By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
EAST VILLAGE — A new rock ’n’ roll bar on Avenue B is set to open Friday, giving the neighborhood’s notorious nightlife intelligentsia a fresh fix of speakeasy-style exclusivity.
Visitors to the new venue near 13th Street, called White Noise, enter through an unmarked door next to a liquor store to gain access to the dimly lit second-floor space, where a trio of Swarovski crystal-covered animal skulls mounted behind glass greet patrons as they enter.
The setting is old-world saloon-meets-Gothic sitting room, with plenty of subtle aesthetic gestures to make even the most ignorant of bar-goers take notice.
“We feel like the city’s oversaturated with a lot of commercial stuff,” said Luke Brian Sosnowski, White Noise’s co-owner, along with his lifelong friend and Night Kills the Day band mate, Timothy Falzone, both 35.
Blackened chandeliers, rusted tin-ceiling panels surrounding the bar, and glowing-red insulators protruding from the rear wall prove the partners didn’t slack on the design effort, taking eight months to renovate the space most recently home to gay bar The Hose and Uncle Ming’s before that.
The tunes will come from a rotating roster of local rock DJs, Sosnowski said, and no-frills staples like beer and Jack Daniel's will be served to the music industry set expected congregate there.
“I thought New York was a little cooler back in the ’90s, and I kind of wanted it to feel a little bit like that,” Sosnowski said of the concept. “Not so pretentious; a dark, seedy spot that had cool people and great music.”
As with any hipper-than-thou downtown bar venture, White Noise features a semi-secret side area, dubbed the “Weirdo Room,” hiding behind large black curtains draped over the space’s front windows.
Guests hoping to indulge in a snog session or a moment of respite will no doubt delight in the tiny private quarters, though the room is strictly hush-hush for the time being.
“It’s really simple — we made a place that we would want to go party in,” Sosnowski said.
“Also, I love the location, because it’s in the far off corner of the East Village,” he added. “For what we were doing, I thought it was perfect.”
White Noise, 225 Avenue B.
