Home From Home By Carol Leggett MAY 1988 � It�s a little like walking into a party from a Fellini movie when you enter M.K.�brainchild of former Area co-owner Eric Goode�which opened in New York on March 22. Two years in the making, M.K. is situated in an old four-storey bank building on lower Fifth Avenue, that Goode has turned into a clubbers home-from-home with a distinctly surreal edge. The space, designed by South American architect Carlos Almada, has a ground floor reminiscent of a gentleman�s club�complete with upholstered furniture, two dark wood bars joined by a wall of aquariums and a real gilt ceiling. A huge faux Mir� painting dominates the room, and two stuffed Doberman pinschers stand guard. This sitting area, like the rest of the club, is decorated in eccentric �generic antique.� The grand front stairway leads to landing where one can look out of the two-storey bay window onto the stunning night lights of the city, a little green oasis that is the park, and the group of people who are being kept waiting outside the ropes in front of the club. The inside view is of the mezzanine, double-level restaurant which has a reasonably-priced menu and serves dinner until 2.30 a.m. Up on the third floor, the front room is the library, where the city view is the best. An oversize pool table dominates and everything is dark green, (from the painted floors to the velvet walls), wood, discreet lighting, and endless collections of things behind glass�leather-bound books, animal bones and other zoological detritus. The finest feature is the opaque glass painted ceiling, which sports larger-than-life portraits of various insects. The music (different in every room) is low-key, and along with yet another bar, there are plenty of Italian Moda couches, chaise lounges and fur-covered chairs grouped to make conversation possible, no small achievement in a Manhattan night spot. Down the hall, there is a sitting room, which leads to the bath/dressing room. While there are functional WCs discreetly out of sight for practical usage, this room sports a highly decorative club-footed bathtub ideally situated for scantily clad photo opportunities, a glass counter with leather stools in front of a wall of mirrors, huge vases of fresh flowers, and glass cabinets full of �objects��bath salts, tooth powders, silver-backed brushes. ON the far side of this room is a door to the bedroom, with a grand four-poster bed draped in velvet as focal point. There are other seating arrangements, more flowers, and rap music coming from the portable stereo. A diverting series of pornographic photographs grace the walls and fill yet another glass cabinet. Down in the basement of Goode�s �house� is the dance floor. Once the bank�s vault, the vault doors are still intact and lead to the cloakroom. The rest of the space is stark, concrete and bathed in an eerie purple light. There is a live DJ here, and plenty of room to get down. Opening night brought out a crowd of veteran trendies�the who�s who fo NY fashion, the old Area crowd, and a smattering of celebrities: Malcolm McLaren with Lauren Hutton, Andree Putnam, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Betsey Johnson, Steven Meisel and every model, male and female, currently in Manhattan. M.K. is open seven nights a week. The restaurant takes reservations and there is (as expected these days) a $10 charge at the door, though not if you�re having dinner. The door policy is described as tough, but it�s just the old story�if you look good enough, you can get in. IN an era of clubs as dives, M.K. is an interesting contrast. It�s elegant and comfortable but, most of all, it is Goode�s four-story offering to his muse.

� THE FACE 1988

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