紐約中國城的一家酒吧莫名當紅
In the hottest days of summer, the heat sends funk rising from the neighborhood fish markets, and directly overhead, in plain view, the subways rattle over the Manhattan Bridge every few minutes. Location, location, location, the real estate adage goes. But Mr. Fong’s, a new bar at the forlorn corner of Market and Madison Streets in Chinatown, is packed every night, from 10 p.m. until it closes at 4.
在夏季最熱的日子裏，附近魚市的臭味瀰漫到空中，每隔幾分鐘，地鐵就從頭頂的曼哈頓橋上呼嘯而過，很是顯眼。地產公司的格言是，地段、地段、地段。但是位於中國城市場街和麥迪遜街偏僻拐角的新酒吧“方先生”(Mr. Fong’s)從每天晚上10點到凌晨4點打烊都是熙熙攘攘。
The owners are striving to make it a neighborhood joint, but so far, it’s the fashion industry that has made it a destination. On any given night, a conclave of young Vogue editors may be holed up in one of the sparse few booths, a powerful stylist swaying to the vinyl-only D.J. set or any number of models toasting any number of other models. (It is a popular birthday destination, provided the birthday you are celebrating is somewhere below 30.)
酒吧的老闆們想把它做成一個社區酒吧，但是到目前爲止，來這裏的大多是時尚界人士。不管哪個晚上，《Vogue》雜誌的一羣年輕編輯躲在爲數不多的幾個卡座裏；一位著名造型師搖搖晃晃地走向只有黑膠唱片的DJ臺；一羣模特向另一羣模特祝酒（這裏是舉辦生日派對的熱門地點，如果你慶祝的是30歲以下的生日的話）。
On Tuesday, Matthew Foley, a former associate of Thom Browne, was there with his boyfriend and boyfriend’s twin sister, and not for the last time. “We’re going for their birthday on Saturday,” he said. “It’s the thing to do.” (It is even the thing to do if you don’t drink; Mr. Foley doesn’t.)
週二（7月28日），時尚品牌桑姆·布郎尼(Thom Browne)的前合夥人馬修·福利(Matthew Foley)和他的男朋友以及男朋友的雙胞胎妹妹（或姐姐）來到這間酒吧，他是這裏的常客。“我們打算週六在這裏給他們慶生，”他說，“這兒很合適”（就算你不喝酒，這兒也合適。福利先生就不喝酒）。
What draws the crowds? Mr. Fong’s isn’t glitzy or snobby. “Just a cool bar in the middle of nowhere,” said the model Janice Alida, who called in from a shoot in Montauk to rave. It is mostly absent the undesirable bro contingent choking Lower East Side bars, even without any official door policy.
這裏的魅力在哪裏？“方先生”酒吧既不炫目也不高高在上。“就是一個偏僻角落裏的酷酒吧，”模特賈妮絲·阿莉達(Janice Alida)說。她在蒙托克(Montauk)完成拍攝工作後來這裏狂歡。這裏基本沒有擠滿下東區酒吧的那些煩人的兄弟團，甚至沒有正式的門衛政策。
“This weird jaunt, through alleyways that are rat-filled and streets that are only one block long, might be a good filter for that sort of clientele,” said Lucas Moran, 41, one of the owning partners.
“來這裏要經過老鼠橫行的小巷和一些只有一個街區長的短街，有些人就不會想來了，”酒吧合夥人之一、41歲的盧卡斯·莫蘭(Lucas Moran)說。
The room is dark and handsome, and the drinks cheap (no beer more than $7, and the $9 house vodka tonic is infused with Chinese celery and herbs, in a nod to the neighborhood). But the secret to Mr. Fong’s success probably isn’t the cocktails any more than it is the convenient proximity to the First Chinese Presbyterian Church. It’s the seven-man synod of owners’ deep roots in several industries, including fashion, hospitality and Hollywood — six identifiable, one a press-shy rock star — whose wide reach seems to summon the throngs.
“方先生”酒吧昏暗精巧，酒水便宜（啤酒沒有超過7美元的，9美元的招牌伏特加湯力水加入了中國芹菜和一些草本植物，以向酒吧所在的中國城致意）。但是這家酒吧成功的祕訣很可能既不是雞尾酒，也不是因爲它離第一個華人基督教長老會教堂很近。真正的原因是七位所有者在時尚、餐飲和好萊塢等多個行業人脈深厚（我們知道其中六位的名字，另一位是不愛拋頭露面的搖滾明星）——似乎是他們的廣泛影響力召集了這麼多顧客。
“I ask everyone how they got here,” said Emerson Barth, an agent at IMG Models, who lives next door, “and it’s always, ‘I’m a friend of a friend of a friend of the owners.’ ”
“當我問你爲什麼來這兒時，”住在酒吧旁邊的IMG模特公司(IMG Models)的經紀人埃默森·巴思(Emerson Barth)說，“大家的說法總是，‘我是老闆的朋友的朋友的朋友。’ ”
Mr. Moran’s partners include Noah Shelley, 35, an owner and partner of AM Casting, an agency that connects labels like Rick Owens, Opening Ceremony and Ann Demeulemeester with models.
莫蘭的合夥人包括35歲的諾亞·謝利(Noah Shelley)。他是AM模特選派公司(AM Casting)的老闆和合夥人。這個公司負責裏克·歐文斯(Rick Owens)、Opening Ceremony和Ann Demeulemeester等品牌與模特之間的聯絡。
Then there is Aisa Blue Shelley, 33, Mr. Shelley’s brother, and like Mr. Moran an alumnus of the Brooklyn restaurant Rucola; Adam Moonves, 31, a Los Angeles transplant whose sister, Sara, is a contributing fashion editor at Vogue; Jordan Hadley, 41; and Daniel Eric Gold, 39, an actor whose face is recognizable from his stint as Betty’s sometime suitor on “Ugly Betty.”
還有33歲的艾薩·布魯·謝利(Aisa Blue Shelley)，他是諾亞·謝利的弟弟，和莫蘭一樣，他也曾在布魯克林的Rucola餐館工作過；31歲的亞當·蒙維斯(Adam Moonves)來自洛杉磯，他的姐姐（或妹妹）薩拉(Sara)是《Vogue》雜誌的特約時尚編輯；41歲的喬丹·哈德利(Jordan Hadley)；39歲的丹尼爾·埃裏克·戈爾德(Daniel Eric Gold)，他是一名演員，曾在《醜女貝蒂》(Ugly Betty)中短暫出演貝蒂曾經的追求者，也許有些人能認出他。
The bar has no P.R. strategy, no sign and no more marketing than a bare-bones Instagram account, but between the seven, they’ve coaxed out a crowd that also includes skateboarders, locals from the nearby Knickerbocker Village houses and cops, or at least those who play them on TV.
這家酒吧沒有任何公關策略，沒有招牌，除了最基本的Instagram賬戶外沒有其他營銷手段，但是這七位所有者已經吸引了衆多顧客，還包括滑板選手、附近荷蘭村(Knickerbocker Village)的居民以及警察或者在電視上演過警察的演員。
“Walking through fish smells and then to come to a place like this — it’s an oasis,” said Peter Scanavino, a friend of Mr. Gold’s who plays a detective on “Law & Order: SVU.”
“從魚腥味中一路走來，然後走到這裏，就像到了綠洲，”戈爾德的朋友彼得·斯卡納維諾(Peter Scanavino)說。他在《法律與秩序：特殊受害者》(Law & Order: SVU)中飾演一名偵探。
You will not find the titular Mr. Fong himself, though he is a real person, a local Chinatown real estate manager and power broker. “Half the people I’ve ever met, they’re like: ‘Named after the Mr. Fong? He got me my first apartment in ’98,’ ” Noah Shelley said. After he found the owners the space, they gratefully named it after him.
你找不到酒吧名字中的方先生，不過確有其人，他是中國城的一位房產經理和權力經紀人。“我見過的人中有一半人對我說過，‘以方先生命名？98年的時候我的第一套公寓就是他介紹的，’”諾亞·謝利說。方先生給酒吧老闆們找到這個空間後，他們以他命名，以表謝意。
Two years ago, the Shelley brothers had planned another bar, in Brooklyn, which foundered.
兩年前，謝利兄弟曾打算在布魯克林開另一間酒吧，但是沒開成。
“Thank God,” Mr. Shelley said. “It was in Fort Greene. It would have been a freaking stroller bar.”
“謝天謝地，”謝利說，“那時候我們是打算在格林堡(Fort Greene)開酒吧。要是真開在那兒了，它會變成一個可怕的推着嬰兒推車的媽媽酒吧。”
