West 57th Street is the new Bushwick.
In spring 2023, a historic church around the corner from Columbus Circle reopened its doors as a wildly wacky nightclub described as “a Broadway show, but with house music” — and the neighborhood may never be the same.
Seemingly plucked from grungiest Brooklyn and plopped down on the western fringe of Billionaire’s Row, The Stranger fills the labyrinthian, cavernous 10,000 square-foot space at 311 W. 57th St. with a maximalist, variety show-like spectacle that comes alive every weekend, featuring eccentric performance artists and a diverse clientele ranging from curious normies who came of age during the no-nightlife COVID years to L train-riding scenesters.
Not that any of this is immediately apparent to passersby — for all the partying indoors, the club has maintained an impressively secretive existence, online and in real life.
On a recent weekend evening, it was far from clear how much, if anything at all, was going on behind the facade of the former house of worship, tucked below a 16-story prewar rental building.
The answer is, plenty.
“People get lost,” said Andrew Katz, who cofounded The Stranger and comanages downtown club The Box. “Seeing people sort of dance and lose themselves while also watching entertainment unfold all around them, it almost gives it this sort of religious experience.”
Built as a “skyscraper church” designed to occupy the lower floors of the residential high-rise in 1927, the Church of the Strangers later became Mediasound Studios, where the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix all recorded. Eventually, the site would be reborn as the David Rockwell-designed Le Bar Bat, a nightlife mainstay during the 1990s, and more recently the Providence lounge.
Currently, the club shares the Rosario Candela-designed structure with a location of filmmaker David Lynch’s Paris nightclub, Silencio.
And for all the downplaying, the club has gained a reputation for being relatively welcoming, by New York nightlife standards. Out front is a fully functioning newsstand where prospective patrons can snag tickets to enter on Fridays and Saturdays — and Thursdays, starting next month — from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., when The Stranger is open for business.
Tickets range from $23 to $60, depending on entry time and programming.
Here’s a glimpse of what it’s like inside, in the edited and condensed words of a handful of club insiders who agreed to speak with The Post.
Danny “Special Head” Wolverton, magician and performer
“The crowd fluctuates. It’s a mix. There’s some authentic club kids coming out, furry-type people, Burning Man-type people. But then you just have a lot of typical people that have regular jobs in Manhattan. People will come from Europe and say ‘Oh my gosh, Europe doesn’t have anything like this.’
Higher-end clubs create this stuffy atmosphere of ‘Oh we’re all the beautiful people,’ and people kind of get insecure in that environment.
The Stranger is like the least uptight club. Like, I’m crawling around as a poodle and when people see that, they’re like ‘Whoa, you can, like, crawl on the ground?!’
We had a bottle service table spend $37,000 and they wanted an activation of a performer. They sent me as the poodle and told me to poop out these brownies out of my poo-poo pouch on the dog’s butt onto the table right before the bottle service came. And these people were not expecting that. It’s kind of a place where anything goes.
If you’re going to compare the club to other things that already exist, I would say that the aesthetic has Meow Wolf vibes with a certain degree of Sleep No More interactivity. Kind of an ambient variety circus show.”
Vi, 40, patron and wealth manager
“The vibe is like a weird, fun acid trip, although I would never want to take psychedelics in that space, ever. There’s lots of Instagrammable things, it looks cool for social media, and I love the theme rooms, decor and creativity of the performers and performances, which are mind-expanding if sometimes uncomfortable.
If you’re looking for a brain rewire, it offers constant stimulation: You can dance, sing karaoke or partake in an immersive experience in this secret room upstairs. It really is an unforgettable immersive experience that might not be every person’s cup of tea but offers a sex-positive, queer-friendly and all-around quirky time. As for lowlights, the location in Midtown tends to draw NYU students and a weird Midtown crowd.”
Rawb Lane, NYC party tender and club personality, 39
“Just having an actual choreographed dance show really separates it from other clubs. We have a crew and a cast of like six dancers each night that put on four to six actual numbers. What also separates it is that there’s no real headliners. We’re more about the show.
I’ve seen so many wild things. I’m privileged to be a party tender of sorts, a hype man, and my partner, Pants, you can catch us playing dildo ring toss. There’s giant inflatable puppets, a giant parachute dress. Stick around for the late-night painted ladies. There’s a pretty awesome confetti bath at the bathhouse in the back corner with one of those wind tunnels you get in to try and catch the money? But with like, confetti.
It’s such a joy to finally have a place to live, and also to crack open the normies. It really does help to break the ice and include them, show them they’re here to play not just to watch.”
Orson Roland, full-time DJ, 30
“I play [here] once a month and every time I come, I don’t really know what to expect.
Musically, they really are channeling a very classic New York sound that’s really reminiscent of places like Palladium and the Limelight.
It’s so different because it is the first incarnation of the shows not stopping the party. The Stranger just really has this thing of the show and the party kind of weave into each other in a really organic way, and the show’s kind of happening everywhere and so is the party.
I think The Stranger also really speaks to a generation of people that didn’t really have a lot of nightlife experience because they went through college during COVID, which is kind of like very formative years. A lot of people who come to The Stranger, it kind of is their first foray into nightlife in New York.
Once I saw someone in the first row, a woman, basically I think experience orgasm for about five minutes. And it was quite disconcerting at the time, and also flattering [Roland was DJing]. I asked a few friends in the DJ booth and I was like, this is what I think it is, right? And they were like ‘Yup.’”
Hector Romero, longtime NYC DJ, 54
“The crowd, it’s different every week. You got Bridge and Tunnel people, tourists, a lot of New Yorkers. You know how crowds used to be? We used to be a Limelight head or a Red Zone head. There was that consistent crowd. I don’t think The Stranger has that, but it is always fresh. And fun.
There’s no elite area. Not that I’ve seen at least. Even the staff are friendly, which is very rare. You don’t find that much in nightlife in New York.
I compare The Stranger to that era of the Limelight, Club USA, the Tunnel, it was just, eye candy everywhere, something to look at, always. There’s three floors to go around and get lost and just lose yourself. Imagine going to a Broadway show, but with house music — that’s how The Stranger is.”
