Q: What does an elephant in Chelsea?
A: Anything it wants.
    For the six primary owners of Pink Elephant, located in New York City, the road has been long and risky. Known as one of the first locations to bring bottle service to America, the 8th Avenue location broke boundaries and earned a star-studded following.
    Without Owners David Sarner, David Graziano, David Cabo, Rocco Ancarola, Robert Montwaid and Shawn Kolodny, the American club scene would still have found Europe’s trends of bottle service and opulent club design. But, it would have waited longer for it.
    Now located underneath Crobar in Chelsea, “It really is a marriage of form and function,” Owner David Sarner says of the club. “Because it understands the demographic of the customer base, who they are and what they want. And, it incorporates that into the design and operations.”

Hedges & Hostesses
    Giving Crobar’s infamous tunnel upstairs a run for its money (see March 2006 cover story), Graziano designed Pink Elephant’s canal entryway — one of the most challenging aspects of the new space. “We built Pink Elephant in 52 days,” Sarner says. “We went from a complete and utter gut renovation, with Bobcats ripping out everything. Robert (Montwaid) does all of our construction and demolition, and the only place that was a slight factor was the tunnel that we dug.” Now lined with hedges for walls, the tunnel is what Owner/Designer David Graziano calls a “100-foot experience you don’t get to have at other places.” With speakers hidden behind the foliage, the sound sequence increases as guest move towards the club.

Looking Up
    Pink Elephant, for all its history of VIP service, ironically never has had VIP rooms. The Chelsea location is no different, designed to give every patron the equal eye candy they deserve in one large space.
    While owners often sink capital into the dance floor, Graziano focused on loftier aspects.
    “If you think about how jammed a nightclub is, you never see anything below a person’s shoulder,” he says. “I’m a big fan of the ceiling.”
    This ceiling is a massive wooden sculpture with arced beams of cherry and lacquer wood that have an abstract resemblance to elephant ribs. When the warm red tones slide neatly across the polished timber, it is a work of art and much more.
    “Initially, we had 17-foot ceilings,” Sarner says. “We wanted to keep the cozy, intimate feeling of the first Pink Elephant. So we dropped the ceiling, and inside we put mass loaded vinyl — two pounds per square foot.”
    That vinyl is not the only thing stored within the bone structure of the ceiling. In the center, a 6-foot channel conceals the lighting system. Early in the evening, guests are bathed in a scarlet glow from the large crystal chandeliers.
    “As the night progresses, the sound level comes up,” Sarner says. “Disco balls and snow machines drop down from the ceiling. It goes from warm lounge to over the top.”

The Fifth Sense
    These men have owned, designed, operated and officiated more than 20 industry-defining nightclubs between them, such as Chaos, Spy Bar and Rehab (all New York). Their past works all contain spaces in the spotlight at various points — Owner Rocco Ancarola actually played the part of Madonna’s father in her 1989 video “Oh Father” — but fame is a fickle creature. The key to longevity lies in constant change and innovation. And, true to reputation, these gentlemen have done it once again inside of the Chelsea Pink Elephant.
     “Smell was the last thing that hadn’t been done,” Sarner says. “David Graziano came up with the idea.” 
    Speaking of his time in Miami, Graziano says inspiration came from watching a room periodically erupt and focusing on enhancing that moment.
    “Every 15 minutes there would be this song and the whole crowd would go nuts. To me,” he says, “the whole night was about that 30-second experience. So, why at that very moment there could there not be a gust of wind and a scent? Not to mention the room would smell really nice instead of smelling like a bar.”
    Internet research by Owner Shawn Kolondy produced the perfect machine. Installed in the club, it can produce more than 30,000 smells, from fresh cut grass (used in the hedge-lined entryway) to citrus to actual pheromones.

Hybrid Life
    The group doesn’t have much to say in the way of extreme marketing or advertising. The following at the 8th Avenue location was more than willing to move with the sexy pachyderm, and along with the scent machine, there were several other  new perks.
    “One of the things that really excites me about the space,” says Sarner, “is that I have a sound system set on four different zones. The center of the room can be going absolutely crazy, but people around the perimeter can still talk.”
    Linked to Crobar, Pink Elephant now can  host some of the world’s greatest DJ talent who otherwise would not be able play due to contract constraints with the larger sister venue upstairs.
    “It has been completely amazing,” Graziano says. “There is an incredible wealth of information and knowledge that comes from them (Crobar). It is as if you were a Honda dealership, and you partnered with Ferrari.”
    While most would more likely equate the club to a BMW rather than a Honda, Pink Elephant still is an aptly named giant –– still towering in New York and definitely continuing to move the club scene boundaries outward. NCB