A More Inclusive Clubhouse

A major scare led serial founder Sonny Caberwal to shift his focus to building community.

- Charles Aaron

Sonny Caberwal is dressed sharply— including the navy-blue turban that evidences his Sikh faith—and perched in the industrial-rustic lobby of his Union Member House, a new kind of private club in the not particularly bustling downtown of Durham, North Carolina. Its eminently Instagrammable looks aside, it’s not at all like the pricey members-only spaces with chic interiors and names like Spring Place, Radiant, and Huckletree that now dot the likes of New York City, Los Angeles, and London. Caberwal set up Union Member House with the explicit goal of bringing diverse communities together and creating connections; with this in mind, a year’s membership costs all of $250.

“People tell me it’s too cheap,” he says. “I’m like, ‘Have you talked to any regular Americans lately?’ ”