Meet New York City’s Director of Nightlife — Yes, That’s a Job
Photo Credit: The lights of the Big Apple are shining a little brighter these days with the prospect of a lot of tourist night owls returning. It's Ariel Palitz's job to ensure New York remains a nightlife capital of the world. Flickr / mehmet canli
Skift Take
New York City's nightlife industry has always had a tough reputation filled with liabilities. Through the city's official Office of Nightlife, Ariel Palitz is helping navigate the department through a viral pandemic and building the sector's future by preserving its past.
New York City has long had a reputation as one of the nightlife capitals of the world — until the global pandemic, that is.
But with a new $30 million tourism campaign deployed now to lure tourists back to the Big Apple, nocturnal New York City is taking on new importance.
For a long time, there was no official office overseeing venues and events all over the city, that is until 2017 with the creation of the Office of Nightlife (ONL) by Mayor Bill de Blasio. The idea was to create a central place to help navigate through processes involving necessary permits and approvals for venues across the city.
[caption id="attachment_434124" align="alignright" width="300"] Ariel Palitz, New York City's Director of Nightlife[/caption]
In 2018, Ariel Palitz assumed her role as senior executive director, tasked with overseeing the newly established office charged with preserving the city's cultural nightlife centers. She became the unofficial czar of New York City after dark.
For th
