House of YES: NYC’s Zaniest Club

New York is famous for its club scene. From the glory days of Studio 54 now comes one of the wildest clubs on the planet.

Image Credit: House of YES Instagram

House of YES is New York’s most famous nightclub. Set in Brooklyn, the funky venue in a former ice warehouse showcases dance, circus, theatre & cabaret performances.

The club also offers immersive cinema, weekend brunch, circus spectacles, burlesque, poetry brothels, decadent dinners, rooftop hot tub sessions, spanking stations, glitter pop-ups, pole-dancing competitions, musicals about sex work and the drug ketamine, Christmas spectaculars, sound healing, deep house yoga and plenty more.

Most famous are the House of Yes signature parties that have become so big that people come from all over the world for a good time, and to experience the sensory overload and lively, all-inclusive atmosphere.

The offbeat hot spot recently celebrated its second birthday with its ‘Thank You For Everything’ party. The club was jam-packed. Drag queens floated through the crowd, stilt-walkers danced above clubbers, acrobats dangled from the 10m-high ceilings, go-go dancers spun around in metal cages over the bar, and house and disco blared from the sound system as DJ Eli Escobar kept glitter-covered revellers dancing well into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Without the birthday balloons, the extravagant would look to be just a regular Saturday night at House of Yes.

Image Credit: Sasha B Photo

But in its early days, the nightclub didn’t always see smooth sailing. Beginning in 2007 as an illegal live/work space and artist collective by two of New York’s most creative and talented performers Anya Sapozhnikova and Kae Burke, the first House of Yes in Queens burnt down in a toaster fire. The fire happened on a weeknight, and all the housemates managed to escape safely. The second attempt in East Williamsburg opened in 2008 as a circus theatre and creative event space and was forced to shut after five years due to rent hikes.

House of Yes 3.0 in Bushwick opened in January 2016 after a successful Kickstarter launch with two well-known New York restaurateurs. The latest endeavour was the first entirely legal iteration of the club.

Now House of Yes 3.0 is today’s equivalent of Studio 54 and has managed to birth a clubbing resurgence in the city that never sleeps.