Something about André Saraiva's past makes you think of an Ecko Unlimited commercial -- a group of restless adolescents leaping over a fence, defacing public property with graffiti and causing a racket with grinding skateboards as they make their exit. The 35-year-old nightlife entrepreneur has been hitting the clubs and tagging walls in Paris since he was 12. In an interview with Black Book Mag, André reminisces, "I used to sleep in the clubs until the first subway was open and then
go home and then say I was sleeping over at my friend’s place."
These days André owns several spots in Paris including Le Montana, Le Baron and Moon. He also owns Beatrice Inn in New York and is a partner in Hôtel Amour with Thierry Costes of the Costes hotel and restaurant family. André is known to have a viral quality about him -- quick to make friends and connect his new friends with his old friends.
Spending time on the streets of Paris must have something to do with André's down to earth nature. “Mostly, models are cheesy and stupid,” he tells the New York Times. “They show up
with tacky men who think they are kings of the world because they have
a driver and expensive clothes. A guy that looks like a bum is more
likely to get into one of my places.”
Keep doing what you're doing André, when I grow up, I want to be just like you.