Issue 15: Join the Club
Social Clubs: A Forecast
In 1862, in Victorian England, the social reformer Henry Solly founded The Working Men’s Club and Institute Union as a way to bring together working class men to partake in leisure, recreation, and educational pursuits together.
During the same century, many social clubs and societies sprung up in America — some exclusive to certain professions (The Freemasons, the Rotary), others crossing class strata (the Elks), but across the board segregated by race and gender.
In 1995, another Londoner, Nick Jones, founded Soho House as a members-only club for the so-called “creative class.” Today, Soho House has 28 locations across the world; members can opt for a single-house or global membership. The Houses offer co-working space, lounges, bars and restaurants, and in some cases, accommodation.
The curious thing about clubs is that every one has some level of exclusivity; as a matter of course, a club that is inclusive of a particular style, ethos, sub-culture, etc. is also exclusive of that which doesn’t fall within that purview. However, the Victorian era clubs and Soho House, and to an extent certain other co-working clubs that are businesses foremost (The Wing, Second Home) rely on their exclusivity as a point of identification. What I’m far more interested in are clubs that form around certain communities; exclusivity is not the be-all-end-all of these clubs; those who want to be a part more or less get to be.
Rather than belonging to a social club being primarily a status symbol because of its exclusivity, one’s belonging to certain social clubs becomes a status symbol because it is a marker of taste. Everyone, it could be said, belongs to certain ad-hoc “taste clubs” based on the brands they wear, the music they listen to, the influencers they follow, the things they read and watch, the way they decorate their homes…
Digitally, Discords, Reddits, Slacks, Group Texts, Close Friends act as online social clubs around cults of personality (i.e. niche podcasters, writers, models, actors, designers) or taste communities. It’s not clear to me how often these online “social clubs” break out into IRL meetings.
As for brands, of course every retail and lifestyle brand has some sort of membership or rewards program, but too often these undercut the brand equity, prompting sign-ups by bargain hunters, who then unsubscribe. This is no way to build a genuine club-like community around your brand. So, one wonders what would a genuine members’ club for an existing brand look like?
Saturdays, started in New York in 2009, leaned into the club feeling with their stores in Soho and the West Village. Each store is also a café; a curated selection of brand-appropriate magazines and books are available for browsing; it used to not be entirely uncommon to see people meeting for a coffee or writing on laptops in the store.
What will the future iterations of shared taste-based social clubs look like? Will they be brand-driven? Will they be driven by gatekeepers/curators (i.e. magazines)?
Certain independent magazines — such as The Gentlewoman — have formed clubs for their subscribers to engage deeper with the created universe of the magazine, to network, and to share cultural experiences, both in person and digitally. Others have built such loyal followings that it’s the subscribers themselves who form the clubs. Subscribers to Racquet, the coolest magazine about tennis, have formed ad-hoc meet-ups at public courts across the country to play with people who share the egalitarian ethos of the magazine’s view of the sport. Monocle, with an editorial staff certainly not known for any sort of everyman sentimentality, has only recently had a website and has continued to eschew social media. Instead, a few die-hard readers started the Readers of Monocle Instagram account, filling a digital space the magazine itself chose not to occupy. Magazines about niche topics such as surfing or coffee or midcentury furniture lay the groundwork for social clubs IRL or hybrid IRL & online of the devotees of the publication.
CLO Circle is “a philosophy club dedicated to the ongoing exchange of thoughts, feelings and ideas.” With a newsletter and interactive survey series, CLO engages its members on philosophical questions. Member-to-member interaction, however, is fairly limited.
Two things the Coronavirus has demonstrated: 1) indoor public spaces are less safe than we thought and 2) we cannot do every social thing virtually.
A friend of mine recently proposed the idea of a 'club' (really just a regularly occurring house party) for which the ticket of entry is a negative COVID test.
On a recent walk with a friend in Fort Greene, we passed by a below-street level door with a discreet plaque indicating an establishment for private dining experiences.
Even beyond the end of the pandemic, the proliferation of private, club-like activations around food will grow. In San Sebastián, one of the cradles of the Slow Food Movement, members-only Eating Clubs outnumber traditional restaurants and privilege members’ cooking abilities over any class standing. This concept has broad appeal. There will be a future in independent supper clubs as a brand catalyst. For instance, Chandelier Creative used to host dinners with local chefs and partner brands at Flamingo Estate in Los Angeles. The blurring of personal brands and actual brands and collaborations with celebrity chefs will become more popular.
The Roundup
Links to things you should be reading this week
Ditte & Nicolaj Reffstrup, the founders of GANNI, live in a Copenhagen home filled with quirks and artworks by their friends. • The newest Instagram update clearly indicates the company’s vision of itself as a shopping app foremost, moving content creation to a back seat. • These are the global locations creatives are moving when the former centers of industry won’t do. • Kim Jones’ new capsule collection for Dior offers WFH elegance. • The modernist relics of Berlin’s Tiergarten flourish under a new stewardship.
The Long Read
The week’s keynote story
Only going to read one thing? Read me.
Photo by Alexander Cody Nguyen
A New Wave: How Benny’s Club Is Creating A More Inclusive Surf Culture | Shai Goodman | High Noon Original
I never sought out surfing for the community; the autonomy that surfing provided me was enough to satiate my soul for almost a decade. That decade was filled with a variety of gifts in solitude: mornings alone watching the sunrise, space away from parents and coaches and feedback— the noise that came with my life. I will always remain fond of the silence that surfing provided me, but the noise that has come since finding Benny’s Club is something that I will forever cherish.
Benny’s Club was founded this year as a collective to create space for POC and queer folks in surfing. Founders Momo Hudes and Johnny Cappetta saw how unsafe and unpleasant surfing was for non-straight or non-white folks, and decided to do something about it. The community that followed was beyond anyone's expectations.
For years, my mornings spent surfing were filled with silence, punctuated only by the noise of surfing's gatekeepers. The occasional nod from someone in the lineup was the friendliest welcome I would get; I got used to it. What I never got used to, but always thought I had to accept if I wanted to be a surfer, was the judgment from the bros that surfed beside me: watching me drop in, scoffing when I fell, and questioning my ability and board choice in the parking lot. Often the only queer woman in the water, the stares I got from surfers was constant. Many sessions felt toxic, lacking the joy and clarity that drew me to surfing in the first place. When I discovered Benny’s on Instagram this summer, I knew right away I needed to make it to a session.
I attended my first Benny’s meetup on a cold September day in Rockaway Beach. While I was excited and expected the session to be different than a usual surf, the trepidation and uncertainty started to creep into my head. As I sleepily drove out of The City, and headed to Rockaway, I began to worry. Would I feel the judgment I had begun to associate so deeply with surfing at a Benny’s session?
That September morning was different than any day I’ve ever had in the water; the ocean was boisterous with support and camaraderie, with exclamations of appreciation instead of sneers of exclusion. I couldn’t tell you how many waves I caught or what board I surfed, but do remember the text I sent my friend Taylor after I got home—
“Remind me to call you tomorrow. That was the best surf day I’ve ever had.”
Since that first Benny’s Club meetup, I’ve been hooked. I’ve been hooked on the idea that surfing could be more than just a solitary experience. At Benny’s, I saw a sport that encourages outward expressions of joy, and not one that reinforces pre-existing boundaries of exclusivity. Surfing can serve as the grounds to facilitate discussion, to connect with new people, to teach, to learn, to share and to center those who have historically had to fight for a place in surf culture.
I somehow convinced founders Momo and Johnny into letting me join their board, and bring the joy of Benny’s to the West Coast. Because of Benny’s, I have met some of the most creative and talented surfers who are committed to challenging the cis-hetero male status quo that still exists in modern surfing. The club's ethos is powerful— even when surfing solo, it’s abundantly present.
Yesterday, I was surfing alone at El Porto Beach in Los Angeles, a usual spot for me when I need to escape my house. Surrounded by the sea of white male surfers, I day dreamt of Benny’s sessions in New York. Before I knew it, my day dream was interrupted by a bro in his 40’s yelling at a beginner surfer for dropping in on him. “Get the fuck off my wave on your fucking wavestorm.” Holy shit, the world needs more Benny’s.
Note from the Editor: This is the first original piece published in High Noon. Thank you to Shai Goodman for contributing. If you’re interested in contributing to High Noon, please submit a pitch to shawnedwardcremer@gmail.com, with the subject line “HN Pitch.”
Watch
Hear the founders of Benny’s Club speak about how they started the LGBT+ Surf Collective at Rockaway Beach.
Cheers
Try the Suga Suga, an original concoction by Moss Cremer