You see the video clips all the time on the TMZ sitewhere doormen of exclusive nighclubs are rejecting second tier stars entry, and just past it celebrities literally begging or alternatively demanding to get in.
Any dopers gotten into these places? What are these mega fabu places like on the inside?
Please. Like we’re going to tell you?
Relatively expensive and full of people who want to be in an exclusive venue.
If you really need to spend $25 for a martini, and be surrounded by people who live only off of altoids and Fiji water, it’s totally worth getting in there, dude.
Piles of complimentary cocaine on every table, plus bisexual waitress-hookers in slave girl costumes.
(JK) probably
I’m curious what constitutes a “super exclusive” nightclub. Often, those clubs are only “super exclusive” because there is a private event there that night (like Lindsey Lohan’s birthday or something). On most other nights, they are only “exclusive” because they get crowded and people have to wait to get in. If you show up with a couple of girls or agree to $400 bottle service it usually isn’t a problem.
A good example is in the Vinve Vaugn and Jon Favereu movie Made where they go to meet P Diddy at Spa in NYC. (It has since changed its name to Plaid and maybe its something else now). I used to live near there and while you had to wait somethimes to get in, it’s not like you need to be Screech from Save By The Bell.
Overpriced, with lots of frills.
I was not familiar with the term “bottle service” until I was in the Key Club and saw an area reserved with a sign stating that bottle service is required to be in there.
One of the opening bands and their friends were in there, and a couple of other small groups, but most of them were drinking beer out of beer bottles (Corona and Bud Light, not high end beer).
Then I see your reference and I find the Wikipedia note:
So I guess you come in and buy some $50 bottles of tequila and mixers for $300-500 each, and they send someone to mix drinks to your guest’s liking.
How do you communicate that to them in the line? Do you walk past the long lines of people striving to get in and say, “Hey, I’ll take a $400 bottle service,” (or even just saying bottle service without naming a dollar amount) and see if the bouncer responds?
What if the first 5 people in line all shout out that they’ll be happy to take a $400 bottle service, also? And suddenly, they were there first, and the place is loving this $40 bottle of liquor for $400 deal…
Does anyone know if they disregard the no public smoking laws in such places? I always figured for the prices that they charge, the club ‘has an arrangement’ with whatever department enforces no smoking regulations.
You call ahead of time and let them know you want bottle service. Then, your name will be on the list and you don’t have to wait in line at all.
Wasn’t there a documentary a few years ago – “Rich Kids” or something? I recall seeing a scene in which one of the Trump kids, I think, talked about how the “two-drink minimum” was a thousand-dollar bottle of champagne per table.
Are those type of clubs private or public accommodations?
I assume when you have places like TMZ filmng they arrange things like people begging to get in, just to make it look better.
You know: “Here comes TMZ, anyone want to beg to get in an be on camera?”
I can’t speak for the exclusive clubs, only the ones that have let me in.
I know that the 40/40 Club, which is owned by Jay-Z, doesn’t allow smoking in the body of the club but has a VIP lounge-style cigar room. I assume that’s the case at a lot of the places.
Nothing but Sysadmins, as far as the eye can see.
I can’t remember the name of the place in Las Vegas (Pearl, maybe) but we were on the VIP list for Kim Kardashian’s birthday party at the club. “We” being a half-dozen guys in our late 30s so not exactly the target demographic for those places.
Barge to front of line and inform the doorman we’re on the list. Doorman checks and we get in to the lower level.
It’s just a very loud club. Barely any room to stand let alone sit. We grab a table and a hostess comes over to point out that it’s one of the “bottle service” tables and hands us a menu. The absolute cheapest thing on it was a 6-pack of Budweiser for, IIRC, $550. I am not making this up. An actual bottle of alcohol was staggeringly expensive, up to several thousand dollars for a name-brand beverage. This was a table near the front door.
The actual party was up on the 2nd floor. It took a while and a lot of checking back and forth but we were finally allowed to go up the staircase and past another set of security guards. The top room was absolutely jam packed and if the downstairs noise level was “10” the upstairs was about “40” - you had to literally yell right in somebody’s ear to have a chance of being heard. It was just loud dance music, wall to wall 21 year olds. There was a stage show consisting of an elevated area with some local talent hired to dress scantily and dance, rub each other in a bathtub and so on.
We tried to make our way over to where the guest of honor was supposed to be sitting, a central table right next to the dance floor. It took a long time to get through the crowd and we didn’t see anyone - they were off having dinner someplace which frankly if I was in their shoes is exactly what I’d do; have a nice quiet dinner, then pop in my earplugs and make my appearance to earn my fee and then go home.
Five of us thought it sucked and left, the sixth guy stuck around to check it out. He said that a few hours later a couple of B-list/reality show “stars” showed up to sit at that center table.
So take that for what it’s worth - long lines for everything, crowded, really loud, lots of wannabees and folks hoping to catch a glimpse of someone famous. Extremely high prices for everything. If you’re one of the Big Stars I assume that part of the attraction is you know that many of the other people there won’t mob you like you were walking down a public street and that management will keep you from being hassled too much so you can just do regular night-clubby things.
Usually unless you know someone or are there for a private function where your name is on the list, you generally have to wait in line with everyone else. One you get to the bouncer, they might tell you that they can’t accomadate 5 dudes unless you are getting bottle service.
For example, I’ve frequently been to plunge in the Hotel Gansevoort in NYC’s Meatpacking District. Typically I would be there with clients or colleagues on an expense account. We get there at a reasonable time, before the line gets too long. Once we’re inside, we simply tell the hostess we want bottle service. They find a section for us, give us a bottle of vodka or whatever and the mixins. The place is usually filled with 20 and 30 somethings who can afford $15 drinks. There’s no dance floor. It’s more of a place where people stand around not dancing to the ambient house music while taking in panoramic views of NYC and New Jersey.
Vegas is a bit different because it’s all mega-clubs. We did a bachelor party at Rainin The Palms. There were like 20 of us so reservations were made well ahead of time. Otherwise you end up waiting in line for an hour.
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Waitaminute here, 15-25 bucks for a drink is expensive? That’s pretty regular prices at most places I’ve been in Iceland and Sweden… (and no, I don’t do constant VIP clubbing)
How much is a drink at a regular place?
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IMverylimtedE, $5 is normal.
I’ve never been anywhere even slightly upscale, though.
-FrL-
I varies widely across the U.S. by area and by venue but beer can run anywhere from $2 - $6 (very roughly speaking by bar and brand) and mixed drinks can be anything but expect $5 - $6 for a generic drink like a gin and tonic in a regular city bar. New York tends to be a little higher than that but it is also customary to tip $1 or so a drink. $15 drinks aren’t typical at all in the U.S. unless you do some fancy ordering on purpose. Few people do that regularly.
Very cool! I really need to start working on that vacation to the US (well, after I’ve sorted out the jobmess and moved and all that other stuff that keeps getting in the way).
For the record, 5-6 bucks is regular price for a standard (lager) pint of beer.