"People's is just a new prism for non-fiction. It's an excuse to immerse ourselves in each other's humanity and be honest again," co-owner Emmet McDermott tells Observer.
For New Yorkers, entering a dilapidated façade into a candlelit club is a right of passage. When it comes to cool factor, unmarked exteriors are superlative, coteries draped in banquets within the humming walls essential and outside crowds of clamoring bodies a necessary evil. People's, the gallery and club that owners Margot Hauer-King and Emmet McDermott officially unveiled to the Greenwich Village social scene on Dec. 16, hits each mark with intention.
Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter Sign Up
Thank you for signing up!
By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime.
See all of our newsletters
The space, currently masked by a construction gate at the front of a half-abandoned townhouse, unfolds in layers. First, it's warm. A glowing red vestibule just large enough for about four people, including two hosts, a list and their stand, softens the fibers of one's being, especially on nights (like that of Dec. 11) that whipped cold and wet. Through a curtain, the next two rooms are richly outfitted -- curtained in deep purple with velvety lounges, a slim bar illuminated by a roaring fire and an eye-catching work by Aglaé Bassens called Catty catty, part of People's debut exhibit of five artists, to change quarterly. This windowless progression of plum and rouge culminates in a church-like gallery room twice the height of its moody predecessors.
Natural light pours from a grand pyramid skylight onto the creamy walls, which play host to the majority of the installation, with works by Preslav Kostov, Jiang Cheng, Emma Kohlmann and Amie Dickie. Guests are positioned at petite tables opposite each other, with one chocolatey brown booth curved around the walls, broken up only for an entryway and the second, larger bar along the back wall. The center is open, with plenty of room for the server to sing along to Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" as she surveys empty cocktail glasses at the start of the evening (People's is open from 5 p.m. until late). The gold-accented gallery room feels like a hallowed fishbowl as rain pours against the glass rooftop 20 or so feet above.
From December 10 through 12, Hauer-King and McDermott invited friends, family and press to preview the space over champagne, martinis, pickled crudités, lemon-zested Castelvetrano olives, fans of magenta endive with a luscious blue cheese-flecked dip like a deconstructed wedge, and caviar. My decadent spirit would have indulged in the burger, but the flameless kitchen had not yet reached full function. Considering Elizabeth Street Hospitality, the team behind Michelin-starred Musket Room and Raf's, developed the food menu for People's, I trust it will deliver hot plates (and other kitsch bites like Banoffee pie) effectively.
The week prior, beginning December 3, when Hauer-King and McDermott poured their first drink in the softer yet less subdued of two soft openings, People's was packed. By the weekend, word of its unofficial late-night scene spread, including to Suki Waterhouse and Robert Pattinson, who DeuxMoi spotted dipping into the club Saturday night.
"It's definitely a baptism by fire to open something with a community that is so ready to go. There was nothing 'soft' about our opening," Hauer-King told Observer. "We have an absolutely rock star team that hit the ground running and delivered the People's experience with aplomb from the very start."
Despite kicking off with a white-hot spark through the downtown scene, People's is Hauer-King and McDermott's first-ever hospitality venture. McDermott is a journalist and film producer, who was formerly a news editor at The Hollywood Reporter. He's worked on projects like Netflix's "White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch" and Hulu's "Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl."
"I was drawn to journalism because of my fascination with people and the real-life stories that help us understand each other, particularly at the margins. It's the same impulse that drove my career in documentary and I believe it's the same drive responsible for People's," McDermott told Observer. "People's is just a new prism for non-fiction. It's an excuse to immerse ourselves in each other's humanity and be honest again."
Hauer-King grew up around the industry (her father is U.K. restaurateur Jeremy King), but pursued a career in marketing after graduating from Brown University, and is now a CMO at Miroma Group. Through People's, Hauer-King has realized how much of her father and his lessons about the industry reside within her. And now, with McDermott holding pen to marble cocktail table, she is writing a new story with the ink of a tastemaker pulsing in her veins.
"[My dad] taught me so much: that good service never loses a sense of humor, and that communication is more important than perfection. That making people feel that there's nowhere they'd rather be is a genuine gift that you should nurture," Hauer-King said. "Now I think a lot of the 'making my own' has come out through my partnership with Emmet: We are building something together. It's not just born of me, but of us."
McDermott and Hauer-King were introduced by a mutual friend a few years ago, and quickly clicked after realizing they saw the world the same way. As their friendship blossomed, so did the idea for People's.
"We shared the same vision -- bringing back that experience once unique to New York, which seemed to have vanished 10 years ago. A home for the downtown scene orphaned in the wake of spaces like Beatrice Inn," McDermott said. "For us, People's felt real before we ever set it in motion."
When they first looked at the space at 113 W. 13th Street in February 2023, Hauer-King called it a "pirate ship." It had been completely neglected since 2020, when Spain, the Bohemian haunt for tapas, shuttered after a 54-year run. Between signing the lease that November and opening in December 2024, Hauer-King and McDermott worked tirelessly to restore every salvageable aspect and build their dream venue.
From preserving the building's past to the name itself, Hauer-King and McDermott aim to honor what this niche cultural hub represents. People's is a reference to the People's Art Guild, a fairly radical artists' cooperative founded in 1915. The guild provided an alternative to fine art galleries by exhibiting avant-garde and modern art to the settlement houses and tenements in the Lower East Side. It aimed to enrich the lives of both immigrants and artists through connection and access.
The townhouse in which People's resides was formerly The Downtown Gallery, the first commercial art space in Greenwich Village and an icon for the arts and equal rights. Edith Halpert opened the gallery in 1926 at just 26 years old. Regarded today as a leading authority on American art, Halpert championed legacies like Georgia O'Keeffe, Max Weber, Stuart Davis and Yasuo Kuniyoshi and promoted the work of Black artists early on, before many other major mainstream galleries did so. In 1940, Halpert moved The Downtown Gallery uptown in 1940, where it continued to thrive until she died 30 years later. Today, The Downtown Gallery is still known as one of the birthplaces of American Modernism.
"The Downtown Gallery was always a very social gallery, and doubled as a salon, and we want to honor and lean into that," Hauer-King said. "We wanted work that would add to the space, not entirely steal from it. There will be a story to each of our shows."
The owners work closely with curator Anne Parke to showcase emerging artists that support People's past and present, deeply rooted in community and storytelling. Prices are not listed, and if patrons are interested in a piece, they will be given Parke's info so they can speak directly about the purchasing process.
"That said, if you really fall in love with something, the whole team is empowered to put it on reserve for you then and there," said Hauer-King, echoing the deliciously unconventional sentiments of the guild and gallery that preceded her. "People just have to remember that a handshake at 1 a.m. is still a handshake!"