So the nightlife is dead in new york
A lot of it is. All the clubs attached to Gaitan are gone. The Limelight space did turn into
http://limelightfit.com/ . Maybe you can work there
.
Sound Factory's big spot was done for lots of years, I see Freq opened there a couple of months ago, we'll see if it stays. The smaller one is a Japanese restaurant now.
I could run through dozens of others spots that are gone. Now folks will say, that's the club business. And that's true, but the problem is that new nightlife doesn't usually open up in those spots or at those sizes. The cabaret laws, other zoning things, the rise of bottle service, plus the real estate market does them in. It's less hassle to let a drug store, start up, etc.... take the space. Or turn it into condos.
They used to just pack it up and move it to LIC, parts of Brooklyn, etc.... but even that is falling victim to the above.
There are still big or mid sized clubs in Manhattan - Marquee, 1 Oak, Lavo, etc....
Everything is way more spread out and expensive, and at least as far as night life goes, a shadow of what it once was. When you hear people wax poetic about New York, they are mostly remember the Manhattan of the 70's - early 2000's.
The advice to try NJ living is a good one. If you pick the right spot, you'll be a short ride away from the city, save a ton of money, and you won't miss much.