Star Room
An Interview with Charles FerriBy Fleur Barron / EMERGmedia
At most nightlife hotspots, A-list celebrities are fickle phenomena, but at the sexy Hamptons club Star Room, they are weekly fixtures. Howard Stern, who generally eschews the nightlife scene, has developed a soft-spot for Star Room, and frequents the space on a regular basis with his girlfriend, model Beth Ostrosky. Other celebrity notables include Russel Simmons, the Olsen twins Wilmer Valderrama, etc. So how does a hotspot like Star Room stay perennially sexy?
You would think that with a weekly A-list crowd. Star Room could ride on its reputation alone without needing work. Apparently not... “You can ever let your guard down when marketing a venue,” says co-owner Charles Ferri, who wants Star Room to incarnate an element of mystery for its regulars. Ferri comes up with different ideas to subtly change the décor, layout and vibe every week -- from adding palm trees or ice sculptures, to rearranging objects and furniture within the space, to mixing up the host of celebrity DJs. And of course, having a fabulous team of promoters never hurts.
Ferri organizes party extravaganzas hosted by stars like Carmen Electra and Howard Stern: “Every weekend at Star Room is amazing,” says Ferri, “I try and keep the scene a little unpredictable so that everyone’s pleasantly surprised the next week.” Ferri, who also co-owns the popular Manhattan destination spots Remedy and the new Star Lounge, asserts that his creative impulses to “mix it up” are based on shrewd business calculations and the differences between the Hamptons and Manhattan nightlife scenes. “The Hamptons are a microcosm of Manhattan,” says Ferri, “there are only three clubs that cater to the A-list celebrity crowd.” In New York, the crowds tend to be jaded; avid socialites, accustomed to the concentrated array of nightlife offerings, peregrinate from venue to venue.
Going out in Manhattan is about making a series of appearances – you get a couple of drinks and jam at a place until you tire of the scene and move on. Not so in the more isolated Hamptons, where people tend to make a pilgrimage to one destination and stay there all night. This is particularly true of the eager hordes of non-celebs, who make an exhaustive effort trying to get into a venue like Star Room, where the door is tight.
The crowds – both stars and “mortals” alike – need a complete nightlife experience, and Star Room delivers; there’s hip-hop in one building, house music in another, an outdoor space with beds, and gourmet food prepared by a celebrity chef. “People don’t want to be pigeonholed into one thing,” asserts Ferri. And perhaps that’s the key: Star Room offers patrons a killer scene that caters to everybody’s taste.
www.thestarroom.com Star Room Hamptons 378 Montauk Hwy Wainscott NY 11975
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