When we wrote that Tonic East “has sucked in Murray Hill’s young exec set with a force that has almost ruffled their Polos and untucked their J. Crews,” we wondered how exactly the megabar could have such a soul-crushingly homogeneous crowd. Apparently it was carefully cultivated: A suit brought by the New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo claims that black investigators acting on patron complaints were denied entrance to the club for violating its dress code while white investigators were not. Tonic has settled the suit for $35,000 but insists it doesn’t discriminate — in fact, its bouncers are black! Given what a douchetination this place is, maybe the bouncers were doing barred patrons a favor.
NY Bar Settles Dress Code Complaint [Newsday]
