Getting in is a bit more complicated, since Herman or one of his friends has to know you.
“Someone shows up here who is a straggler, and in two minutes we ask, ‘Who are you here with?’ If they don’t have an answer, we ask them to leave.”
So far, his parties have succeeded in impressing a fair share of night-life vets. Jason Lagarenne, general manager of SoHo hot spot The Anchor, stopped by “around 6 or 7 in the morning” and called the party “a glimpse into a time gone by.”
“It was cool to see what went on without bouncers or anyone telling you you can’t smoke or couldn’t do whatever,” he says.
GoldBar gatekeeper Jonny Lennon recalls the night he “sent a party of six girls over there and they disappeared into the void of Mike’s Apartment.”
Recently two 20-somethings moved into the empty apartment opposite Herman’s loft, so his parties are once again confined to his personal space of 900 square feet.
But Herman says he has no intention of stopping the parties. He says he has an excellent relationship with his landlord, dating back to 2006, when Herman started working as a consultant for Acme, the Cajun restaurant on the ground floor of the building.
In 2008, Herman moved into his apartment, replacing a senior citizens’ jazz and tap dance studio — complete with mirrored wall and hardwood floors — that had recently closed. Today, his bed is hidden in one corner, the stove is in another. In the center, there is a collection of couches and a coffee table, but otherwise the space is mostly bare. Perfect for hosting a crowd.
Herman says he pays between $2,000 and $3,000 a month for the apartment. Lucky for him, his upstairs neighbor, a club promoter, never complains about the noise.
Armed with a bachelor’s degree in business from NYU and experience in the Jersey restaurant scene, Herman is now interested in opening a fully-fledged nightclub in the basement of his building.
“It was very obvious that my reputation in Jersey was a good one, but that doesn’t mean s – – t in Manhattan,” Herman says.
“We wanted to show people who thought I didn’t know about night-life that I’m serious about what I’m going to do.”
Herman says his goal is to eventually take over the lease on Acme and an underused rock club in the basement called the Ace of Clubs. He says he will open a new restaurant with “a young, hip team in the kitchen,” and transform the rock club into a night-life destination.
Nowadays, Herman wants to prove to night-life bigwigs that he can throw a good bash — and there are rumors that Beatrice Inn impresario Paul Sevigny is considering a partnership with him, although the deal has yet to be inked.
“This is all part of creating the best spot in New York,” Herman says. “It’s about creating a lifestyle. I’m not doing this because I want to be cool.”
Additional reporting by Brian Niemietz.