Who

Becker is the omnipresent nightlife entrepreneur and designer behind many of the city's most hyped nightspots including La Esquina, Joe's Pub, and Bowery Bar.

Backstory

Born in Paris, Becker was raised in Zurich by his Swiss mother. (His father, who left when Serge was a boy, was Vietnamese.) After finishing art school, a 21-year-old Becker arrived in New York and he later met up with Eric Goode, who was in the process of starting up the club Area. Signing on as creative director, Becker was responsible for changing the décor every six weeks, and the club soon established itself as one of the brightest stars on the nightlife scene.

With Goode and several other partners, Becker went on create a collection of other trendy spots around town like M.K. and Bowery Bar, heading off on his own when he opened Joe's Pub in 1998. He made an even bigger splash in 2005 when he unveiled SoHo eatery La Esquina using the time-honored PR method of contrived secrecy: There was no sign, and diners entered through a door marked "employees only." The obligatory Times Sunday Styles story soon appeared, and La Esquina's clientele went from selected A-listers to bridge-and-tunnel hoards, much to the chagrin of furtive hipsters.

Of note

Becker is the shadowy figure behind what feels like every trendy restaurant and bar downtown. That shuttered restaurant undergoing renovations in Noho? Chances are Becker's behind it. The bar blasting Led Zeppelin remixes, with a line of peroxided publicists standing outside? Pure Becker. Most recently, he partnered with Simon Hammerstein in the "theater dining" club The Box on Freeman's Alley; Becker also backed 205, a faux-grungy hangout across the street. But Becker isn't just content to feed and intoxicate the city's cool crowd. With partner Derek Sanders, he also runs the design firm CAN Resources, which has created interiors for two of Andre Balazs's hotels (the Mercer and the Standard in LA) and two of John McDonald's eateries (Lure Fishbar and Lever House), among other projects.

Drama

Becker's hot spots have stirred up a bit of controversy in recent years. In 2006, a writer named Jeffrey Stanley said he'd been roughed up by bouncers at La Esquina. (He says he was dragged up the restaurant's stairs by a bouncer and burned with a cigarette.) More recently, Becker was in the news after the NYPD conducted raids at both The Box and La Esquina, allegedly as part of a search for drugs.

Personal

Becker's wife is Jodie Becker, a publicist who also runs the charity Lion's Reach with socialite Ginny Bond Donahue. They have a daughter, Georgina, and live just a couple blocks away from La Esquina.

No joke

Becker was a competitive chess player as a kid. He's not the only nightlifer with a passion for the game: Noah Tepperberg also played chess competitively when he was a teenager.