一線明星最愛的夜店大亨

Miley Cyrus posed with Sean Combs. Kendall Jenner hung out with Justin Bieber. Vanessa Hudgens chatted with Selena Gomez. John Legend and Chrissy Teigen held court in one corner, while Madonna danced in another.

麥莉·賽勒斯(Miley Cyrus)和肖恩·庫姆斯(Sean Combs)合影。肯德爾·詹納(Kendall Jenner)和賈斯汀·比伯(Justin Bieber)在一起玩。凡妮莎·哈金斯(Vanessa Hudgens)和賽琳娜·戈麥斯(Selena Gomez)閒聊。約翰·傳奇(John Legend)和克麗茜·泰根(Chrissy Teigen)佔據了一個角落，麥當娜(Madonna)在另一個角落跳舞。

It was the night of the Met Gala, and after all the red-carpet posing, cocktails, dinner and assorted parties, the A-list celebrities ended their night at Up & Down, a two-story club on West 14th Street.

那是大都會藝術博物館慈善晚宴(Met Gala)之夜，在紅毯拍照、雞尾酒會、晚宴和各式派對之後，這些一線明星在西14街的兩層俱樂部Up & Down結束這個夜晚。

Sure, that may have had something to do with the host, Rihanna. But it was also a testament to the celebrity-charming magnetism of Richie Akiva, one of the club’s owners, who is becoming a boldface name in his own right.

當然，這可能與派對主人蕾哈娜(Rihanna)有關。但它也證明，這傢俱樂部的其中一位老闆裏奇·阿基瓦(Richie Akiva)具有吸引名人的魅力。他正憑藉自己的能力成爲一位知名人物。

After buying out his longtime partner, he is now the sole owner of the Butter Group, a company that runs a growing empire including 1Oak clubs (the name stands for “one of a kind”) in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Mexico City, which cater to celebrities and hangers-on.

在買下長期合作伙伴的股份後，他現在是Butter Group公司的唯一所有者。該公司經營的帝國在不斷擴張，包括1Oak俱樂部（俱樂部名字的意思是“獨一無二”[one of a kind]）。這個俱樂部在紐約、拉斯維加斯、洛杉磯和墨西哥城設有分店，專爲名人及其隨從服務。

They are places where the bass always throbs, the champagne is perpetually being popped, bottles of vodka are delivered by beautiful women in lingerie and celebrities are coddled — with their comings and goings dutifully reported in the tabloids the next day. “Bella Hadid parties at 1OAK with Miley Cyrus in NYC,” the Daily Mail announced in a recent headline.

在這些俱樂部裏，低音炮永遠在震響，永遠有香檳在被打開，身穿性感內衣的美女們奉上一瓶瓶伏特加，名人們在這裏被悉心呵護——第二天，各種小報會盡職盡責地報道他們的行蹤。“貝拉·哈迪德(Bella Hadid)和麥莉·賽勒斯在紐約市的1OAK聚會，”前不久，《每日郵報》(Daily Mail)的一個頭條這樣寫道。

“I don’t use them to better my business, they’re my friends,” Mr. Akiva said. “I try to protect them as much as I can.”

“我不是利用他們提升我的生意，他們是我的朋友，”阿基瓦說，“我儘可能努力保護他們。”

His ease around his star clientele was evident on a recent afternoon, during lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Wearing a crisp blue button-down shirt and a gold Rolex, Mr. Akiva, 37, carried himself like the coolest kid in school, who is humble enough not to brag about it.

前不久的一個下午，他在加利福尼亞州貝弗利山的四季酒店(Four Seasons Hotel)用午餐，他和明星客戶們交往時的輕鬆自在顯而易見。37歲的阿基瓦穿着一件湛藍色襯衫，戴着勞力士(Rolex)金錶，他的姿態像是學校裏最酷的孩子，同時非常謙虛，沒有炫耀。

On his way in, he ran into Naomi Campbell. They kissed cheeks and chatted like old pals about their evening plans and whose house they would meet at beforehand.

在進餐廳的路上，他碰見了娜奧米·坎貝爾(Naomi Campbell)。他們互吻雙頰，像老朋友一樣談論晚上的計劃以及先在誰家碰頭。

“I host all my parties with him,” Ms. Campbell said. “I don’t go to any other clubs in New York but his. I know I’m safe, and I know I’m taken care of.”

“我所有的派對都是和他一起舉辦的，”坎貝爾說，“在紐約，我只去他的俱樂部。在那裏，我知道我很安全，有人會照顧我。”

Famous friends echoed a similar sentiment. “Richie creates an experience, it’s much more than just a club,” said Sean Combs, who attended Mr. Akiva’s birthday party at 1Oak in West Hollywood last September. “No matter what property, whether it’s 1Oak New York, L.A. or Cannes” — where Mr. Akiva organized a pop-up during the annual film festival — “it’s always a good time.”

其他名人也表達了類似的感覺。“裏奇創造了一種體驗，遠遠超越普通俱樂部的感覺，”肖恩·庫姆斯說。去年9月，他在西好萊塢的1Oak參加阿基瓦的生日派對。“不管是哪裏的1Oak，不管是在紐約、洛杉磯還是戛納（阿基瓦在一年一度的戛納電影節上組織品牌遊擊店），你總能獲得美好的體驗。”

Mr. Akiva has also been romantically linked in the tabloids to various celebrities, including Rihanna and Heidi Klum. He neither confirms nor denies those reports. “I take a page from friends of mine who are celebrities,” he said. “Let people believe whatever they want to believe.”

一些小報還聲稱，阿基瓦與多位名人有過戀情，包括蕾哈娜和海蒂·克魯姆(Heidi Klum)。他從未承認或否定這些報道。“我聽從名人朋友們的吩咐，”他說，“人們願意怎麼想，就怎麼想吧。”

He was not born for flashbulbs and gossip. Mr. Akiva grew up in TriBeCa with his father, who manufactured and imported sportswear, and two sisters (his mother died when he was 3).

阿基瓦不是生在被閃光燈追逐、被八卦新聞困擾的名人之家。他和父親、兩個姐姐（他媽媽在他3歲時去世了）在翠貝卡區(TriBeCa)長大。他父親從事運動服裝製作和進口生意。

He lived on two tracks, spending days at the private Dwight School on the Upper West Side, and nights on a skateboard, scrawling graffiti and partying downtown. He started going to nightclubs before he was of legal age and began promoting parties, like Monday nights at Lot 61 in Chelsea and Friday nights at Life in Greenwich Village, as a way to meld his uptown and downtown circles and to make a little money.

他過着雙重生活，白天在上西區的德懷特私立學校(Dwight School)上課，晚上滑着滑板，在市中心塗鴉或聚會。還沒到法定年齡，他就開始去夜總會，開始推廣派對，比如週一晚上在切爾西(Chelsea)的Lot 61咖啡館或週五晚上在格林尼治村(Greenwich Village)的Life俱樂部，他用這種方式把他在住宅區和商業區的圈子融合在一起，同時掙點小錢。

That is also how he met Scott Sartiano, a Columbia University student, who would become his business partner for more than a decade. As promoters, cultivating the connections they made at Lot 61 and Life, they turned the nightclub Spa, near Union Square, into a celebrity hive during the early 2000s.

在這個過程中，他結識了哥倫比亞大學學生斯科特·薩爾蒂亞諾(Scott Sartiano)，在之後的十多年裏，他們是商業合作伙伴。新千年之初，利用他們在Lot 61和Life建立的關係網，他們把聯合廣場(Union Square)附近的夜總會Spa推廣成爲名人聚集之地。

“It was the No. 1 club for four years in New York,” Mr. Akiva said. “It was where Justin Timberlake met Pharrell, where Pharrell met Jay-Z.”

“它曾連續四年是紐約排名第一的俱樂部，”阿基瓦說，“賈斯汀·汀布萊克(Justin Timberlake)就是在那裏遇見法雷爾(Pharrell)的，法雷爾也是在那裏認識Jay-Z的。”

But they wanted more. “I said, ‘You know what, I’m tired of making money for all these owners, I’ve got to do my own thing,’ ” Mr. Akiva said. So in 2002, he and Mr. Sartiano, with money raised from friends and investors, opened Butter, a scene-y restaurant on Lafayette Street. Their reputation preceded them.

但是他們想要的更多。“當時我說，‘你知道嗎，我厭倦了爲所有這些老闆掙錢，我得自己做點事情，’”阿基瓦說。所以，2002年，他和薩爾蒂亞諾從朋友和投資者那裏籌錢，在拉菲爾街(Lafayette Street)開設了外觀醒目的Butter餐館。當時他們已經聲名遠揚。”

“The day we opened, there was a line around the block because people thought it was a nightclub,” Mr. Akiva said. “We went and took business cards and said, ‘It’s a restaurant, please make a reservation.’ ”

“開業那天，排隊等候的人繞了一個街區，人們以爲它是夜總會，”阿基瓦說，“我們走過去，拿出名片說，‘這是餐館，請預訂。’”

In 2007, they opened their first nightclub, 1Oak, on West 17th Street in Chelsea. “We didn’t want to force people to spend money,” Mr. Akiva said, a reference to the mandatory bottle service that ruled night life at the time. “It was about great music and enjoying a room filled with a beautiful mix of models, celebrities, artists, photographers and fashion designers.”

2007年，他們在切爾西的西17街開設了自己的第一家夜總會1Oak。“我們不想強迫人們消費，”阿基瓦說。他指的是當時夜總會盛行的強制性酒水消費。“重要的是有美妙的音樂，房間裏全是美人——模特、名人、藝術家、攝影師和時裝設計師。”

Their clubs sometimes land in the news for the wrong reasons. In April, the N.B.A. player Chris Copeland was stabbed outside 1Oak in Manhattan, and last August, Suge Knight was shot at a pre-MTV Video Music Awards party at 1Oak Los Angeles.

有時，他們的俱樂部會因壞消息出現在新聞報道中。今年4月，NBA球員克里斯·科普蘭(Chris Copeland)在曼哈頓1Oak俱樂部外被刺傷。去年8月，蘇吉·奈特(Suge Knight)在洛杉磯1Oak的MTV音樂錄影帶大獎(MTV Video Music Awards)預熱派對上遭到槍擊。

“It was an unfortunate, isolated incident that happened to be at 1Oak,” Mr. Akiva said about the shooting. “I hire the right security, I make sure my door is as tight as it can be.”

“那是碰巧發生在1Oak的不幸的孤立事件，”阿基瓦談起那次槍擊事件時說，“我安排了嚴密的保安，我確保我的大門看管得很嚴。”

The fast pace of night life may have contributed to Mr. Sartiano’s decision to leave the partnership in March. “My passion for things I wanted to do in the future shifted,” said Mr. Sartiano, who got married last year and now splits his time between New York and Los Angeles.

今年3月，薩爾蒂亞諾決定結束合夥關係，原因之一可能是夜生活的節奏太快。“未來我有激情去做的事情已經不同了，”薩爾蒂亞諾說。去年他結婚了，現在在紐約和洛杉磯兩地工作和生活。

“I’m on a different path right now,” he said. “I don’t really want to stay in this nightclub business.”

“現在我在另一條路上，”他說，“我不太想做俱樂部生意了。”

For Mr. Akiva, last call seems far off. He plans to open outposts of 1Oak in London, Dubai and Tokyo in the coming year, and bring Up & Down to Los Angeles.

對阿基瓦來說，打烊時間還遠未到來。在未來一年裏，他計劃在倫敦、迪拜和東京開設1Oak分店，在洛杉磯開設Up & Down分店。

Still, he knows that even the most prolific club kid must eventually hang up his snapback hat. He recently broke ground on a 140-room hotel in the NoMad district of Manhattan in partnership with Richard Born and Ira Drukier, whose past projects include the Mercer Hotel and the Jane. While Mr. Akiva has yet to decide on a name, it won’t borrow from one of his club franchises.

不過，他知道，甚至連最賺錢的俱樂部最終也會收場。前不久，他和理查德·博恩(Richard Born)、伊拉·德呂基耶(Ira Drukier)合作在曼哈頓諾瑪德區(NoMad district)開始動工興建一家有140個房間的酒店。他的兩位合作伙伴以前的項目包括默瑟酒店(Mercer Hotel)和簡酒店(Jane)。阿基瓦還沒給新酒店起好名字，但他不會借用自己連鎖俱樂部的名字。

“This is going to be a Richie Akiva project,” he said.

“這將是裏奇·阿基瓦的項目，”他說。