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Bungalow 8 Maven Amy Sacco Rekindles Ties With Controversial Bar

By Mathew Katz | May 31, 2012 3:24pm
Former Bungalow 8 owner Amy Sacco signs her book, "Cocktails," in 2006. Sacco has been brought on as a consultant for the new Bungalow 8 on West 16th Street.
Former Bungalow 8 owner Amy Sacco signs her book, "Cocktails," in 2006. Sacco has been brought on as a consultant for the new Bungalow 8 on West 16th Street.
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Evan Agostini/Getty Images

CHELSEA — She's Baa-aack.

Nightlife queen Amy Sacco was officially banned from lending her celebrity cred to a new hot spot on West 16th Street that was supposed to revive her Bungalow 8 name — but the star magnet was all over Twitter promoting a recent party there.

Sacco — the nightlife icon who ran Bungalow 8 for years — blitzed her Twitter feed with love for the new nightclub at 357 W. 16th St.

"How HOT.........No.8........my best sexy yet,,,,,,,,,,,LOOK OUT [sic]," Sacco tweeted on Wednesday, a day after hosting an invite-only, celebrity-studded shindig Tuesday at the new nightclub that's now being called #8.

"I just launched an entire space for your triumphant return," Sacco tweeted to socialite Nicky Hilton.

"How rude not to be here!"

The preview party's guests reportedly also included actress Zoe Saldana, designer Rachel Roy, jeweler Alexis Bittar, and fashion expert Mary Alice Stephenson, who thanked Sacco on Twitter for hosting the soiree, according to the Daily News' Gatecrasher column, which first wrote about the party.

"THANK YOU @AmySacco for taking such good care of us at your amazing new pad #8! It's so yummy, chic & cool!" Stephenson wrote on Twitter.

The appearance was a reversal for bar owners LDV Hospitality, which vowed in a written agreement May 1 to give Sacco the boot from their nameless gastropub following outcry from neighbors and Community Board 4 members who claimed they were hoodwinked into giving it a liquor license.

Sacco "is not and shall not be an employee, owner or consultant of the applicant" at that location, LDV Hospitality wrote in the agreement .

Community Board 4's District Manager Bob Benfatto said his office is investigating Sacco's role in the club, but could not say whether she had violated the agreement with the board and the SLA.

If Sacco is being paid to host parties, he said, that could be a deal-breaker that would give the SLA the right to act, he said.

"If she's doing it for free, we can only do so much," Benfatto said.

"But she can't be an employee of LDV at that location — they're not supposed to have any outside promoters."

Benfatto said board members have seen Sacco at the location in the past few weeks.

A spokeswoman for LDV said she could not comment, nor would its attorney Donald Bernstein.

Sacco could not be reached for comment.