<\/p>\n
\n\tGab\u00e9 Doppelt was born in South Africa, raised in London, worked in New York and became the ultimate L.A. power broker \u2014 first as the ma\u00eetre d\u2019 at Jeff Klein\u2019s Sunset Tower, then as the global membership director at his San Vicente Clubs. She began her professional life as an assistant for legendary media maven Tina Brown at Tatler <\/em>in 1979. She then made her way to New York and eventually bounced between the coasts as an editor for Vogue<\/em>, W<\/em>, Mademoiselle<\/em> and The Daily Beast<\/em>, finally leaving media in 2014 for a career in hospitality.<\/p>\n \n\tShe returned to Manhattan last year to oversee the launch of SVC\u2019s West Village outpost, in the former Jane Hotel. It was meant to be an eight-month gig. \u201cWithin a week of landing in New York, which by the way was in the middle of a snowstorm, I knew there was no way I was going back,\u201d explains Doppelt.<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s a good thing she settled in so quickly because the task facing Klein and crew required full focus: San Vicente West Village opened last March in a redbrick building built in 1908, fresh out of a massive overhaul. Steered by designer Rose Uniacke, the club features a restaurant (with head chef Nicholas Ugliarolo), drawing room, sushi room, disco, billiard room, screening room and nine well-appointed rooms and suites. To say the opening was warmly embraced is an understatement. The New York Times<\/em> reported that it was \u201cgreeted with a sense of urgency that is second only to the future of democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOpening a club in New York is quite intense because New Yorkers certainly let you know when they\u2019re not happy. They\u2019re a little more forgiving in L.A.,\u201d says Doppelt. \u201cAny new property has the same problems; things you think will go well don\u2019t and things you think are going to be a shit show are always perfect. That\u2019s the nature of the beast in any business.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe first three months were a blur. She landed in New York, and the next night, the club opened exclusively for an afterparty for SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, a star-packed celebration attended by Lady Gaga, Cher, Jason Momoa, Anya Taylor-Joy, Donna Langley, Bryan Lourd and Lorne Michaels. \u201cWe hit the ground running,\u201d Doppelt recalls. \u201cThe next night we hosted a hardhat party for existing members and friends so people could see the club even though it wasn\u2019t finished. Then we went dark for a month to finish all the aesthetics. We opened in March and it took three months to find our rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tA year later, San Vicente West Village is in its groove. As global membership director, Doppelt curates who gets in and she borrows a quote from her boss to explain how they anoint new members. \u201cWe\u2019re slow growers. It\u2019s very easy to be greedy and we could take everybody who applies and we would be, I don\u2019t know about successful, but we\u2019d be rich,\u201d she says. \u201cSuccess isn\u2019t measured in rich. There\u2019s a great quote of Jeff\u2019s that goes, \u2018Just because you\u2019re rich, that makes you interesting?\u2019 We don\u2019t care about that. For us, power isn\u2019t money and that\u2019s the last thing we\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHer old editorial chops also kicked in. Her cheeky, \u201cquasi-monthly\u201d in-house newsletter has been such a hit with members, it may be worth the price of entry. (Initiation fees range from $3,000 to $15,000, with annual dues of $1,800 to $4,200.) In her notes \u201cfrom The Directrice,\u201d she updates insiders on the club\u2019s comings and goings \u2014 literally: \u201cA member jettisoned for yelling out to a high-profile VIP very much in the news right now, \u2018Hey XX, is that really you?\u2019 \u201d reads one. \u201cWe pride ourselves on respecting every member\u2019s privacy so there were no second chances here. Bye.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDoppelt\u2019s unvarnished missives were inspired by New York restaurateur Keith McNally, who posts his nightly reports to much fanfare on Instagram. \u201cIt\u2019s really funny and brutally honest,\u201d she praises. \u201cHe really calls people out and he doesn\u2019t edit.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDoppelt\u2019s started as personal notes but she grew boring of writing about herself and noticed how members liked tattling on one another. So, she started doing it, too. Her epic Valentine\u2019s Day rant had tongues wagging for weeks. \u201cTo the two members who, on multiple occasions found your way to a higher floor bathroom between courses for an \u2018amuse bouche,\u2019 the literal translation being a \u2018mouth amuser\u2019 \u2026 we know who you are. \u2026 Please note we do have rooms, and as members, you receive the reduced member rate, so please check with the front desk if you feel the need to indulge in extracurricular activities while in the club.\u201d The horny members did not lose their memberships, since Doppelt prefers to discipline with suspensions or warnings.<\/p>\n \n\tThanks in part to Doppelt\u2019s methods and long-standing relationships, SVC has become one of, if not the hottest private club in New York. And it\u2019s got Doppelt and Klein already thinking about what\u2019s next: \u201cOf course we\u2019re ravenously hungry to do another.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBut where? First, Doppelt has extended her New York stay for at least another year and after that, she won\u2019t say. \u201cWe love New York. We love Europe. Maybe London, maybe Paris. We don\u2019t know. We love buildings. So, wherever we find the next crumbling old lady.\u201d<\/p>\n