Club Chess Is Convincing New Yorkers to Lean into the Sexiness of Chess

This ain't your grandpa's chess club.

By izzy baskette

Published on 17/11/2023 at 04:19 PM

Ever find yourself wondering, “Where are all the young, hot people playing chess in New York City?” Well, spend your Wednesday evening at the Lower East Side nightlife newcomer, Two Doors Down, and you’ll find your people.

Across a smattering of tiny two-top tables lit by tea candles, well-dressed Club Chess participants can be found sipping on cocktails and earnestly battling through matches. Everyone not huddled over a board lounged around, chatting with the bartender, smoking cigarettes out front, and dancing in the basement.This sexier and oh-so-New-York approach to chess meetups was brought to life by Alexander Luke Bahta and Corrine Ciani. With the desire to revive local chess culture from its pandemic-induced hiatus, Bahta, 29, was the original founder of Club Chess in 2021. After a few initial, and more casual events (it was unambiguously called Chess Club back then), Ciani, 27, joined as a co-founder. Now, the duo collaborates to bring the series of chess-meets-dance-party meetups to downtown bars and venues on Wednesday nights.

“Something that we’ve lost along the way is cafe culture,” says Ciani. “A space for people to have conversation is incredibly important not only in New York City, but everywhere. We’re all so terminally online. [Club Chess] provides a space for New Yorkers to have conversations, have a drink or not have a drink, and play a game or maybe even not play a game.”What’s obvious when scrolling through the group’s social media presence is Club Chess’ dedication to curating a very distinct vibe. There’s a transparent keenness to create something driven by an aesthetic agenda.

“We thought, what if we just started doing this at a bar and wore suits and drank Manhattans or martinis or whatever,” explains Bahta. “And there’s nothing really going on on Wednesday nights. I’m really obsessed with the 1920s and [the] Dada [movement] and avant garde art. And then the idea of a roaring ’20s sort of ethos, I think, parallels the time we’re in now, but in a way that includes tech and modern culture.”Bahta’s self-professed “chaotic creativity” combined with Ciani’s artistic capability drives the essence of Club Chess. There’s often a dress prompt on meetups flyers. “Dress codes are too strict in our opinion,” Ciani says. Bahta continues, “[Dress prompts are] sort of a nod to AI prompting where it’s like, ‘If you put these words together, this image will come out,’ kind of thing. One prompt was just the swords crossed emoji or another one was Hyper Modern Chic.”For those who might not know how to play chess, Bahta and Ciani can attest to the benevolence of their fellow attendees. Ciani herself had never touched a board in her life before her first meetup. “I didn’t know the basic rules or anything like that,” Ciani reminisces. “People will teach you. You take a seat and after a martini or two, it’s not so bad.” Those who define themselves as more serious players are often the first people through the door on Wednesday nights. And, most likely, they’ll have their own boards in hand.

While chess is often pigeonholed as an intimidatingly cerebral or buttoned-up pastime, Club Chess can be used as a testament to its multifaceted nature-one in which the game can actually be both approachable and predominantly social. These downtown Wednesday nights are an anthropological study of sorts. “It’s this cool collage or social sculpture of unlikely compatriots, people you wouldn’t expect to be in the same room,” Bahta observes.Bahta adds, “We say chess is played ambiently sometimes because it’s like chess is just a part of the equation that creates something special. Chess, music, and then a secret third thing that’s not the lighting, not how everyone’s dressed, not the people there, but just how everything comes together.”

We just might be witnessing the sexy rebrand chess has been waiting for.Want more Thrillist? Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Izzy Baskette is the New York City Staff Writer for Thrillist. Talk to her at [email protected] or find her on Instagram.

Lifestyle

The Best New Bookstores in LA are Curated, Specific, and Personal

Discover a new favorite book, join a book club, and maybe even do some karaoke at the new wave of LA bookshops.

By ben mesirow

Published on 30/03/2023 at 01:11

Photo by Innis Casey Photography, courtesy of Zibby's Bookshop — Photo by Innis Casey Photography, courtesy of Zibby’s Bookshop

A couple of years ago, the legendary Powell’s Books in Portland released a perfume designed to evoke the smell of a bookstore. The scent has notes of wood, violet, and the lovely and unusually precise word biblichor, the particular aroma of old books. The reality of the scent is what it is-mostly sweet and floral-but more important is the imagery it conjures. The best bookstores are both cozy and mysterious, familiar and surprising, with endless potential for discovery.

Los Angeles has a wealth of independent book sellers, including beloved legacy shops like The Last Bookstore, The Iliad, and Chevalier’s. But a new wave of bookstores has been growing over the last few years, shops that eschew the traditional one-of-everything mindset to focus on specificity, curation, and point of view. There are bookstores with themes, bookstores that double as event spaces, bookstores that reflect their neighbourhoods, bookstores that take inspiration from a specific person-whether that’s the shop owner, a historical figure, or a little bit of both-and so many more.

Like the niche-ification of the internet and the culture at large, these new and new-ish bookstores provide a space to discover books, ideas, and perspectives led by an expert, the kind of things that you may never have found on your own. They can also be a safe harbour for pure nerdiness, a place to dive deep into your favourite category or cause. To help you on your way, we’ve put together a list of some of the best new bookstores in LA, with a focus on curated shops with their own specific perspectives.

Octavia’s Bookshelf

Pasadena
Pasadena is a famously book-friendly city, with bookstore royalty in the form of legendary Vroman’s and its own literary alliance. Now it has one of the most exciting new bookstores too. Octavia’s Bookshelf is owner Nikki High’s tribute to the science fiction master Octavia E. Butler, who was a Pasadena native herself. The name of the shop provides a clue into High’s inspiration, titles she imagines Butler would have had on her shelves, with a focus on BIPOC authors. The storefront is small, but the collection is impeccably curated and the space is cozy and welcoming for readers of all backgrounds.

North Figueroa Bookshop

Highland Park
Vertical integration can be a beautiful thing, especially when it allows independent creators more control over their products. The new North Figueroa Bookshop is a shining example of the concept, a storefront built on a collaboration between two publishers, Rare Bird and Unnamed Press. North Fig features titles from those presses, of course, including lots of striking literary fiction and memoir, but it also features a curated collection of other books. They’ve made it a point of emphasis to serve the needs of the local Highland Park, Glassell Park, Cypress Park, and Eagle Rock community-there’s lots of fiction from fellow independent publishers, other general interest titles with a focus on California history and literature, and plenty of Spanish-language books.

Zibby’s Bookshop

Santa Monica
Speaking of vertical integration, there’s another new combined publisher and bookstore on the other side of town. Zibby’s Bookshop is the brainchild of Zibby Owens, Sherri Puzey, and Diana Tramontano, and it’s the physical home of Zibby Books, a literary press that releases one featured book a month. That system is designed so that each book gets the full attention and resources of the press. Owens is an author, podcaster, and book-fluencer, and she has become something of a lit-world mogul with a magazine, podcast network, event business, and an education platform too. The shop has a unique sorting system, built around a feeling for each book-in store many of the shelves are labelled by interest or personality type, like “For the foodie,” or “For the pop culture lover.” On their webshop, you can browse for books that make you cry, escape, laugh, lust, or tremble. There are recommendations from Owens and the staff, sections for local authors, family dramas, and books that have just been optioned. If this all seems a little overwhelming, you should probably avoid the section dedicated to books that make you anxious.

The Salt Eaters Bookshop

Inglewood
Inglewood native Asha Grant opened The Salt Eaters Bookshop in 2021 with a mission in mind-to centre stories with protagonists who are Black girls, women, femme, and/or gender-nonconforming people. Over the last year and change that it’s been open, it has also become a community hub, a place for Inglewood locals and people from across town to drop in, to see what’s new and to discover incredible works in the Black feminist tradition. They also host regular events like readings, discussions, and parties.

Lost Books

Montrose
Thankfully, legendary downtown bookshop The Last Bookstore’s name is hyperbole, and owners Josh and Jenna Spencer have even gone so far as to open a second shop, Lost Books in Montrose. Instead of the technicolour whimsy of the book tunnel at The Last Bookstore, Lost Books has a tunnel of plants that welcomes you into the shop, which opened in the summer of 2021. They sell those plants in addition to books, and coffee and vinyl too, which makes Lost Books a lovely destination and a fun little surprise in the quaint foothill town just off the 2 freeway.

Stories Books & Cafe

Echo Park
Ok, this one is fudging the criteria a little-Stories has been open for almost 15 years. But over those years the shop has become a pillar of Echo Park community life, hosting readings, discussions, and events, and their cafe tables function as a de facto office for about half of the neighbourhood on any given afternoon. After the tragic recent passing of co-owner and Echo Park fixture Alex Maslansky it seemed like the shop’s future was in doubt, but thankfully after a brief hiatus co-owner and co-founder Claudia Colodro and the staff were able to band together to reopen and keep the beloved cafe and bookstore going strong.

Page Against the Machine

Long Beach
The name alone makes it clear what you’re getting at Page Against the Machine-revolutionary progressive books, with a collection centred on activist literature, socially conscious writing, and a whole lot of political history. The shop itself is small but the ideas are grand, with fiction by writers like Richard Wright, Colson Whitehead, and Albert Camus next to zines about gentrification and compendia of mushroom varieties. They also host regular readings and discussions.

Photo by Viva Padilla, courtesy of Re/Arte

Re/Arte Centro Literario

Boyle Heights
Boyle Heights has its own small but mighty combined bookstore, art gallery, gathering space, and small press in Viva Padilla’s Re/Arte. Padilla is a poet, translator, editor, and curator, and as a South Central LA native and the child of Mexican immigrants, she’s focused on Chicanx and Latinx art, literature, and social criticism. Re/Arte’s collection has a wide range of books, from classic Latin American literature to modern essays and everything in between. Re/Arte is also now the headquarters for sin cesar, a literary journal that publishes poetry, fiction, and essays from Black and Brown writers. There are always community-focused events happening too, from regular open mics and zine workshops to film screenings and more.

The Book Jewel

Westchester
Most bookshops host events, but few host them with the regularity of The Book Jewel, the two- year-old independent bookstore in Westchester. Their calendar is so full with readings, several different book clubs, signings, and meet and greets that there are sometimes multiple events on the same day. The shop also hosts a ton of family-focused readings, with regular storytime on Sunday mornings often followed by a talk with the author. It’s a great fit for the relatively low-key (but not exactly quiet) suburban neighbourhood, and it’s no coincidence that storytime lines up with the Westchester Farmers Market, which takes place right out front.

Reparations Club

West Adams
Most bookstores lean into coziness, aiming to be a hideaway for some quiet contemplation or maybe a quick sotto voce chat-not so at Reparations Club, the exuberant and stylish concept bookshop and art space on Jefferson. Owner and founder Jazzi McGilbert and her staff have built a beautiful and vibrant shop full of art from Black artists, including books but also records, candles, incense, clothing, and all sorts of fun things to discover. There’s a perfect seating area to sit and hang out for a while, and they host a range of wild and fun events from readings to happy hours, panel discussions to karaoke nights and more.

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Ben Mesirow is a Staff Writer at Thrillist.