So you want to DJ? ‘Spun’ at the Foundation.

I had stepped up there out of a certain journalistic necessity and a creeping curiosity at how exactly one begins to line up the beat of one song with another.  So I let the DJ (Mike) do the picking for me as we traded questions and answers about bpm rates, the display, and the mixing.

Stepping back down, the place had already become packed, almost out of nowhere.  The bar area was filled with people, constantly edging towards the bar vying for the free well drinks.  The seats surrounding the stripper pole were filled, some people even taking spots along the raised base of it.  The corridor too filled up but the place, to its credit, never surpassed that threshold between comfortably crowded and oppressively overbooked.  It was easy to slip from the bar towards the DJ, and there always seemed to be spots open along the railing set into the wall to rest your drink. Even those who had come to dance found space to do so; the interior seemed to allow for almost everyone regardless of whether they were watching, drinking, talking, or shoulder-popping.

By 11.30 a portion of the people began to sift themselves outside.  Once midnight rolled around you could once again get a drink without playing the ‘look at me first’ game.  The bar had worked its way back down to a slightly more tipsy version of what I had originally walked into. Groups gathered, couples split off for another round or to take seats around the vacant golden pole (which didn’t see much action that night aside from a couple of passing movements, poses for pictures, and a sprinkling of evocative suggestions).

Overall, the Foundation Bar offers an upbeat but contained playground for the party go-er and general socialite, and the mix of faces and clothing is varied enough for most people who find themselves wandering the stuttering Chinatown streets on a Tuesday night.  I imagine that as the Spun events gather more attention people will begin to arrive earlier and stay later and the stripper pole will finally attract some solid amateur action.  But even if loud club music isn’t particularly your scene, the free drinks and gratuitous people watching make it a worthwhile stop on your way in to or out of your favorite Chinatown hotspot.