Rick’s is a professional operation.

I was in NYC to see some friends and wound up with a few hours to kill until my train home on Sunday afternoon. I was staying near the garden so I pulled up the tuscl map view of nearby clubs and decided to check out Rick’s and Hoops, which sit right next door to each other.

Both clubs were scheduled to open at noon. I went by at about 1p with a plan to try Hoops first but found the door locked. I asked the bouncers who were standing outside Rick’s and they said Hoops would open at 3p. Slight adjustment to my plan and I went into Rick’s first.

A bouncer in a black suit escorted me inside and to the bar, royal treatment considering there were only two customers besides me on this nice, sunny Sunday afternoon. The room is long and deep, nicely appointed in wood, plush red fabrics, black leather, chrome and red and purple lights. There is an upstairs area that I never visited, but is visible from the bar area. Rick’s is a professional operation but curiously, the stage, if you could call it that, is a small 4x4’ platform 6” off the floor with a pole (I think). I’m a bit fuzzy on the details because for the 2+ hours I was there nobody danced on the stage and the stage is blocked from view from where I was sitting at the bar by a wall. No matter, the game on espn was more interesting, but the stage deal is weird considering how professional everything else is.