A request from a reader to review this event since it has moved from the now closed Havana nightclub and now operating under a new promoter (Havana closed and opened again as the gay club one six nine). It’s been a few weeks now since opening night, so I suppose it was time to see what it was like – here we go!

Peak Crowd - Chocolate City @ Mansions Nightclub - 12:15AM

Peak Crowd - Chocolate City @ Mansions Nightclub - 12:15AM

Chocolate City @ Mansions Nightclub
Assessment Time: 11:15PM – 03:00AM
Opening Hours: 09::45/10:00PM (?) – 03:00AM
Lockout: Appears that there was no lockout
Address: 14 Oxford Square, (Oxford St) (Confusing I know), Darlinghurst Sydney.  It’s right next to The Gaff, opposite Stonewall. It’s basically an expanded/extended smoking area of The Gaff, but for tonight is closed off on its own to hold its own venue. An interesting and in depth dissection of this arrangement can be read here
Venue Website: There is no official website yet at time of writing, but you can check out http://www.thegaff.com.au for a little bit of info
Promoter Website: Website is not operational at time of writing, but it would be at www.visionshock.com.au . There are facebook pages however.
Occurrence: Every Friday Night.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Dress code for men is acollared shirt and clean sneakers/shoes. Girls – anything goes. Everyone here pretty much stuck to this attire, except in the latter half of the night when patrons from The Gaff next door came in – the guys mostly wore t-shirts.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $15 on guestlist, $20 otherwise.
Guestlist: Send guestlists to jeanie@visionshock.com.au . I am not sure what time the guestlists close but it is assumed to be 12AM. Birthday packages are available.
Passouts: No passouts until 12AM.
Inside: Walk inside right into the wooden lower floor dance area to hold 30 or 40 people. Some stools and tables dot the area. Not sure why it was setup like this – perhaps to keep people seated here and to give the floor more of a person presence? The tables kind of makes it a bit more cramped to dance though. On the top right is a small DJ area overlooking the floor. On the left is the upper area of the club – Various lounges and sofas and an elevated VIP area. There is also a bar at the far end. In the middle of the upper area is a free standing area where you can dance as well. The decorum of the area has a kind of classy vibe.
Cloak Room: No cloak room services. We just left our stuff in my VIP area.
Bar Prices / Line: $16 for a glass of red wine and vodka lemonade. Average there would be one or two people in front of you ordering.
DJs: Unknown.
Music Style: Primarily RnB the entire night. There may have been one or two songs repeated. In the later half of the night some rnb songs I didn’t know were being played and it kind of confused me. Some house mashup. Notably there was no hip hop played.
Crowd: In the first half of the night it was pretty much an Asian crowd. Safe to assume it was all local Asians. In the later stages of the night, it appeared that patrons from The Gaff next door were kicked out and moved to The Mansion Nightclub. These patrons were all Caucasian, probably local as well. Age of the crowd was young – ranging from teenagers to people in their low 20’s.
Entertainment: Free assorted ‘fun sized’ chocolates upon entry. Nom nom nom. There were also CD giveaways for one of the DJs tonight.
Atmosphere: The entire club is of a dark setting with minimal lighting. On the dancefloor, disco balls overhead reflect a blue light all over the area. When you look around, dots of blue are scattered and rotating around the walls. On the upper lounge areas, there are no such disco lights or distractions, and the general vibe is relaxed and classy. The crowd is underwhelming throughout the night. On the dancefloor there was a period to which it was packed, at the cost of the rest of the club being empty. Meh.
Video: 360 of the dancefloor

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Video: Walkthrough. Main dancefloor, upper are of bar and lounges, a brief peek into the smoking area and then back to the dancefloor.

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Timeline

Whats on
There aren’t many things happening here tonight. 3 or 4 birthdays – that’s as many as VIP areas allow. Half of the time I’m dancing on the floor, near the entrance, the other half I am sitting down, and the other half mingling with people, and the other half wondering why I am here.

Even the intoxicated door dude recognises me
Dude working at the door had an unfinished long island tea in his hand and he couldn’t drink anymore. Yet through our conversation he recognized me from the website. Unbelievable. I might have to go back to my precious wig collection for the upcoming summer – I prefer anonymity sometimes.

I got told
I collect photos with people with braces. I took a photo, and have a little chat. Her friend interrupted and told me to piss off. Sad. My date probably would have erred on her side anyway. Everyone else was friendly though, to some degree 🙂

Next door patrons roll on in
Just as the club was beginnig to die (at only 1 or 2AM), the door adjoining Mansinos to the upper level Gaff bar opens up and everyone from The Gaff is moved to here, which wasn’t that many people. Maybe 20-30 people. But in a small place like this it makes a notable difference. Everyone appears to be dancing again. Hooray. They seemed to have a good time.

Arrivederci
We left at closing time 3AM. Place had maybe 30 people left.

Recommendation
If you wanted a birthday with friends without much interruptions from other places, sure come here. It’s cheap and a nice atmosphere. If you wanted a night out to meet random people I probably wouldn’t go here. Overall an average night. I do like the venue – it just needs an injection of more people. We will see how it goes over the next few months.

Chocolate City @ Mansions Nightclub – 4.0/10

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3 Responses to Chocolate City @ Mansions Nightclub (The Gaff): Friday 22nd October 2010

  1. Richy says:

    Hey James do you go to the Mansion on a Frifay Night often??

  2. James says:

    Sadly the Chocolate City event has closed its doors at Mansions Nightcblub.

    From the 26th Nov onwards, the Urban Agent promoters will be opening a new event there named “QF”, so perhaps the place will receive that much needed boost of people.

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