Supermodels shooting tequila by a crackling fireplace, SVA kids discussing technique on plush banquettes, and tomboys grinding to Ace of Base — welcome to Thursday at the Dalloway. “I think there has been a stigma in the world that gay men love to go out and dance all night, and lesbians like to stay home,” says Kim Stolz, a co-owner of the bar. “I am not sure that was ever true. But what I know is that’s not true now,” adds the former contestant on America’s Next Top Model, surveying the space she just opened with Amanda Leigh Dunn, a star on the Real L Word.
Stolz, a vice-president at Citigroup, and Dunn met several years ago through a mutual friend at MTV, where the former was working as a correspondent. Inspired by a West Hollywood bar called the Abbey, the pair wanted to create an upscale, eclectic space where, Stolz says, you can “bring your parents for dinner” and “party your face off downstairs” no matter who you’re going home with. Adds Dunn: “In L.A., there are so many staple places that are suitable for the community, and I feel like everything is so far in its own niche in New York.”
Perhaps that’s why girls — who had heard about the party mostly via text and Instagram — were crowding the bar last night before it even officially opened. The Cut sent reporter Katie Van Syckle and photographer Dina Litovsky to document the scene, too. They found glamorous women in sequin sheaths, tattoo artists in statement earrings, and lots of cutoff “lezzie tank tops,” as one patron pointed out. Despite their differences, though, everyone was dressed up in hopes of meeting a nice girl. Or just cuddling up in the corner with one they already know.