The latest event at The Empire Hotel is White Rabbit. The theme is Alice in Wonderland. Looked promising, so I chugged half a bottle of wine and ran inside before it hit me. Time to check it out!

RNB Room DJ, Flygirl Tee

RNB Room DJ, Flygirl Tee

White Rabbit @ The Empire Hotel, Kings Cross

Essentials:
Opening Hours:
8:00PM – 3:00AM

Address:
32 Darlinghurst Road, (Potts Point) Kings Cross

Venue Website:

http://www.empirehotelannandale.com.au

Event Website:

https://www.facebook.com/WhiteRabbitSydney

Promoters:
SFX, Trash

Occurrence:
Every Saturday

Dress Code / Door Policy:
Casual is okay, and most people were dressed casually. Otherwise people were dressed up in theme.

Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
$10 standard entry, Free before 10PM, free before 11PM if you show your student ID.

Passouts:
Lockout laws apply

Guestlist:
www.whiterabbitsydney.com.au

Cloak Room:
None found

Bottle Service / Table Service:
Not offered

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Always wanted to go here. Last time I lined up but the line was like an hour long. So tonight was another chance to go. Had some predrinks and off we went – here we go!

Starfuckers (SF) @ Club 77, Kings Cross / Potts Point – Saturday 30th Mar 2013

A longstanding event known for its messiness and gay friendly crowd.

Crowd at 1:30AM

Crowd at 1:30AM

Essentials:
Opening Hours:
10:00PM – 6:00AM

Address:
77 William Street, Woolloomooloo (Potts Point / Kings Cross)

Venue Website:
http://www.starfuckers.com.au

Event Website:
http://www.starfuckers.com.au, https://www.facebook.com/pages/STARFUCKERS/25283175755

Promoters:
Self promoted?

Occurrence:
Every Saturday since March 2006.

Dress Code / Door Policy:
There is no strict door policy at all. Singlets, shorts are welcome. Sneakers and dirty shoes are fine too. People wore hats inside, while I just had jeans, a t-shirt and my Easter Bunny ears on. Quite the casual affair.

So basically leave your collared shirt and white shoes at home.

Entry Fee / Cover Charge:
$20 at the door. (we got in at Midnight)

Passouts:
None

Guestlist:
Unknown.

Cloak Room:
Couldn’t find one / Not available.

Tonight:
Assessment Time
:
12:00AM- 3:30AM

Outside Line:
We were welcomed by a crossdressing easter bunny. The line only had 5 or 6 people when we got here and we were in within 5 minutes. This was surprising because last time I tried to line up here, the place was at capacity and the line wait was about 1 hour.

Inside:
Walk down underground to enter the rear of the club. To the left are lounges and the bar. The right side of the place has two or three big sofas as well, with the main dancefloor in a lower and upper part. The lower part holds 25-30 people while the upper part is a mini square-like/stage that can also hold 20-30 people. Behind this podium, at the far end of the club, is the DJ booth. Adjacent to the DJ booth on the right are the ladies bathroom is a small smoking area. To the left is a dancing cage for 2-3 people, and a pinball machine.

Previous porn mag decorations of penises and vaginas since my last visit (of which i rated it 0/10) have been rid of, and now the walls around the bathrooms are quite empty and boring.

Bar Prices / Line: (
Didn’t drink here tonight, but the line was always looking short. With three bartenders at the helm you wouldn’t have to wait long.

Bathroom Facilities:
A bit “wet” on the floor.

DJs:
Starfuckers – The trio include Mr Disorder, DJ Hookie, DJ Trentertainment

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Heard word that the closed Moulin Rouge club had been bought, refurbished, and reopened for the public as O Nightclub! Time to check it out!

Costume Party

Friday Nights (Private Party) @ O Nightclub
Assessment Time: 11:55PM – 2:30AM
Opening Hours: 20:00 – 03:00 AM
Lockout: Unknown
Address: 39 Darlinghurst Road, Potts Point / Kings Cross
Venue Website: http://www.onightclub.com.au
Event Website: http://www.fb.com/onightclub
Promoter Website: Appears to be self promoted ?
Occurrence: Every Friday, Saturday
Outside Line: No line outside upon approach.
Dress Code / Door Policy: It was pretty much whatever goes. Tonight is a costume party, and we were caught unawares without wearing a costume at all.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: It was $20 with a free drink included, but we did a bit of negotiation and got it down to $10 without the drink. Not much of a difference as I end up buying a drink later worth about $10 anyway.
Guestlist: None
Inside: Did you ever visit Moulin Rouge / The Rouge before it closed down and became O nightclub? The layout is exactly the same but the refurbishment job done has made it look very new and more club like. No more is the moulin rouge / dirty feel of the club. It’s more open and “clean”.

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A venue I’ve always wanted to visit. I made plans, cleared the night, and tonight was the night. Here we go!

Dance podium area

Saturdays @ “The Club” Nightclub, Kings Cross, Sydney
Assessment Time: 12:30AM – 2:00AM
Opening Hours: 21:00PM – 05:00AM
Lockout: Unknown
Address: 33 Bayswater Road, Potts Point, Sydney. 
Venue Website: http://theclubsydney.com  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theclubsydney
Event / Promoter Website: Self promoted
Occurrence: Every weekend. 
Outside Line: There’s two lines, one for re-entry and one for ‘first time’ entries. Our ‘first time’ line took about 5 minutes, while re-entry was only a few seconds. Security were pretty lenient on scanning. 
Dress Code / Door Policy: Being situated below Hugo’s, one would believe the dress code would be strict, but it suprisingly isn’t. T-shirts and hats were allowed for guys and so were singlets  allowed for the ladies. There is a simple explanation for this later on. 
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Tonight was $25. 
Guestlist: you may enquire within at info@theclubsydney.com but we are not sure if you are guaranteed a response. 
Inside: Walk past the counter to enter the common pre-club hangout area where you can either move onto the main room, a side room, the bathroom or the outdoor smoking courtyard area. The side room is quite small and has a small DJ set on a table, with lounges and a small bar staffed by 1 person. Bathroom to the left and main room on the right. The first set of steps takes you to the main bar area, which is basically: big long bar on the left, with lounges around the whole floor. There is even a darker corner of lounges on the far left. Continue walking and approach the second flight of stairs, which leads you to the main dancefloor. The area can hold about 200-300 people easily and if you watched the video, our first reaction was “wow”, just seeing this big space snugly hidden underground from the outside view. Big giant disco ball overhangs while there is a large podium/stage area with not 1, not 2, but three dancing poles. That is pretty impressive. It is no surprise to learn that this place was a former strip club.

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Prologue: The Roxy Paramatta

Police shut it down for an unknown reason. Patrons were pissed off, and I was a little upset as well as I had literally just got there when everyone started getting kicked out. It’s 11:30PM, in the middle of bloody Parramatta.. nowhere close to any club (The Albion has been done so many times now).

Hopped back into the car. Considered going home, but I verbally assaulted myself into driving out towards the bright lights of the CBD, in the search for any decent place that was open…

Sunday Night Nightclub Search: (over the course of 1 hour):
Star Bar: No DJ nor people. Dead.
3 Wise Monkeys: Wildcatz Rock band night – no dance music. Dead.
Cheers: Dead with a population of 20. Dead.
Scubar – closed. Dead.
Side Bar: Non-Dance night. Dead.
World Bar:  Two rooms but only about 15 people per room. 2 of those people were women. aka Dead.
Trademark Hotel: Closed. Dead.

The only places left that looked decent were Hugos, The Piano Room (from the outside), and Goldfish, which happened to have Groove Terminator as their guest DJ. Oh hell yeah, GT, a personal favourite of mine! Let’s do it.

Martini Club Sundays @ Goldfish Lounge, Kings Cross
Assessment Time: 1:00AM – 4:00AM
Opening Hours: 6PM – Late (Definitely past 5AM)
Lockout: Unknown, possibly none.
Address: 111 Darlinghurst Rd, Kings Cross (at the corner traffic light where the Coke sign is). Google Maps: http://g.co/maps/jjb8b
Venue Website: http://www.thegoldfish.com.au/kingscross
Promoter Website: Self promoted
Occurrence: Every Sunday night.
Outside Line: There was a group of 3 drunk guys trying to get in, and they were rejected. Other times that I checked, there was virtually little to no line.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Tonight is pretty easy going with the Dress Code. Hats are okay, casual attire is okay, and later in the night two ladies in heavy make up and costume were allowed in as well (angel wings, chainsaws, or something). More than half the guys tonight are wearing just t-shirts rather than collared shirts. Some singlets are spotted here as well. The girls are generally well dressed, but not all are glamarous, there are some just casually dressed women here.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night.
Guestlist: N/A
Inside: Walk inside to open up the back area of the bar. To the left are lounges for 3-4 small groups of people. to the right are tables, stools. Further up left is the outdoor smoking area which remains behind the mesh-like wall facing the pathway. Right in the middle of this back room area is the bar, which is manned by 4 or 5 staff members at a time. On the far right are 2 areas for lounges. In the front room area is the dancefloor area. This is almost a circular like area where there are lounges lining the walls and disco balls dotting the ceiling. Actual dancefloor room could hold 25 comfortably upto about 40 people. A small elevated podium exists for the band to play later is cleared out to make room for a dancing podium for the patrons (it could hold about 8 people). Behind the podium sits the DJ set in the corner of the room.

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Everyone is working on Friday, except for me and another unemployed friend. So let’s go clubbing on Thursday and spend what little money we have left – always a great idea! So headed to Kings Cross and looked for some places to go. Trademark looked dead when we entered, so we changed to Sapphire Lounge. It looked pretty dead as well from outside, but it was smaller, so it might be a cosier atmosphere. That’s the thinking anyway. Paid our cover charge and in we went – here we go!

Crowd: 12:15AM

Flaunt @ Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross, Sydney (Under new promoters)
Assessment Time: 11:25PM – 2:05AM 
Opening Hours: 9:00PM – 4:00AM (according to Facebook anyway)
Lockout: Unknown
Address: 2 Kellet St, Sydney, Kings Cross. http://g.co/maps/ex79j
Venue Website: http://www.sapphirelounge.com.au
Promoter Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Postman-Productions/193173984047360 (This event is no longer run by Urban Agent) 
Occurrence: Every Thursday night. Formerly run by Urban Agent the past few years, we have actually stumbled upon the “re-launch” of the “Flaunt” nights, this time run under the new promotions company Postman Productions. Tonight was the second week of “Flaunt” under Postman Productions.
Outside Line: No line as we entered.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Smart Dress Code is encouraged. Hats are allowed in here. Most girls wear pretty dresses, and guys in general are looking good. There are some suits and casually dressed people as well (i.e. me), but this was no issue in getting us through the door.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $15 if not on guestlist. According to poster, entry is free before 10:30. Unsure if guestlist is required.
Guestlist: According to the promotional poster send emails to djtikelz@hotmail.com for birthday packages. Yes, it is the DJ.
Inside: The entrance is on Kellet St, just around the corner from the kebab store, its quite easy to miss. It’s a small entrance to a small club. Walk in past the cloak room to enter the main room, where there is a bar on the left manned by 2 staff. On the right are 3 separate lounge areas as well as one behind you to seat about 8 people each.

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Thought you might like some spreading action

Thought you might like this irrelevant photo (Back Room)

I’ve heard bits and pieces about the redesigned place, and the opportunity came to visit it tonight – time to check it out!

Saturdays @ FakeClub (Empire Hotel Level 2), Kings Cross : formerly “Plantation Bar
Review Note: This is the extended, personalised, version of the short review written for the Best Clubs In website,  found at http://www.thebestclubsin.com/sydney/fake-club
Assessment Time:11:40PM – 1:35AM
Opening Hours: 09:00PM – 06:00/07:00AM
Lockout: I don’t think there was any form of lockout, partly due to the extended opening times.
Address: Roslyn St. It’s on level 2 of Empire Hotel. This is the same venue/event formerly known as The Temple, formerly known as Plantation (Bar).
Venue Website: http://www.fakeclub.com.au
Promoter Website: Self promoted.
Occurrence: Every Saturday. The event is also open on Fridays, Sundays as well for other events with different music styles.
Outside Line: There was nobody in line as we entered. There was, though, a small crowd outside having a smoke, so at least you knew the place was at least populated.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Pretty much you could wear as you please, excluding thongs. The relaxed dress code today might have been influenced a big chunk of the patrons coming from Creamfields festival earlier in the day, with whatever they were wearing – they are easily spotted with their singlets and shorts. . The rest of the crowd wore casual or smart casually dressed. The door policy was pretty relaxed – we were not scanned by security for any dangerous items.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $20 was entry. $15 entry if you wore a Creamfields wristband. Discount/Free before 10PM, which isn’t much leeway.
Guestlist: Guestlist ended at 10PM.
Inside: After walking up the (what appeared to be) fire exit stairs, you will be presented with a room which resembles a large garage or a small warehouse. High ceiling dotted with stability columns around the edges. To the left is the dance floor area to hold probably 100-150 people, with DJ on the West wall. Large LED screen intallation spans the DJ booth and rises up 3 metres or so close to the ceiling. To the South side are a handful of medium sized reserved lounge areas to hold parties for 20 people or so. To the right is the main bar for length of about 10 people. The North side is just pure wall, and the bathroom. The back room, hard to find, is located just adjacent to the main bar via a closed door. Walk inside to enter a smaller room – it can only hold 20 people squishily on the floor itself. DJ on the far end, while a makeshift bar on a table is on the left. Futons and lounges dot the walls here.
Cloak Room: None Found. Noted were people leaving their stuff around the place.
Bar Prices / Line: Didn’t drink tonight but the line was pretty busy – it would be at least 15 minutes of waiting time at the bar. It’s also in thoroughfare between the two rooms so you’re awlways moving and bustling around.
Eviction Count: None that I spotted. It was pretty dark.
DJs: Resident Fake Bratpack DJ/s, Teenage Terror Squad, Bangers and Mash, Oh Glam, and more.
Music Style: Main room played different flavours of electronic house (this is not the same as electro) and dubstep, (except notably commercial flavours) during the time I was here. During times, there were a good 10-12 minutes of ‘dull’ time where the beat/rhythm of the music being played was not sustaining the crowd at all, and you could tell people were getting bored. I don’t think the DJ sensed this – or it was just a part of his plan to not have the crowd jumping around and have them relaxed instead? Who knows. The secondary room is Old School Rnb, Hip Hop and Rap, with some old boy band songs too. Think Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Eminem, Backstreet Boys – A tribute to the 90s and early 2000’s hip hop/rnb scene you would say. The mixing in the back room was non-existent here, as the DJ used a standard form of slow-stopping the track and moving on to the next one. She made up for the lack of this by picking some good tunes and even dancing up and singing with the crowd.
Crowd & Ratio: Primarily local Australians / Caucasians here. We are one of two Asian groups tonight, and there are some islander groups. Gay friendly. The ratio was 65/35 male/female from best estimates. A good proportion of the crowd here are also from the Creamfields festival event earlier. This helps keep the average age here at about…. 19. haha.. well in all fairness the crowd was pretty young anyway. There are some folk in late 20’s and I saw a bloke who was definitely in his 30’s, but the place is pretty dark so its hard to spot anyone else older. Pretty OTT amongst some of the crowd here, with crowd surfing and people dancing on the speakers here.
Entertainment: MC for the main room to keep things going.
Atmosphere:
Pretty dark atmosphere here in the main room, with the LED light wall providing the main source of photons. It’s a blur of noise, the LED lights from the DJ area as well as constant strobic lighting giving the passive person’s first time out a very overwhelming experience. The people in this room seem a bit cold.. had a girl with ADD shove me and other people aside to get to the front without apologizing or anything – shameful. Otherwise the music is the focus here tonight. Also the first thing I wanted to do was take my jacket off when I walked in, so be aware of the warmth here.

In the backroom, it is more well lit and as the room is smaller, it does have more of a cosy vibe but can be overrun with the amount of people trying to fit in here. The atmosphere is more vibrant with people singing along to the music of years gone by. Sadly though the room died at around 1:30AM, arouns the same time the DJs were switched. Unknown how the room progressed later in the night.
Video: Main Room and Back Room: Walkthrough and Music Sample Timeline
YouTube Preview Image

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