Pacha New York breathed new life into the former Brooklyn Mirage site, delivering a polished open-air vibe with a few rough edges that can be overlooked for now.
When I stepped into Pacha New York roughly two months after its opening parties, I couldn’t stop comparing the space to the former Brooklyn Mirage. Anyone who previously enjoyed events at Mirage will reflexively do the same. Yet comparing these venues is truly folly, as Pacha has its own unique and clear brand, and it quickly becomes clear that this is the driving point of this new space.
Pacha New York is not “Mirage Reimagined”; it’s a wholly new club that just happens to occupy the space of the former Mirage, brought to us by the legendary FIVE Holdings, the company that owns The Pacha Group.
My return to this hallowed space was partly a spiritual attempt to cleanse myself of the bad mojo that Mirage owners left behind, and more so an opportunity to answer the question, “Can Pacha New York be the next big thing in the NYC scene?” Largely, the answer is a resounding YES.
Sure, I have my criticisms, but let me be clear that anything critical that follows pales in comparison to the huge accomplishment FIVE Holdings has pulled off with this new club. FIVE did in just a few months what the former owners couldn’t do in over a year: rebuilt and reimagined NYC’s most sought-after open-air venue. And they did it with style and grace that is a good indicator of positive things to come.
Pacha New York is a polished venue that is also clearly meant to be so much more than it is today.
The most notable thing is how polished everything appears. Until it doesn’t. Basically, the new owners dropped in a lot of functional and very pretty components, but couldn’t complete a truly visionary rebuild in the limited time they had before the season began. I mostly applaud this effort — the shiny black shipping containers and corrugated walls are a perfect complement to the Pacha brand, and a perfect backdrop for their red cherry logo.
Each bar was likely prefabricated offsite and loaded in nearly complete, which is quite a brilliant way to get things done fast. The bars are incredibly functional, from dozens of POS terminals (with each bartender using multiple at once to keep things flowing) to the easy-to-read LED screen menus.
Another polished section of the venue is the food court and merch booths. Once again, the shiny black corrugated walls dominate the brightly lit spaces with menus everywhere we looked. The range of food options was quite impressive, especially when considering how fast they rebuilt this space. The covered food court is also a nice touch, allowing attendees to enjoy their food even if the weather isn’t the best.
The dancefloor itself is dominated by the legendary video screen that was left behind by Brooklyn Mirage, but not much else.
While no one doubted the video screen would be the centerpiece of the dance floor, just how much it dominates was a bit of a surprise. The main room of the venue has much lower walls than Mirage did, which gives a nice bump to the open-air feeling, but also makes the screen look too large for the space. Further, with no walls behind the screen, it looks like it’s floating in space, and this can be disconcerting from a reveler’s perspective. While I am certain the screen is quite secure, it looks like it might just topple over in a gust of wind.
Pacha removed the mezzanine, upper tiers, and catwalks in favor of the open plan. Perhaps this was a necessary consideration to stick to the tight build timeline; perhaps it was intentional. Either way, I missed being able to get various perspectives from different levels. There were some platforms, but these were limited to VIP ticket holders, and this is likely a sign of things to come.
The main dancefloor and the VIP sections present a sharp dichotomy between the patrons.
In the early years at Brooklyn Mirage, a DIY warehouse feel that was a big part of the draw. Over the years, more and more space was dedicated to VIP. Mirage always tried to hide the VIP access points from GA, so it wasn’t obvious, and the labyrinthine space made this pretty easy.
In the current simplified layout, there’s nowhere to hide, and it’s obvious just how much space is dedicated to VIP. Further, Pacha doesn’t seem to be hiding it; instead, it’s putting the VIP on display to GA patrons. Maybe this is a good marketing tactic, maybe not, but there’s no doubt that the GA section sees the hundreds of VIPs dancing just in the space behind the DJ, never mind the platforms and hidden pockets.
One nice touch in the VIP section is a tunnel of sorts that goes under the stage and behind the video screen. This is a great way to get from one side of the venue to the other. The tunnel is lined with video walls with cutesy animations playing on the Pacha branding, such as Pac-Man eating the Pacha cherries.
This brings me to the Pacha branding being beaten into our brains at absolutely every turn.
If I have one objective complaint, it’s that Pacha is over-the-top about its branding. The cherries are absolutely everywhere. On the bars, on the walls, on the menus, and even on the video screen behind the DJs. At no point was there any doubt where I was — I was at Pacha New York, and they were gonna make sure I was reminded no matter where I looked. Putting the brand on the main screen just highlights that very few performers are going to program that screen as it should be, so the venue is gonna just use filler. And that’s a shame.
Loco Dice, Seth Troxler, and Victor Calderone put on a fantastic show, and it was definitely one to remember.
Whenever I was in the GA space dancing, the vibe was absolutely incredible. All three performers just crushed it, both individually and during their B2B2B closing set. I found myself integrated into several different squads on the dance floor — from a group of older bears, to a group of young ravers, to a group of millennial women clearly enjoying a special night out.
There was room to move and dance, and yet the space felt both full of humans and full of energy. It was actually the best vibe I’ve felt in a large club in a long time, so kudos to Pacha and the performers for creating this container.
Pacha New York is making all the right moves.
Pacha New York made good on many safety improvements the previous owners promised, and more. There’s more lighting around the venue, there’s private security on many additional street blocks, and there’s a free shuttle taking people to the L train and to Union Square as they leave the venue. Inside, there’s a terrific vibe and a very polished space.
Sure, there are obvious holes where improvements are to come, likely in year two, but overall I can’t help but call the venue “polished.” I think this means that 6,000-ish people are going to attend each and every show at Pacha New York, and many new memories are going to form around this new incarnation of both an old space (Brooklyn Mirage) and a legendary brand (Pacha).
