Karmen invited me to a charity clubbing event – The theme was Doctors and Nurses, with all proceeds going to the Westmead children’s hospital. She said she was going to dress in a Teddy Bear suit. Nice! So not to be outdone, I got myself a Nurse outfit. The only catch was, well, that it was at Sapphire Lounge…
Fridays @ Sapphire Suite (Formerly Sapphire Lounge)
Assessment time: 10:45- 12:00am
Location: 2 Kellett St, Kings Cross
Website: http://www.sapphirelounge.com.au
Inside: Limited in area, the back half of the club is dedicated to compartmentalised lounge rooms. It’s not cramped, its very spacious and well done. The middle area has a normal sized bar, and at the front is the DJ booth and dancefloor. The floor could hold 25 people comfortably. The venue is licensed for 300 patrons.
Atmosphere: Quite dark, relaxed. Not many people turned up tonight. The place probably never reached more than 40% capacity. At the bar, there was usually only one person in front of me.
Crowd: Dominantly Euro. There were also some islanders tonight. Karmen, myself and my friends are the only asians.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $15
Cloak Room: $5 all sizes. No rechecks.
Music: Mix of RNB and House, similar to last time I was here.
Dress Code: No shorts allowed. Casual jeans / t-shirt ok. Dress up outfits ok.
Nobody is dressed up
The first suspicion that nobody was dressed up was at the door:
Bouncer: “Why are you dressed up??”
Door Bitch: “Theres a charity event on tonight – doctors and nurses”
I had my nurse dress on. I walked onto the dance floor and guess who else was dressed up? nobody. Yes that’s right – I WAS THE ONLY PERSON DRESSED UP, AND I WAS DRESSED UP AS A CROSSDRESSING NURSE. Karmen was there, and she did not have her bear suit on – WHAT THE HELL?? She promised to dress up!! She only brang a lab coat and she wasn’t even wearing it!!! She was dressed like every other girl. Suddenly reality hit me. I could hear the wails of everybody screaming. I look around me, and everybody is pointing to me, the crazy asian guy who just walked in dressed as a nurse. They are laughing and pointing at me. The guys give me whistles, and my friends have chickened out and did not put on their lab coats either. I love the attention though.
Posing with two girls at Sapphire Lounge, in my sexy Nurse outfit
The bouncer right away drags me outside. Why?
I was inside for no longer than two minutes when the bouncer drags me outside. I was in deep shit. He steps me outside:
Bouncer: (looks at me) “I was checking to see if you were wearing shorts and a shirt, but you’re not, so its ok for you to go back in”.
I was then allowed back in. So basically, I can’t wear shorts and a t-shirt at a club but I can wear a nurse one piece dress??? haha I love Kings Cross. However I didn’t like this place one bit.
Continue reading »
(1st May 2009)
We had just been rejected at Trademark for apparently being too Asian… so we went over to Sapphire. We were advised in advance that it was dead inside.
“This is Captain James T. Tran of the USS Sydney Clubber. After our encounter with the Trademark Hotel xenophobia, we have set a new course to across the road – Sapphire Lounge. I ask all of you to prepare yourselves – set expectations to low!”
Sapphire Lounge (formerly Sapphire Suite)
Location: 2 Kellett St, Kings Cross
Website: http://www.sapphirelounge.com.au
Inside: Limited in area, the back half of the club is dedicated to compartmentalised lounge rooms. It’s not cramped, its very spacious and well done. The middle area has a normal sized bar, and at the front is the DJ booth and dancefloor. The floor could hold 25 people comfortably.
DJ Booth - Sapphire Lounge
P.Y.T Fridays
Slogan: “Party like its 1999”
Cover Charge / Entry Fee: $15. Free before 11pm (Guestlist)
Guestlist: Unsure. Can’t really read the poster.
Door Policy: Casual allowed. T-shirts and regular sports shoes allowed. Hats unknown.
Crowd: Favouring Caucasians, but other nationalities welcome
DJs: Adriano, Will Fix, Tom Piper, Johnny B
Music: Classic RNB and contemporary House, but edited to keep out the crazy dance bits or rap bits. Since there was only one DJ, he constantly switched between the two genres every 5 or so songs. It was the dancing equivalent of foreplay or fondling but never getting to intercourse, then having a cigarette every 20 minutes and restarting again.
Atmosphere: People were either here to relax, or they were actually looking for a good time dancing but walked into the wrong place. We were the latter half. That said though, most people here had a go dancing. It was very dark, no flashing lights or fancy pyrotechnics, carpeted area (afai remember), music not at full blast either – so it was pretty easy to get up and dance discreetly like a maniac, unlike Cremorne or Shark Hotel, where the lighting and centralised floor gets you get stared at. Overall, it was a very laid back affair. The only people whom you knew were staring at you was the security detail. This was definitely not a club.
View from the front
Timeline
Door Issues
“So how many of you are there?”.
“Just us five”.
A friend inside reported that it was “pretty dead”, with about 20 or 30 people inside. We were disgusted she had to confer with the bouncer to whether we were allowed in. We were going to increase the patronage of the club by at least 15%! We discussed in heated Asian, about how they could even possibly think about refusing entry to a group of well dressed people? Did they not want our money?? Eventually they let us in. The door policy here at Sapphire shits on Trademark for an honest dancer.
Impressions
We entered around midnight, not expecting much, and our expectations were matched. From the outside it doesn’t look like much, but inside was alright. About 15 people on the dancefloor, and another 15 or so sitting around the various lounges around the place. A blue hue from the bar eminates the whole place amongst the darkness.
Continue reading »