rom the street, Lit, a bar and art gallery in the East Village, looks like an ordinary neighborhood dive; no sign, a grungy, black facade, and a few guys in leather jackets with faces hidden behind greasy bangs. But inside, in the dark smoke-filled corners, it's the art-scene version of the celebrity-packed club Moomba during its heyday in the late 1990's. On any given night, provided it's after midnight, you can usually spot Chloë Sevigny in her latest vintage get-up, chatting with an independent film director like Harmony Korine. Members of the band the Strokes, a mass of unwashed hair and jeans, may be holding court among the bottles of beer, and local musicians like Interpol, the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs and the Liars might be mingling with record label scouts and the fashion stylist Pat Fields.
"Lit is like this mini-melting pot of all this creative energy that's happening in the East Village right now," said Patrick Haley, a photographer who has shot such bands as Incubus and Papa Roach. Last Friday at 2 a.m., Mr. Haley was snapping photos of Nick Zinner, the guitarist in the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, whose hair was gelled into a perfect retro punk mop. "It's great for talking about ideas and networking," said Mr. Haley, who said he has met many prospective clients at the bar.
One of Lit's more popular nights is Monday, when the actor Leo Fitzpatrick works the turntable downstairs in the cramped, cavelike basement that still bears resemblance to a boiler room. Here, minimal does not mean slick modular seating and ambient music. It simply means raw. And the only necktie you are likely to see is not that of a banker letting lose after work but a skinny black tie worn over a soiled white T-shirt. To this under-30 set, the concept of V.I.P. rooms, logo-covered handbags and expensive bottles of Cristal is hopelessly 1999.
Erik Foss, 29, a skateboarder and painter, opened Lit last February with three artists as a way to support the gallery in the back of the main room, behind a glass wall. (The name refers to the fire that gutted the building when a previous occupant was there. The owners rebuilt the space themselves.)
The gallery, called Fuse, is painted black and holds exhibits that appeal to a youthful post-punk crowd like H. R. Giger and Paul Booth, who has designed stage sets for the band Slayer.
"A few years ago our art wasn't being accepted by mainstream galleries in Chelsea and our music wasn't being supported by record labels," Mr. Foss said. "So the idea was to open a place where we could all hang out and do our thing and really build a community."
