Bash Compactor: Only the Good Die Young

Life is like a box of bon bons.You never know what you’re gonna get.The same went for the fabulous party called Bon Bon, hosted by Susanne Bartsch and Kenny Kenny, that met an untimely death last week.

Born last December to much fanfare, the last party was held a mere three months later, on March 2, with special guests Tinsley Mortimer and Tommy DiDario, from the CW network’s docuseries High Society.

Another one bites the dust:The closing is just the latest in a long series of parties either permanently shutting down or moving to a new location. Mr. Black has relocated to Los Angeles,The Hose closed, Gutterball only lasted a few weeks, Aspen, Ruff Club and the Jane ended, Club Exit in Brooklyn shuttered after 15 years and the F Word moved from Santos Party House to Rebel after a five-month hiatus.What next?

“We’re going to concentrate our efforts on our other parties right now,” Bartsch told me. “Vandam and the Love Thursdays monthly party we’re planning.” She didn’t want to elaborate on the issues that made her and co-host Kenny Kenny decide to stop Bon Bon, but was enthusiastic about the new Thursday night venture, a curated party with a different art theme every month that is poised to kick off in April.

I’m told by an insider that the primary reason the popular Tuesday night party ended was financial: “Bon Bon had a fashion crowd more high end than Vandam, but wasn’t bringing in the bottle service crowd.To make enough money, the club had to be completely packed.”Well drinks started at $14, although there were always cheap $8 vodka specials. Juliet Supper Club, located on an abandoned stretch of West 21st Street, opened last fall and has been described as a “gaudy playpen” that could cater to “Russian billionaires, Middle Eastern playboys and the Mad Hatter.”

The décor at the lounge is harem-like with disco-ball-tiled floors and walls with horseshoe-shaped banquettes dimly lit by red and blue LED lighting.

“I thought it was an amazing party,” said one of the regular DJs, Lily of the Valley (aka Michael Cavadias).The owners of Juliet Supper Club are the same owners of Greenhouse, where Bartsch’s and Kenny Kenny’s Vandam is held.

Gregory Dinwoodie, who co-hosts a party with Rachel Landry at Juliet on Monday nights, claims that night is still flourishing. “It’s still one of our best parties. A lot of it has to do with bar sales which hasn’t been our problem because on Monday’s there’s not as much competition as on Tuesdays,” he said. He doesn’t see the venue as the problem so much as there being too many options for the crowd, with Sunday, Monday and Tuesday parties for the costumed freaks, club kids, gay boys and girls, drag queens and 24-hourparty people Bon Bon was geared toward.

“We all loved Bon Bon,” lamented nightlife photographer Eric Halliwell, seated on a banquette at the F Word Friday night party. Indeed, how sweet it was.