The other day I was walking by Sofitel as I heard the cast of This is Us was staying there. Although I didn’t spot any main stars, I did see the crew cars clearly marked. I also noticed that STATS on 17th had closed. Opened about a year ago, Stats had replaced the Ice Club which never warmed up the crowd and was fairly short lived, before that it was the fairly successful 1925 the Burlesque club, which replaced the hot club G Lounge, which had been in place nearly 10 years.

When I wrote about the opening of the new night club a reader sent me the info and I signed up, where I found out the club was having a soft opening weekend opening on Thursday. Last night I went after shooting the Philly Mag and Philly Pops parties, which will be posted today on some of my media outlets. Greeting guests at the door was Philly’s old time nightlife friend Manny Romano, Director of Marketing at Home Hospitality who has made quite a name on the scene. Most recently connected with the turn around of Vesper nightclub just up the road. Home Hospitality turned Vesper from a sleepy restaurant/bar into a hot and happening nightclub with people waiting to get in on the weekends.

Now Home Hospitality has opened a hot new club just up the street, in the former G Lounge space called Rec & Royal. The clubs website describes the place as : Rec & Royal provides two unique experiences in on artfully crafted venue. One side is an innovative gaming parlour and karaoke lounge and the other is a cutting edge boutique nightclub where you can party the night away.

The club has two distinct areas, the rec part where guests will enjoy an alternative nightlife experience immersing patrons in an adult playground creating camaraderie amongst friends with arcades, team-based games, and karaoke in a high energy social environment. Rec also offers 4 unique hospitality suites where patrons can enjoy a more private experience.

Then there’s the club area, the Royal, which you will find on the other side of a door, which leads to an exhilarating light show, with a formative DJ booth, which is no longer located above the dance floor but out in the open, with tricked out lights, and surprises. Home Hospitality really did a demo job to the space, and it finally flows much better than the previous concepts. It feels and looks more like what Zee bar is like. There’s a lot of lounge areas, bottle service spaces and little nooks for dancing. It’s a cool vibe space, with lite chitchat and a smokey atmosphere.

Rec & Royal had its soft opening on Thursday, September 12, 2019 at 111 S 17th St , and is opened this weekend as well. I didn’t want to spoil your experience, plus they’re still working on a few concepts so I only took a few photos. It looks like a lot of fun, and unlike the last concept they’ll be doing something fantastic with the vault. I’ll be back to hopefully get a photo of you enjoying yourselves. Check out their website here.