The Roads to Xanadu
Journey with Michael to the storied brainchild of Bushwick's Nightlife Dynamo.
On Saturday, the Fourth of July 2026, I made a spontaneous decision to flee the concrete swelter of Manhattan and took the L Train from the East Village to Bushwick, Brooklyn. This would be my second trip to Bushwick to go to Xanadu, the celebrated destination for skaters and music lovers alike.
My first trip to Xanadu, back in the spring, was to see a live performance by Mike D of Beastie Boys fame. D had chosen Xanadu as the venue for his long awaited return as a solo performer alongside his son. I soon came to see why D and his son had selected Xanadu for this debut, its unique design elements and vibrant atmosphere created the perfect setting for this lively ensemble.
But today, I had come to Xanadu specifically to see the space in an off-peak/non performance setting. I just wanted to watch and absorb the “skating rink” in action. And so it was…on this Fourth of July 2026.
Once I cleared security to go inside this bulky building, I was mesmerized. The place virtually hummed with music and humanity. The Canadian Maple floor glistened in black and white swirls that begged skaters and this observer to chill and move to the lively musical sound track and bask in the ambient show biz lighting.
This was a fun palace for all, from little kids to grandpas to singles and couples. It was a peaceful, laid-back place where you could carefully lose yourself and take an imaginary trip to that storied place–”Xanadu.” It was fun!
Xanadu on Starr Street in Bushwick is the brainchild of Varun Kataria, but his trip to the much heralded Xanadu had actually begun in 2014 when the Hayward, Wisconsin location of a dinner club called Turks Inn closed. Varun and his childhood friend and now business partner, Tyler Erickson, then began the process to introduce their first hospitality venue to Bushwick, a re-interpretation of that original Turks Inn.
Varun and Tyler opened the Starr Street location in 2019 with the addition of the music hall, Sultan Room in the back as well as a rooftop bar and music space. Turks Inn was inspired by their childhood experiences, preserving its original design and atmosphere.
They highlight the therapeutic value of dance drawing parallels to Brazilian samba and American disco, funk and house music. Varun’s vision includes intergenerational and intercultural spaces fostering community and resilience amidst chaos.
The main room at Turks Inn looks like a cross between a dining room at your midwestern grandmother’s house and a Masonic lodge hall with Middle Eastern flair, but here it is in Brooklyn. Their attention to detail is emblematic of all of their entertainment venues–playful, relaxed and comfortable. At Turks in Bushwick, photos of the original owners of the Wisconsin Supper Club hang along the walls near the China dinner plates making you feel comfortable and “right at home.”
Similarly the counter space over at Xanadu offers a warm, friendly place to enjoy that atmosphere and feel “right at home”—yet it’s a skating rink, and sometimes a louder than life arena style performance stage.
I had never met Varun Kataria, but I had been briefed on the man’s midwestern background and impressive hospitality track record, running some of Bushwick’s favorite venues and hideaways.
I was a stranger to all of this…Varun, himself; the neighborhood of Bushwick, the legacy of the Beastie Boys and the amazing skating arena that transforms from roller palace to a rock and roll stage of the highest quality of sound and sight.
The occasion for meeting Varun was for an interview for this blog. We met at the horseshoe bar in the restaurant of Turks Inn before the Mike D concert was to take place down the block at Xanadu, a preamble to a fascinating evening. I was privileged to get interview time with Varun because my boss and founder of Misguided Spirits, James Zinkand, has been a buddy/compadre/cohort of Varun for over a decade. The two have collaborated and brainstormed projects for years.
Varun is a diminutive dynamo who talks about his establishments in sentences and phrases that have been stuck in my brain since that first encounter.
Today, Bushwick is a destination to an adventuresome arts scene squeezed out of Manhattan long ago. Bushwick has a night life scene that is continuously developing and evolving, largely led by that dynamo that is Varun Kataria and his playful venues he shares with the world.
“We exist in our own context,” he said when looking back on the recent COVID pandemic era, drawing parallels to times that I lived through in New York City during the AIDS crisis, and noting that night life does indeed go on in these troubled times.
“And yet here we are partying as our society falls apart. It’s something we do in spite of it, to resist it, to cope with it…” he emphasizes.
“Yes.” he states, “I want to help people enjoy themselves and have fun…but it is also really hard work. At the heart of it is my desire to be free, and my desire is to enable others to be free as well…”.
In these times of abundant uncertainty, Xanadu, sits volcanically quiet, as an iconic destination for a wildly diverse populace. Ostensibly, Xanadu is a roller rink for all, but it is also a state of the art performance space. At one point, he reflects on his extensive creative body of hospitality venues, “At the core, I have always been in search of connections and transcendence, and if you look at it–I’ve got a restaurant, I’ve got a museum and I have a roller rink, these are all different things but what relates them all is the fact that they’re built, they’re machines for connection and transcendence. I have always had desire to be free and I’ve been in search of freedom for myself and then wanting to help deliver that to others, to other people, my community,” He said.
Varun has fostered a unique and enviable style of entertainment and hospitality and he cites my boss, James as a close friend and ally in the industry.
“The truth is I could not have done this without James. The truth is, he is a a fellow passionate maniac and when you exist that way you encounter more resistance than support in society, because you just don’t match……so when you recognize each other and support each other it becomes a really powerful thing.” he concludes here, referring to James and their shared creative and sometimes zany pursuits.
Varun and his thriving trio of destinations are valued highly across the entertainment landscape of the City. The City of New York has been loudly celebrating the international games for the World Cup of soccer and the recent ascent of the New York Knicks to their first national championship in 53 years. New York City is never short on reasons to celebrate and count on Varun and Xanadu and its sister venues Turks Inn and the Sultan Room to add to all of those celebrations for many years to come as they shape the fabric of the city in their own unique and playful way.
Written by Michael Howell
Read this also on the Misguided Spirits Substack: https://misguidedspirits.substack.com/
Cover photograph: Kenny Rodriguez
