Playboy bunnies to make a comeback at new Times Square club that plans to appeal to Mad Men crazy millennials rather than dressing gown wearing Hefners 

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The tightly corseted Playboy Bunnies, with rabbit tails and ears, will soon be back in business in New York City.

Three decades after the original Playboy Club closed in Manhattan a new one will debut later this year in a hotel a few blocks from Times Square.

The shuttering of the old club on East 59th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues in 1986 was considered to be caused by changing American tastes and views on women. 

But Playboy promises the new club, set to be located on West 42nd Street, will be: 'one of the most chic and sophisticated venues in the world'.

Three decades after the original Playboy Club closed in Manhattan a new one will debut later this year in a hotel a few blocks from Times Square. Pictured are 'bunnies' at the old club on January 15, 1963

By reopening the New York club, Playboy will be adding to its current locations - which include Los Angeles and Hanoi. Pictured is founder Hugh Hefner posing with a group of Playboy bunnies at the Playboy Club in Los Angeles in June 1986

It will be in the Cachet Boutique New York Hotel, replacing the gay-themed Out Hotel, which closed last year.

It will have a lounge, a restaurant, a game room and, of course, the Bunnies, though with updated outfits. 

Industry experts say there is marketing appeal among millennials and fans of 'Mad Men,' the TV series set in New York during a time when the Playboy Club thrived. The series followed the lives of a number of advertising agency employees during the 1960s and early 1970s.

'I spend my days with millennials,' Bjorn Hanson, professor of hospitality and tourism management at New York University, said. 

'I'd say there will be a large segment of millennials who will be curious enough to try to experience this as lifestyle, not as the Bunny costume - and they won't need to apologize to friends and family for going.'

Playboy promises the new club, set to be located on on West 42nd Street, will be: 'one of the most chic and sophisticated venues in the world'. Pictured are waitresses at the Playboy Club in Macau in 2010

However others believe the concept is outdated and the timing is off. Travel guidebook publisher Pauline Frommer said: 'Retro is in, but I'm not sure this type of retro.

'We live in this era when thousands of women are gathering in marches to protest. 

'I'm not sure the zeitgeist is right for Playboy now.'

Industry observers said the key to success is how the brand will be presented to prospective guests. 

Will it be seen as a luxurious enclave, a nostalgic throwback, or a place where '75-year-old guys walk around in silk pajamas' travel guru Peter Greenberg asked.

'As a concept, Playboy has the word anachronism written all over it - outdated, irrelevant - so I don't know what the cachet is today,' Greenberg said.

New York's Playboy Club was frequented by celebrities in its time. Pictured is John Lennon and his then-wife, Cynthia, on February 9, 1964

Hugh Hefner is seen posing with Playboy Bunnies and models during the company's 60th anniversary celebrations in Los Angeles in 2014

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner opened the first club in Chicago in 1960. He quickly expanded the operation to 30 clubs around the world.

Other Playboy clubs are already operating in London, the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi and several places in India. Another is set to open in the spring in Shanghai.  

If the New York club opens as scheduled, it will be in a city that began the year with hundreds of thousands of women taking to the streets to protest the presidency of Donald Trump, in part because of remarks he made that were perceived as chauvinistic. 

A number of clubs have reopened around the world in recent years. Pictured are 'bunnies' mingling with guests inside London's club, which opened in 2011 following a 30 year hiatus

A group of Playboy Bunnies photographed from behind with their white bunny tails showing at a dinner for the Motion Picture Pioneers Association at the Playboy Club on November 19, 1962 in New York

Actor Tony Randall at a dinner for the Motion Picture Pioneers Association at the Playboy Club on November 19, 1962 in New York

Industry experts say there is marketing appeal among millennials and fans of 'Mad Men,' the TV series set in New York during a time when the Playboy Club thrived. Pictured is a portrayal of the club in the hit series

But a chance to leer at the Bunnies wasn't the only attraction. The clubs also featured top musicians and other entertainers. 

The original New York club opened in 1962. The next year, feminist Gloria Steinem worked as an undercover Bunny and wrote an expose for Show Magazine entitled 'A Bunny's Tale.'

Among her revelations: The pay was lousy, the male customers propositioned the female staff, and she was forced to get a gynecological exam and take a test for venereal disease before she was hired.

Former 'Bunny' Kathryn Leigh Scott (pictured) has defended the decision to reopen the club, which some people have criticized since it was announced last month

The exterior of the old Playboy Club in Manhattan can be seen in this undated pictured 

The Playboy Club in New York is due to be part of the Cachet Boutique Hotel (pictured) on West 42nd Street

Former Bunny Kathryn Leigh Scott has fonder memories of the New York club.

An acting student who lived on her minimum-wage pay, plus generous tips, Scott was 19 when she got the job.

'Yes, it was chauvinistic by today's standards, but back then, one felt protected and there were stringent rules we used to laugh about,' Scott said.

'It was more paternalistic than chauvinistic.' 

Scott, now a Beverly Hills resident and actor, starred in the cult television classic 'Dark Shadows.'

She said she was never asked to undergo a gynecological exam and was 'treated extremely well.'

'It was an opportunity and it was fun. You put your school clothes in a locker and put on a satin costume,' she said.

Scott, 74, is the author of a history of the Playboy club titled 'The Bunny Years,' for which she interviewed 300 former Bunnies.

The original clubs remained popular and lucrative for years before faltering in the 1980s. 

'Bunnies Go From Risque to Passe,' a Los Angeles Times headline in 1986, the year the club there closed as did the New York one, read. 

The original clubs were all defunct by 1991.

Changing mores have altered Playboy magazine, as well. 

The magazine, still sold in 23 countries, no longer allows full nudity in the US edition, favoring articles and images of broader news interest. 

Cooper Hefner, the 25-year-old son of 90-year-old Hugh, is now its chief creative officer.

Director Roman Polanski is pictured at the Playboy Club in Manhattan during a 'Macbeth' premiere party on December 1, 1971

Magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes and a playboy bunny are photographed October 29, 1985

Gregory Peck and Jackie Wilson pose for a portrait with a group of Playboy Bunnies at a dinner for the Motion Picture Pioneers Association at the Playboy Club on November 19, 1962

Playboy's famed publisher, Hugh Hefner, is seen surrounded by a group of 'bunnies' at one of his clubs

The luxury hotel housing the New York club will have 107 rooms. 

The project is a partnership between Playboy Enterprises, Merchants Hospitality and Cachet Hospitality Group. The club is expected to open later this year, the companies said.

'The only way you could actually do this is, don't call it a new club; call it a museum and display the artifacts and Bunny outfits' Greenberg said. 

'There's only one option: If they do it with a wink, a nod and a joke, and you go there to laugh.'