SaïdAli Mesbahi: Conversation About Nothing
Saïd Ali is a cofounder of no strings, graphic designer, and one of New Yorks best international party boys. We caught up with him while cohosting his monthly vinyl party at Treasure Club and we discussed no strings, club bathrooms and nothing.
Who is SaïdAli?
Wow, these questions are actually harder than I thought. Um, fucking who am I?
Raging alcoholic.
Fucking people person, not a people pleaser.
Decent gatekeeper.
What separates a decent gatekeeper from an average gatekeeper?
The gates open if I fuck with you. The gates are open for Nothing Radio. If I don't know you, gatekept.
What's your life story in one sentence?
Always trying to be better.
As pretentious as that sounds, I feel like that plays.
Yeah that that plays.
What would you say?
Oh this is your interview my friend
No no no you have to play ball with you, you have to play ball with me, this is how the interview goes.
Ok ok… My life and one sentence: swagging all the way to the bank.
What inspires Saïd?
So much. I actually I love this question because I feel like people are so wrapped up in their fucking Pinterest threads and I don't use Pinterest for anything.
It’s pretentious but I live my life very hard because I work hard as fuck. I find the best inspiration from everyday life.
I was sober for three months and was still going out every day until like four in the morning. I got a lot of inspiration because my head was super clear and I was having awesome interactions with new people.
What were you rocking diet coke at the club?
No, no, no, no. My sober drink is a soda water and bitters and my go-to drink is gin soda bitters.
Obviously bitters have alcohol but spare me. It's still sober.
When I was sober, I was getting the most inspiration because you're more perked up. People naturally gravitate towards you and I really get my inspiration from meeting random ass people.
Anecdote that best describes No Strings?
I wasn't actually there for the birth of the name which is super sad but you know I'll speak for Isadora and Henry and hopefully one day they can say their piece on this.
They were really drunk in Cancun and they decided to create a brand. They were screaming at each other different names across the table and they landed on No Strings. I feel like that's the anecdote that built the brand.
But, I wasn't there for that. My anecdote comes from how I started throwing parties. I was going out with all of my friends so much and I just knew what I like and what I like listening to.
Bar owners eventually wanted me to throw a party. We started this to throw the party we’d like. It's cool to see people fuck with what we like because that's always what it's always been about.
Club with the best bathrooms?
Oh, Loosie’s a hundred percent. They have it figured out with the bathrooms. Great for drugs, great for everybody.
What gets you through the night?
It's always the DJ. It's got to be good music.
Obviously my friends get me through the night, but you could be with your friends and have to deal with the wackest fucking music. So it's always the DJ that gets you through the night because they're the ones that actually are curating the fucking energy in the room.
You could be with wack ass people and the DJ will make it fun for you. You could be with dope ass people, that are your best friends ever, and if the music's wack, it's not fun.
And I feel like that's not even some PR trained ass answer. It’s actually 100% true.
What will prevail?
Oh, my God, it's so open ended. What will prevail? The most PR trained answer is we will prevail. Nothing Radio will prevail.
Things that are fucking organic. Back to my whole shit of why I even started throwing parties. I wanted to throw parties that I’d want to go to.
If you know what you like and your vibe and you're true to that, people will gravitate towards that because it's organic and that will prevail because It's true to what you fuck with.
If you know what's cool and you act only with the best intention of your heart, that will prevail, because people can see through so much bullshit in New York. There's so much bullshit in New York. So you just act on your truest intentions and you do this for everyone else before yourself. That's what's gonna prevail.
Most expensive thing you've bought today?
These pants.
You bought those today?
Yeah, I bought these pants today. I bought this shirt today. All Bottega.
What’s your second favorite dance floor?
It's tough because I do like to dance, but I'm definitely not a big dancer. I'm a bar guy, so I'm more of a chiller than a dancer.
I don't know, I don't know what the second best dance floor is in New York.
What about your favorite dance floor?
Honestly, if I had to say fucking the bar vibe, I've had some of my best nights at Old Fling’s and Heaven can Wait when that was still around.. (the first place Said started throwing.) That's home base for me.
Last song you were listening to?
I will literally pull it up. Let's see. Rest In Bass by Che album, amazing. And then also the Velvet Blue. Um and then Sophia Stelle. Sophia Stelle is going to be a superstar. She is unbelievable. And then one other thing from San Diego, this kid Bleecher, this kid is really, really fire. He's like another artist in that 2Hollis lane.
I like the electronic dance shit. That's the last shit I've been listening to. Um and that's like, yeah, that that that…
What do you want to shout out?
Shout out to you, man. I fuck with Carter, one of the more genuine people that I know. Toma as well. I've always looked up to you guys and you're creative and I was super excited to meet you guys and I'm happy that we've actually gotten closer.
Obviously shout out No Strings. I think that we're gonna do some big shit, New York Fashion Week. We have a lot of shit on the books.
And then, shout out just anybody New York is genuine. There's so many whack ass people in nightlife. I feel like you’re good people and it's good when you meet good people in this shit because there's a lot of bad people. So shout out you guys, shout out us. And anybody who's not a fucking weirdo that lives in New York.
An Interview with Saïd Mesbahi
Interviewed by Carter Houck + Thomas Shade
Filmed outside Treasure Club
September 2025
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