I have never been to "the club"

Is this what it's like? (Try to disregard how quiet these scenes are)

Have you ever been turned away by a doorman?

Because you didn't dress well enough? Because you weren't with a girl? For reasons they don't even have to tell you about?

She orders a shot at 0:50 in that scene and the bartender pours it for her within ten seconds. Also, she's never asked how she's going to pay for it. Is it implied that she knows the bartender well?

Every busy bar I've ever tried to order from, I have to wait at least ten minutes to get anyone's attention and even then I can tell that they just want me to go away

Play these back to back, it's wild

My entire perception of "going to the club" comes from watching movies

Is this what it's like to be at the club on drugs?

I have been to the club.  In the States, in Paris, in Berlin, and in and around Tokyo. It's fucking awful, imhmfo.

Sounds like you gave it a fair shake

Guessing, like, Neo, Smartbar, and Late Bar aren't really what you mean.

In which case, once, ten years ago or something, at some River North place, that was fine, I guess. I didn't have a problem getting in but was later told some short, not super attractive women were "behind the rope" while my friend was just let right in. My thought was "Oh, so I guess this is finally an 'at "the club"' experience.

Undo--how, if at all, do you feel about the moviefilm The Last Days of Disco?

I haven't seen it. Do you recommend it?

Duff... wrote:Guessing, like, Neo, Smartbar, and Late Bar aren't really what you mean.

I've wandered down into SmartBar like 10 times but it's been almost empty every single time--now that I think about it, the last time I did this was two years ago. I barely know what Neo is (and everything I think I know could be wrong) but I feel like I'd have to go clothes shopping before I'd have a chance to be let in. I have no idea what Late Bar is.

I went to a gay bar in the suburbs with a friend and some people in like 2003 or something, it wasn't a busy night and no one was dancing and we just sat at a patio table outside in the back for most of the time. I was higher than I'd ever been in my whole life and it's really just a blur in my memory. It was every bit as lame as it sounds but it's as close as I ever got to going to the club, let alone actually tearing one up.

It's a film you should watch, sure. Elite as fuck soundtrack.

I’ve enjoyed many clubs. I typically would try to goto events that were queer oriented because you would see less macho shit. I’ve had many positive experiences and probably some similar to those which made Zappo cringe. If you walked into Smart Bar any time before midnight that’s usually what you see, the party gets kickin around 12-1 in my experience.

I don't think I've been to the sort of club you're describing.

Spent the first 9 years of my adult life dancing to jungle and D'n'B in clubs where everyone got in and almost everyone was poorly dressed, had a lot of fun. Don't do it any more because I don't drink and I can't bring myself to dance in a state of full sobrierty.

Soma wrote:I don't think I've been to the sort of club you're describing.

Spent the first 9 years of my adult life dancing to jungle and D'n'B in clubs where everyone got in and almost everyone was poorly dressed, had a lot of fun. Don't do it any more because I don't drink and I can't bring myself to dance in a state of full sobrierty.

Yeah I’ve been to some of these clubs in England for sure. Could be fun depending on the crowd you’re with and the level of inebriation, but if one or both of those two things were out of whack, could be a dankest depths hellscape. I’ve had my fair share of both.

Haven’t really spent time in many high roller looking joints like the one from the 25th hour scene or the more bumping similar upscale joints like where the Russians were hanging out in John Wick. I sorta feel like the 25th hour one seemed way to mellow and quiet to be real, but I guess places like that exist... guess just not what I think of when I think of “the club.”

This was closer to my experience, including the history lesson from Professor Coogan.

BGWaves is right, in my experience, re: gay/gay-adjacent clubs being much better environments. Anything like fun that I ever had was at those places, for sure.

First time I ever heard "Umbrella" was at a gay club in Tokyo's Ni-chome district with my ex-girlfriend and Deej's brother.

undo wrote:

Duff... wrote:Guessing, like, Neo, Smartbar, and Late Bar aren't really what you mean.

I've wandered down into SmartBar like 10 times but it's been almost empty every single time--now that I think about it, the last time I did this was two years ago. I barely know what Neo is (and everything I think I know could be wrong) but I feel like I'd have to go clothes shopping before I'd have a chance to be let in. I have no idea what Late Bar is.

Yeah, most times after a Metro show it's been pretty low key, but as BG says it can get hoppin later on. Once found myself there for dubstep night. That was a mistake.

Neo could be a little intimidating, what with having to enter it through a dark alley with creepy murals and painted mannequinns and stuff, but people were pretty chill there honestly. Certainly a whole lot of people going full Wachowski Siblings but definitely a good amount of tourists who don't "belong", and it didn't seem like anyone cared. There was this older guy who went there all time, typically wearing black slacks and a long-sleeved buttoned-up white collared shirt, who would just dance there all night and would close the place. I talked to him once to tell him how impressed I was with him, and he said something in an accent about dancing for god or something like that. Anyway, this is all moot since it got evicted a few years back.

Late Bar I only went to once. It had a similar clientele as Neo but was more new wave than goth. Might just be a bar with loud music more than a club for all I know, but cool place.

It's funny I didn't even think about gay clubs, maybe because it seemed like that's not what at "the club" meant. And my experience at Berlin, Sidetrack, etc. bares that out. I will say I've experienced some sexual harrassment at these places that likely falls short of what the average club-going woman experiences at some River North spot and is probably just part of the rules at gay bars but was still not something I particularly cared for.

Regarding the questions at the top of the thread, I've heard this is a good read.

https://www.amazon.com/Very-Important-People-Status-Circuit-ebook/dp/B0824B49LS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=ashley+mears&qid=1584927444&sr=8-1

Is this the kind of place that actually exists/existed? Or just a "movie club" that's a mega-heightened version of the real thing in every way possible?

Did Michael Douglas have to pay to get in? How did he even get in? He's by himself, he's not dressed for the place, even in his late 40s he's clearly older than everyone there and looks like he's really going to kill the vibe.

I lived in clubs from about 15 to about 22 or so. One of my favorite clubs was Smart Bar. We would play gigs at Metro and then go down there with our entourage and dance till 4 A.M. Epic times.

Despite, or perhaps because of, Tramell’s manipulations, Curran unwisely agrees to meet up with the writer at Johnny Boz’s churchified rock club – another studio set at Burbank, based on New York’s Limelight Club, famously housed in a deconsecrated church on 6th Avenue at West 20th Street.

https://www.movie-locations.com/movies/b/Basic-Instinct.php

I’ve heard Limelight was crazy in the 90s, seems like they wanted to use something familiar, famous, and chic as a set.