Nightclub

Anightclubis a club that is open atnight, usually fordrinking,dancingand other entertainment. Nightclubs often have abaranddiscothèque(usually simply known asdisco) with a dance floor,laser lighting displays, and a stage forlive musicor adisc jockey(DJ) who mixes recorded music. Nightclubs tend to be smaller than live music venues liketheatresandstadiums, with few or no seats for customers.
Nightclubs generally restrict access to people in terms of age,attire,personal belongings, and behaviors. Nightclubs typically havedress codesto prohibit people wearing informal, indecent, offensive, or gang-related attire from entering. Unlike other entertainment venues, nightclubs are more likely to usebouncersto screen prospective patrons for entry.
The busiest nights for a nightclub are Friday and Saturday nights. Most nightclubs cater to a particular music genre or sound for branding effects. Some nightclubs may offer food and beverages (including alcoholic beverages).
In some countries, nightclubs are also referred to as "discos" or "discothèques" (German:DiskoorDiskothek, outdated; nowadays:Club);French:discothèque;Italian,Portuguese, andSpanish:discoteca,antro(common in Mexico), andboliche(common in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay),discosis commonly used in all others in Latin America). InJapaneseディスコ,disukorefers to an older, smaller, less fashionable venue; while クラブ,kuraburefers to a more recent, larger, more popular venue. The termnightis used to refer to an evening focusing on a specific genre, such as "retromusic night" or a "singles night". In Hong Kong and China, nightclub is used as aeuphemismfor ahostess club, and the association of the term with the sex trade has driven out the regular usage of the term.
In theUnited States,New Yorkincreasingly became the national capital for tourism and entertainment. Grand hotels were built for upscale visitors.New York's theater districtgradually moved northward during this half century, from TheBoweryupBroadwaythroughUnion SquareandMadison Square, settling aroundTimes Squareat the end of the 19th century. Stars such asEdwin BoothandLillian Russellwere among the earlyBroadwayperformers.Prostitutesserved a wide variety of clientele, from sailors on leave to playboys.
The first nightclubs appeared in New York City in the 1840s and 1850s, including McGlory's, and the Haymarket. They enjoyed a national reputation forvaudeville, live music, and dance. They tolerated unlicensed liquor, commercial sex, andgamblingcards, chieflyFaro. Practically all gambling was illegal in the city (except upscalehorseracingtracks), and regular payoffs to political and police leadership was necessary. Prices were high and they were patronized by an upscale audience.Timothy Gilfoylecalled them "the first nightclubs".By contrast,Owney Geogheganran the toughest nightclub in New York from 1880 to 1883. It catered to a downscale clientele and besides the usual illegal liquor, gambling, and prostitution, it featured nightly fistfights and occasional shootings, stabbings, and police raids.Webster Hallis credited as the first modern nightclub,being built in 1886 and starting off as a "social hall", originally functioning as a home for dance and political activism events.Reisenweber's Cafeis credited for introducingjazzandcabaretto New Yorkers.
Thejukebox(a coin-operated record-player) was invented by the Pacific Phonograph Company in 1889 by its managers Louis Glass and his partner William S. Arnold.The first was installed at the Palais Royale Saloon,San Franciscoon November 23, 1889, becoming an overnight sensation.
The advent of the jukebox fueled theProhibition-era boom in underground illegalspeakeasybars, which needed music but could not afford a live band and needed precious space for paying customers.Webster Hall stayed open, with rumors circulating ofAl Capone's involvement and police bribery.
From about 1900 to 1920,working classAmericans would gather athonky tonksorjuke jointsto dance to music played on a piano or a jukebox. With therepeal of Prohibitionin February 1933, nightclubs were revived, such as New York's21 Club,Copacabana,El Morocco, and theStork Club. These nightclubs featuredbig bands.
During America's Prohibition, new speakeasies and nightclubs appeared on a weekly basis.Texas Guinanopened and ran many, and had many padlocked by the police.Harlemhad its own clubs including theCotton Club. Midtown New York had a string of nightclubs, many named after bandleaders such asPaul Whiteman,Vincent Lopez, andRoger Wolfe Kahnwho opened Le Perroquet de Paris at a cost of $250,000. It was billed as America's most beautiful and sophisticated nightclub and featured the young Kahn and his band most evenings.
Pre-World War IISohoinLondonofferedcafé society,cabaret,burlesquejazz, and bohemian clubs similar to those in New York,Paris, andBerlin.Nightclubs in London were tied much to the idea of "high society", via organisations such as theKit Kat Club(which took its name from the politicalKit-Cat ClubinPall Mall, London) and theCafé de Paris. The43 ClubonGerrard Streetwas run byKate Meyrickthe 'Night Club Queen'. Meyrick ran several London nightclubs in the 1920s and early 1930s, during which time she served prison sentences for breaching licensing laws and bribing a police officer. In this era, nightclubbing was generally the preserve of those with money.
In Paris,Josephine Bakerran several nightclubs during the 1920s including Chez Josephine, as did her friendBricktopwho ran Bricktops. Jazz singer and Broadway starAdelaide Halland her husband Bert Hicks opened the nightclubLa Grosse Pommeon Rue Pigalle inMontmartreon December 9, 1937.Hall and Hicks also owned the chic Florida Club in London's Mayfair.
In Germany during theGolden Twenties, there was a need to dance away the memories of theFirst World War. In Berlin, where a "tangofever" had already swept dancing establishments in the early 1910s, 899 venues with a dancing licence were registered by 1930, including theMoka Efti,Casanova,Scala,Delphi-Palast(destroyed in WW2, replaced by theDelphi Filmpalast),Kakadu,Femina-Palast,Palais am Zoo,Gourmenia-Palast,Uhlandeck, and theHaus Vaterland.In the 1920s, thenightlifeof the city was dominated byparty drugssuch ascocaine.Hundreds of venues in the city, which at the time had a sinful reputation, offered in addition to bars, stages, and dance floors an erotic nightlife, such assmall boothswhere lovers could withdraw to for intimate moments. These venues were aimed at rich and poor people,gays,lesbians,nudists, and gangsters alike.
In 1930sShanghai, the big clubs wereThe Paramount Club(opened in 1933) andCiro's(opened in 1936). Other clubs of the era were the Metropole and theCanidrome.Jazz bands, big bands, and singers performed for a bowtied clientele.  The Paramount and Ciro's in particular were fiercely rivalrous and attracted many customers from the underworld. Shanghai's clubs fell into decline after theJapanese invasion of 1937and eventually closed. The Paramount reopened after thecommunist victory in 1949asThe Red Capitol Cinema, dedicated toMaoistpropaganda films, before fading into obscurity. It reopened as The Paramount in 2008.
Inoccupied France,jazzandbebopmusic, and thejitterbugdance were banned by theNazisas "decadent American influences", so as an act of resistance, people met at hidden basements calleddiscothèqueswhere they danced to jazz andswing music, played on a single turntable when a jukebox was not available. These discothèques were also patronized by anti-Vichyyouth calledzazous. InNazi Germany, there were underground discothèques patronized byanti-Naziyouth called the "Swing Kids".
The end of World War II saw the beginning of a transformation in the nightclub: no longer the preserve of a moneyed elite, over several decades, the nightclub steadily became a mass phenomenon.
In Germany, the first discothèque on record that involved adisc jockeywasScotch-Club, which opened in 1959.Its, and therefore the world's first DJ was 19-year-old local cub reporter Klaus Quirini who had been sent to write a story about the strange new phenomenon of public record-playing; fueled bywhisky, he jumped on stage and started announcing records as he played them and took the stage-name DJ Heinrich.
In the US,Connie's Innand theCotton ClubinHarlem, NY were popular venues for white audiences. Before 1953 and some years thereafter, most bars and nightclubs used a jukebox or mostly live bands.
In Paris, at a club namedLe Whisky à Gogo, founded in 1947 on therue de Seineby Paul Pacine,Régine Zylberbergin 1953 laid down a dance floor, suspended coloured lights, and replaced the jukebox with two turntables that she operated herself so there would be no breaks between the music. This was the world's first-ever "discothèque".The Whisky à Gogo set into place the standard elements of the modern post-World War IIdiscothèque-style nightclub.
In London, by the end of the 1950s, several of thecoffee barsin London's Soho introduced afternoon dancing. These prototype discothèques were nothing like modern-day nightclubs, as they were unlicensed, daytime venues where coffee was the drink of choice and that catered to a very young public – mostly made up of French and Italians working illegally, mostly in catering, to learn English, as well asau pairgirls from most of western Europe.
A well known venue wasLes Enfants Terriblesat 93 Dean St., inSoho, London. Initially opening as a coffee-bar, it was run by Betty Passes who claimed to be the inventor ofdiscoafter she pioneered the idea of dancing to records at her premises' basement in 1957.  It stayed popular into the 1960s. It later became a 1940s-themed club called the Black Gardenia but has since closed.
The Flamingo ClubonWardour Streetin London ran between 1952 and 1967 and was known for its role in the growth ofrhythm and bluesand jazz in the UK. It earned a controversial reputation with gangsters and prostitutes said to have been frequent visitors in the 1960s, along with musicians such asthe Beatles.
Discothèques began to appear in New York City in 1964: theVillage Vanguardoffered dancing between jazz sets; Shepheard's, located in the basement of theDrake Hotel, was small but popular; L'Interdit and Il Mio (atDelmonico's) were private; theEl Moroccohad an on-premises disco called Garrison; and theStork Clubhad one in its Shermaine suite. Larger discos opened in 1966: Cheetah, with room for 2000 dancers, theElectric Circus, and Dom.
While the discothèque swept Europe throughout the 1960s, it did not become widely popular in the United States until the 1970s,where the firstrock and rollgeneration preferred rough and tumble bars and taverns to nightclubs until the disco era.In the early 1960s,Mark Birleyopened a members-only discothèque nightclub,Annabel's, inBerkeley Square, London. In 1962, thePeppermint Loungein New York City became popular and is the place wherego-go dancingoriginated.Sybil Burtonopened the "Arthur" discothèque in 1965 on East54th StreetinManhattanon the site of the old El Morocco nightclub and it became the first, foremost, and hottest disco in New York City through 1969.
In Germany in the 1960s, when Berlin was divided by theWall,Munichbecame Germany's epicenter of nightlife for the next two decades with numerous nightclubs and discothèques such asBig Apple,PN hit-house,Tiffany,Domicile,Hot Club,Piper Club,Why Not,Crash,Sugar Shack, the underwater discothèqueYellow Submarine, andMrs. Henderson, where stars such asMick Jagger,Keith Richards,Freddie Mercury, andDavid Bowiewent in and out and which led to artists such asGiorgio Moroder,Donna Summer, and Mercury settling in the city.In 1967, Germany's first large-scale discothèque opened in Munich as the clubBlow Up, which because of its extravagance and excesses quickly gained international reputation.
In parallel, thehippiemovement spawned Britain's first club forpsychedelic music, theUFO Club(at the Blarney Club, 31Tottenham Court Road, London from 23 Dec 1966 to Oct 1967) which then became theMiddle Earthclub(at 43 King Street) and eventually theRoundhousein 1968. Both the UFO Club and Middle Earth were short-lived but saw performances by artists such as house-bandPink Floyd,Soft Machine,Procol Harum,Fairport Convention,Arthur Brown, andJimi Hendrix; DJJohn Peelwas a regular. These clubs germinated what would later become the underground gig scene of the 1970s and 1980s, at venues such as the100 ClubandThe Clarendon in Hammersmith. During the 1960s, the Clarendon was acountry & westernclub, having earlier been an upmarket jazz,dining, and dancing club in the pre-War era.
In the north of England, the distinctnorthern soulmovement spannedManchester'sTwisted Wheel Club,theBlackpool Mecca,Cleethorpes Pier,and theWigan Casino, known for theacrobatic dancingof its clubgoers;each of these clubs was known for all-nighters.
Disco has its roots in the underground club scene. During the early 1970s in New York City, disco clubs were places where oppressed ormarginalizedgroups such as gay people,African Americans,Latinos,Italian Americans, andJewscould party without following male to female dance protocol or exclusive club policies. Discothèques had a law where for every three men, there was one woman.The women often sought these experiences to seek safety in a venue that embraced theindependent woman– with an eye to one or more of the same or opposite sex or none. Although the culture that surrounded disco was progressive in dance couples,cross-genremusic, and a push to put the physical over the rational, the role of women looked to be placed in the role of safety net.It brought together people from different backgrounds.These clubs acted as safe havens forhomosexualpartygoers to dance in peace and away from public scrutiny.
By the late 1970s, many major U.S. cities had thriving disco club scenes centered on discothèques, nightclubs, and private loft parties where DJs would play disco hits through powerfulPA systemsfor the dancers. The DJs played "a smooth mix of long single records to keep people 'dancing all night long'".Some of the most prestigious clubs had elaborate lighting systems that throbbed to the beat of the music.
The genre of disco has changed through the years. It is classified both as a musical genre and as a nightclub; and in the late seventies, disco began to act as a safe haven for social outcasts. This club culture that originated in downtown New York, was attended by a variety of different ethnicities and economic backgrounds. It was an inexpensive activity to indulge in, and discos united a multitude of different minorities in a way never seen before; including those in the gay andpsychedeliccommunities. The music ultimately was what brought people together.
Some cities had disco dance instructors ordance schoolsthat taught people how to do popular disco dances such as "touch dancing", the "hustle", and the "cha-cha-cha". There were also disco fashions that discotheque-goers wore for nights out at their local disco, such as sheer, flowingHalstondresses for women and shiny polyesterQianashirts for men. Disco clubs and "hedonistic loft parties" had a club culture with many Italian American, African American, gay, and Hispanic people.
In addition to the dance and fashion aspects of the disco club scene, there was also a thrivingdrug subculture, particularly forrecreational drugsthat would enhance the experience of dancing to the loud music and the flashing lights, such ascocaine(nicknamed "blow"),amyl nitrite"poppers",and the "other quintessential 1970s club drugQuaalude, which suspended motor coordination and turned one's arms and legs toJell-O".The "massive quantities of drugs ingested in discotheques by newly liberated gay men produced the next cultural phenomenon of the disco era: rampantpromiscuityandpublic sex. While the dance floor was the central arena of seduction, actual sex usually took place in the nether regions of the disco: bathroom stalls, exit stairwells, and so on. In other cases, the disco became a kind of "main course" in ahedonist's menu for a night out."
Well known 1970s discothèques included celebrity hangouts such as Manhattan'sStudio 54, which was operated bySteve RubellandIan Schrager.Studio 54 was notorious for the hedonism that went on within; the balconies were known for sexual encounters, and drug use was rampant. Its dance floor was decorated with an image of the "Man in the Moon" that included an animatedcocaine spoon. Other 1970s discothèques in New York City were Manhattan's Starship Discovery One at 350 West42nd Street,Roseland Ballroom,Xenon,The Loft, theParadise Garage, a recently renovatedCopacabana, and Aux Puces, one of the first gay disco bars. The album cover of Saturday Night Band'sCome On and Dance, Dancefeatured two dancers in the Starship Discovery One. In San Francisco, there was theTrocadero Transfer, theI-Beam, and theEnd Up.
In Spain during the 1970s, the first clubs and discos opened inIbiza, an island which had been a popular destination for hippie travelers since the 1960s and now was experiencing a tourist boom.The first ever "Superclub" in Ibiza was the now-abandoned "Festival Club" atSant Josep de sa Talaia, which was built between 1969 and 1972 and serviced tourists who were bused in until it closed in 1974.Responding to this influx of visitors, locals opened the first large clubsPacha,Amnesia, and theKu-club(renamed Privilege in 1995).
By the early 1980s, the term "disco" had largely fallen out of favour in theUnited States.
In parallel to the disco scene and quite separate from it, theglam rock(T. Rex, David Bowie,Roxy Music) andpunk rockcultures in London produced their own set of nightclubs, starting withBilly'sat 69Dean Street(known for its David Bowie nights),Louise's onPoland Street(the first true punk club and hangout of theSex Pistols,Siouxsie Siouxplus theBromley Contingent,and then Blitz (the home of theBlitz Kids).Crackerswas a key part of the jazz-funkscene and also the early punk scene via its Vortex nights.
The underground warehouse party scene was kicked off byToyah Willcoxwith herMayhem StudiosatPatcham TerraceinBattersea.The emergence of this highly experimental artistic scene in London can be credited almost entirely toRusty Egan,Steve Strange, the Bromley Contingent'sPhilip Sallon, and Chris Sullivan.
Dozens of clubs came and went, but one of the original batch, and being London's longest running one-nighter club,Gaz's Rockin' Blues, is still going as of 2020.Thenew wave musicscene grew out of Blitz and theCha Cha ClubinCharing Cross. Whilst overall, the club scene was fairly small and hidden away in basements, cellars, and warehouses, London's complicated mix of punk,New Romantic, New Wave, and gay clubs in the late 1970s and early 1980s paved the way foracid houseto flourish in the late 1980s, initially withShoomand two acid house nights atHeaven: Spectrum and Rage.
In the north of England, what later became the "alternative" scene was centred around the Roxy/Bowie room at Pips in Manchester,which opened in 1972; as small as this scene was, many notable figures attended the club, and Joy Division played their first gig there, billed as "Warsaw" before changing their name that night.
During the 1980s, during the New Romantic movement, London had a vibrant nightclub scene, which included clubs like The Blitz,the Batcave, theCamden Palace, andClub for Heroes. These clubs grew out of the earlierMandrakeand Billy's (later Gossip's)at 69 Dean Street, in the basement below the ground floorGargoyle Club.  Both music and fashion embraced the aesthetics of the movement.  Bands includedDepeche Mode,Yazoo,The Human League,Duran Duran,Eurythmics, andUltravox.Reggae-influenced bands includedBoy GeorgeandCulture Club, andelectronicvibe bands includedVisage. At London nightclubs, young men would often wear make-up and young women would wear men's suits.Leigh Bowery'sTaboo(which opened in 1985)bridged the New Romantic and acid house scenes.
With the birth ofhouse musicin the mid-1980s and then acid house, kickstarted by Chris Sullivan'sThe Wag Club(on the site of the earlierThe Flamingo Club), a cultural revolution swept around the world; first inChicagoat theWarehouseand then London and New York City. London clubs such asClink Street, Revolution in Progress (RiP), Philip Sallon'sThe Mudd Club,Danny Rampling'sShoom(starting in December 1987 in the basement of Southwark's Fitness Centre),Paul Oakenfold'sSpectrum, andNicky Holloway'sThe Tripfused the eclecticism and ethos of [Ibiza with the new electronic music from the US.
The largestUKcities likeBirmingham,Leeds(The Orbit),Liverpool(Quadrant Parkand 051), Manchester (The Haçienda),Newcastle, andSwansea, and several key European places like Paris (Les Bains-Douches), Ibiza (Pacha), andRimini, also played a significant role in the evolution ofclubbing, DJ culture, and nightlife.
Significant New York nightclubs of the period wereArea,Danceteria, andThe Limelight.
However, the seismic shift in nightlife was the emergence ofrave culturein the UK. A mixture of free and commercial outdoor parties were held in fields, warehouses, and abandoned buildings, by various groups such as Biology, Sunrise, Confusion, Hedonism, Rage & Energy, and many others. This laid the ground for what was unfold in the 1990s, initially in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States and then worldwide from the 2000s onwards.
In Europe and North America, nightclubs play disco-influenced dance music such ashouse music,techno,Eurodanceand other dance music styles such aselectronica,breakbeat, andtrance. Most nightclubs in major cities in the U.S. that have anearly adulthoodclientele, playhip hop,dance-pop, house, and/or trance music. These clubs are generally the largest and most frequented of all of the different types of clubs.
Techno clubs are popular around the world since the early 1990s. Well known examples of the 1990s includeTresor,E-Werk, andBunkerinBerlin; Omen andDorian GrayinFrankfurt;Ultraschall,KW – Das Heizkraftwerk, andNatraj Templein Munich; and Stammheim inKassel.
TheCastlemorton Common Festivalin 1992 triggered the UK government'sCriminal Justice Act, which largely ended the rave movement by criminalizing any gathering of 20 or more people where music ("sounds wholly or predominantly characterized by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats") was played. Commercial clubs immediately capitalized on the situation causing a boom in "Superclubs" in the UK, such asMinistry of Sound(London),Renaissance, andCream(Liverpool). These developed the club-as-spectacle theme pioneered in the 1970s and 1980s by Pacha (Ibiza) andJuliana's Tokyo(Japan), creating a global phenomenon; however, many clubs such asThe Crossin London, preserved the more underground feel of the former era.
Since the late 2000s, venues that received high media attention includeBerghainin Berlin andFabricin London.
Video arthas been used in nightclubs since the 1960s, but especially with the rise ofelectronic dance musicsince the late 1980s.VJinggained more and more importance. VJs ("video jockeys") mix video content in a similar manner that DJs mix audio content, creating a visual experience that is intended to complement the music.
The 2020s started with the globalCOVID-19 pandemic, which closed nightclubs worldwide – the first ever synchronized, global shutdown of nightlife. In response, online "virtual nightclubs" developed, hosted onvideo-conferencingplatforms such asZoom.As countries relaxed lockdown rules following drops in case numbers, some nightclubs reopened in repurposed form as sat-down pubs.As vaccine rollouts reached advanced stages, nightclubs were able to reopen with looser restrictions, such as producingcertification of full vaccinationupon entry.
Many nightclubs usebouncersto choose who can enter the club, or specific lounges or VIP areas. Some nightclubs have one group of bouncers to screenclientsfor entry at the main door, and then other bouncers to screen for entry to other dance floors, lounges, or VIP areas. For legal reasons, in most jurisdictions, the bouncers have to check ID to ensure that prospective patrons are of legal drinking age and that they are not intoxicated already. In this respect, a nightclub's use of bouncers is no different from the use of bouncers bypubsandsports bars. However, in some nightclubs, bouncers may screen patrons using criteria other than just age and intoxication status, such asdress code,guest listinclusion, and physical appearance.
This type of screening is used by clubs to make their club "exclusive", by denying entry to people who are not dressed in a stylish enough manner. While some clubs have written dress codes, such as no ripped jeans, no jeans, no gang clothing, and so on, other clubs may not post their policies. As such, the club's bouncers may deny entry to anybody at their discretion. The guest list is typically used for private parties and events held bycelebrities. At private parties, the hosts may only want their friends to attend. At celebrity events, the hosts may wish the club to only be attended byA-listindividuals.
In most cases, entering a nightclub requires a flat fee, called acover charge. Some clubs waive or reduce the cover charge for early arrivers, special guests, or women (in theUnited Kingdomthis latter option is illegal under theEquality Act 2010,but the law is rarely enforced, and open violations are frequent). Friends of thedoormanor the club owner may gain free entrance. Sometimes, especially at larger clubs in Continental European countries, one gets only a pay card at the entrance, on which all money spent in the discothèque (often including the entrance fee) is marked. Sometimes, entrance fee and cloakroom costs are paid by cash, and only the drinks in the club are paid using a pay card.
Some clubs offer patrons the chance to sign up on their guest list. A club's guest list is a special promotion the venue offers separate from general admission. Each club has different benefits when you are signed up on their guest list. Some of the benefits of being on a club's guestlist are: free entry, discounted cover charge, the ability to skip the line, and free drinks. Many clubs hire a promotions team to find and sign up guests to the club's guest list.
Many nightclubs enforce a dress code in order to ensure a certain type of clientele is in attendance at the venue. Some upscale nightclubs ban attendees from wearing trainers (sneakers) or jeans while other nightclubs will advertise a vague "dress to impress" dress code that allows the bouncers to discriminate at will against those vying for entry to the club.
Many exceptions are made to nightclub dress codes, with denied entry usually reserved for the most glaring rule breakers or those thought to be unsuitable for the party.
Rave partiestypically both allow and encourage the wearing of clubwear, deliberately skimpy and outrageous clothing designed for dancing and exhibitionism.
Certain nightclubs likefetish nightclubsmay apply a dress code (BDSM) to a leather-only, rubber-only, or fantasy dress code.
Dress code criteria can be an excuse for discriminatory practices, such as in the case of Carpenter v. Limelight Entertainment Ltd.
Large cosmopolitan cities that are home to large affluent populations (such asAtlanta,Chicago,Sydney,Los Angeles,Melbourne,Miami,New York City, andLondon) often have what are known as exclusive boutique nightclubs. This type of club typically has a capacity of less than 200 occupants and a very strict entrance policy, which usually requires an entrant to be on the club's guest list.While not explicitly members only clubs, such asSoho House, exclusive nightclubs operate with a similar level of exclusivity. As they are off limits to most of the public and ensure the privacy of guests, many celebrities favor these types of clubs to other, less exclusive, clubs that do not cater as well to their needs.
Another differentiating feature of exclusive nightclubs is that they are known for having a certain type of crowd, for instance, a fashion-forward,affluentcrowd or a crowd with a high concentration offashion models. Many exclusive boutique clubs market themselves as being a place to socialize with models and celebrities.Affluent patrons who find that marketing message appealing are often willing to purchasebottle serviceat a markup of several times the retail cost of the liquor.
A distinctive feature of a nightclub is also the fact that it can serve as a hub for substances likealcohol, which could affect third parties, creating a negative externality of consumption. The culture of nightclubs create a sense of consuming alcohol in larger quantities than usual. A study in São Paulo looking to identify causes of binge drinking found that environmental variables such as more number of dancefloors, higher level of noise, and 'all you can drink' services to be significantly linked to binge drinking.Furthermore, the culture created around nightclubs to indulge in 'pre-drinking' accentuates the amount of alcohol consumed, which leads to more problems in residential areas off nightclub premises (for example, a higher chance of participating in a fight).
Moreover, young consumers of nightclubs who tend to binge drink are often found to be less safe during sexual encounters as a result of the alcohol,which could lead to the spread ofSTDs.
A big issue that stems fromalcoholanddrug abusein nightclubs is transportation. Private cars are the most prominent mode of transportation to and from nightclubs, and the use of drugs and alcohol in nightclubs are reported to increase the number of risky behaviors, such asdriving under the influenceor taking a lift from someone under the influence.A portion of driving customers, despite drinking less than non-driving customers, are still observed to have alcohol levels above the legal threshold after a night out at a nightclub.
In some nightclubs professionalphotographerswill take publicity photos of patrons, to use in advertising for the nightclub.Digital SLRcameras and speedlight flash units are typically used.Concert photographyandevent photographyare used to provide clubgoers with a memorable keepsake in addition to promo material used by clubs. Some nightclubs (and in particular techno clubs) pursue a strict no photo policy in order to protect the clubbing experience, and smartphone camera lenses of visitors are occasionally taped up with stickers when one enters the venue.
Most nightclubs employ teams ofbouncers, who have the power to restrict entry to the club and remove people. Some bouncers use handheldmetal detectorsto prevent weapons being brought into clubs.Bouncers often eject patrons for reasons such as possession ofparty drugsin the venue, physical altercations with other patrons, and behavior deemed to be inappropriate or troublesome.Bouncers only allow a certain number of people into a club at a time by counting heads in order to preventstampedes, andfire code, orliquor licensingviolations. They also enforce a club'sdress codeupon entry. Many clubs have balcony areas specifically for the security team to watch over the clubbers.
Some nightclubs present a 'floor show', a series of acts by comedians, dancers, models, singers, and other entertainers, which can be similar tocabaret.