Inga Chinatown Vs. Le Baron Chinatown
We’re not going to lie, the main reason we decided to check out the Inga Pop Up was because it was at Asia Roma which is right next door to Le Baron. Two parties that cater to the same clientele would definitely drive traffic to the otherwise desolate block of Mulberry St and Mosco Street. Inga is a. pop-up club series hosted by Travis Bass. The hosts don’t spend too much time decorating or renovating the spaces which house their parties but rather focus on the people who attend. While normally model/doorman Vance Brooking makes the decisions as to who gets in or not, this time around there was no doorman and the party was open to anyone who wanted to attend. This was certainly a dicey move on Inga’s party but luckily only the people who have attended their previous parties or others who were “in the know showed up so the crowd was almost identical to that of Madame Wong‘s and Red Egg.
The party was split up into two sections: the upstairs was the bar/lounge area and the downstairs was converted from a karaoke bar into a grungy hipster lounge. But we’re going to be honest by saying that a little bit more effort could have been put into the downstairs area decor wise. The space was literally a small pitch black room with a DJ table, party light that could easily be bought at Party City and a few tables and couches scattered around the room. Oh and there was that one awkward one-top table right by the entrance. But what Inga lacked in decor, they made up for with their awesome crowd and stellar music. May Kwok and Sean Augustine March provided the sounds and played a shockingly diverse set. The music varied from the same type of electro music you would hear at 3 AM downstairs Le Baron to Nicki Minaj and Coolio. The party didn’t really start till 12:30 AM and the downstairs was packed at around 1. [Photo via]
We also decided we’d check out Le Baron since it was right next door from Asia Roma. At around 12:45 AM the club was a bit empty but like Andre Saravia said, they’d rather keep Le Baron empty than have people they don’t want in. We decided to stay upstairs, grab few drinks and pop back to Inga to see how the the party was going. When we got back at around 1, Inga turned into a free for all. By that we mean there was no real capacity limit, the downstairs area looked as though it had seen better days and the whole place smelled like stale booze and cigarettes. Also, since there wasn’t a bar or even one bathroom downstairs so there was a lot of shuffling up and down the steep and narrow staircase. But listen we weren’t complaining, this was one of the most fun and energetic crowds we have seen in New York. It really felt like a super secret party for only fun people who knew about it so if that meant we had to be in a cramped dark basement, so be it. Oh and if you don’t believe us on how dark the space was, this is literally what you saw when you went down there.
At 1:30 we checked back into Le Baron to see how it was going. The upstairs area was looking how it does on a normal evening with a crowded bar area and a few people talking and dancing by the DJ booth but the downstairs was a totally different story. We can safely say, the downstairs of Le Baron was just as packed that Friday as it was the first month it opened. Prince Language played one of the best sets we’ve ever heard downstairs at Le Baron and best believe we tried to Shazaam every song. The crowd was fantastic as was the music, it really was one of the best parties we’ve been to in a while.[Photo via]
But who threw a better party? That’s a real tough question to be honest. Though both parties pretty much catered to a similar crowd the music was totally different. Inga played more popular music and a wider array of genres while Le Baron mainly stuck to rock and electro. Also, Inga was sort of like that itch that needed to be scratched. Since Travis Bass has such a great reputation in New York, everyone initially came out to see Asia Roma. We feel that if a bit more work was done for the downstairs area more people would have stayed at Asia Roma rather than going to check out Le Baron. Overall we’re going to have to give this one to Le Baron but they do owe a lot of credit to Inga. Inga brought the people down to Chinatown but Le Baron provided a better space for the party. Never the less, we’re excited to see what else Inga has in store for us as they really do throw some of the most authentic New York parties.
I also attended both parties that night; my friends and I thought we should change up what had become a stale routine. No longer would we go out and not talk to regular girls. No–we would go out and not talk to Models. With this bold plan readied, we departed to meet our Fate.
On Le Baron, I can only offer you these following words of warning, which you would do well to heed. I now know how my story ends. Many years from now, as some bookish nephew/designated beneficiary of mine rummages through the yellowed bundles of paper and bizarre curios (I see him pause, trace a finger down my bottle of North Korean shampoo) that make up my worldly possessions, he will no doubt stumble across some journal tattooed in a febrile hand. He will puzzle and obsess over what seems to be the key to understanding the Cosmos: “Le Baron! Le Baron…”
Er, yeah. Le Baron was not so much a party as it was a clever ruse to conceal a Cthulhu-summoning. Candles softly light ever inch of the floor. You walk in, cutting a path through thick machine-mist. You perceive, through the mist (now coating your glasses and making sight difficult), hazy figures. They undulate, limbs bending weirdly. The walls are some velvet burgundy color and, as your eyes adjust, you realize that the wallpaper has doodles of naked ladies, their Fleshy Parts swollen like some ancient drawings dedicated to a fertility Goddess. You blush and look away, but you want to look all around you. They’ve really created another world, but I found out it overwhelming.
At one point my friend, upon hearing the fiftieth deep-cut of LCD Soundsystem beeping from the speakers, remarked, “It’s like they made this playlist just for me.” But, as I’m writing this, I’m all like, “…but, like, what if it was really telepathy..?” You…think? Nah. It couldn’t be.
OK, I’ve started to scare myself. Let’s turn to the other party.
Unlike the reviewer above, I thought one of the best things about Inga Pop was the complete lack of effort by the owners of Asia Roma to transform their space. They were charmingly unmoved by the sudden influx of Young Adults in their midst. I bet if I went in there tomorrow night, the permed fifty-year old proprietress would still be dressed in an amazingly-tight-and-possibly-just-maybe-inappropriate leather bodice, gazing at me icily as I fumble with the pronunciation of Tsingtao. Jeremy Lin’s jersey would still hang a bit forlornly on the wall–a Testament to the human need for stability in a forever-uncertain world. It is all coming together. This same impulse is why can never manage to delete the Coolios from our respective playlists–er, setlists. Whatever the reviewer up there said.
This party was East meets West, New Meets Old, Tradition meets Modernity. It was the best party of that night ever.