Patrick McMullan is the most popular guy in NYC. On any given night, the hip 57-year-old can be seen slipping behind velvet ropes all over the city. As New York’s preeminent party photographer, McMullan, who has lived on lower Fifth Avenue for 37 years, manages to get even the most press shy of socialites to mug for him. “I’m an old-fashioned party photographer. I have a way of seeming very comfortable and familiar. People are people. And I’m not what you call a fan, ever. I just see everybody as interesting.” Right now, when he’s not snapping pics out on the town, he’s working on his latest book, “Club Kids,” about the late ’80s/early ’90s Manhattan party posse. Check out his A-list (and occasionally celeb-free) New York.
1. Jay McInerney’s penthouse, lower Fifth Avenue
“He lives right around the corner from me, so I like to visit him and his wife, Anne Hearst. We’re old friends. Everybody from Brooke Shields to Candace Bushnell and Salman Rushdie will be there. It’s always a very intellectual group. It’s a fun village feeling. And you’re in the penthouse. And you can smoke.”
2. The Top of the Standard, at the Standard Hotel, 848 Washington St., near 13th Street
“It’s a very glamorous room. But I also find people there are casual. I’m usually the only photographer when I hang out there, so I meet everyone. At one party, I went up to [a couple who] said their last name was Germanotta. I said, ‘What brings you here? And they said, ‘Lady Gaga’s my daughter.’ When Lady Gaga came in, they grabbed her and said, ‘Patrick, get a picture with us!’”
3. Waverly Inn, 16 Bank St., at Waverly Place
“I was sitting at the table next to Graydon Carter, and Graydon turned to me and joked, ‘Patrick, you’re talking too loud.’ I said, ‘Oh, I’ll tone it down!’ I get excitable. I can’t hear that well. Years of loud music, I tend to talk real loud.”
4. CVS, 20 University Place, between Eighth and Ninth streets
“I can be seen very late at night at CVS, getting snacks there and things like that. Vitaminwater. And frozen dinners. When I come home late at night, that’s what I eat if I’m starving. Usually the pasta ones. Three- cheese. I don’t eat much. I live by Vitaminwater.”
5. My studio, Meatpacking District
“I have a gigantic TV, and we like to get together and have bad-movie night. I always let [columnist] Michael Musto pick. The last one was a Joan Collins movie. He has perfect taste for bad-movie night. The good thing about a bad-movie night is that you are allowed to talk through it.”
6. Electric Room, at the Dream Hotel, 355 W. 16th St., at Ninth Avenue
“It’s kind of dark, I can’t even tell who is there. Once I was there and Mick Jagger came in with his girlfriend . . . they had a lot of security guards, so it was impossible to get a picture of them. Then Courtney Love (left)grabbed me to get a picture of her and Mick, and so I did.”
7. Da Silvano, 260 Sixth Ave., near Bleecker Street
“It’s really good. I love Silvano himself (below),he’s a cool guy. If you sit outside, you run into a lot of people you know out there. There’s always a lot of art people, society people.”
8. Housing Works, 130 Crosby St., near Houston Street
“The Housing Works on Crosby Street has a bookstore. And I just love going in there because they have good books and low prices and really good coffee there. I always leave full-handed. I just bought [Helmut] Newton’s book and a book about the artist Steven Hannock. I love collecting books. They had one of my books there once, which I thought was funny. I asked them if they wanted me to sign it. They said, ‘Sure.’”