I was out tonight, and I didn’t have a job to go to tomorrow… I needed my dance fix – everything in the south CBD was pretty dead.. except for one place …. dirty old Side Bar.. here we go!
Mondays @ Side Bar
Assessment Time: 12:30AM – 01:45AM
Opening Hours: Early in the day – 03:00AM
Lockout: None
Address: Right next to Central station on the corner of Pitt and George St.
Venue Website: http://www.wakeup.com.au
Promoter Website: Self Promoted
Occurrence: Every night.
Outside Line: Upon arrival there were about 3 people in front of me, we were all let in very quickly.
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual ok, any costumes were “probably” ok (there are themed nights here) but tonight everybody was just wearing their casual clothing, or smart casual.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free all night.
Guestlist: None
Inside: The Bar/Club is situated beneath ground level. Enter and walk down the stairs to enter the square floor area with large bar in the middle. On the right are probably around 12 lounges along the wall. Along the back are arcade games and a pool table. To the left is the cleared out dancefloor area, Small overhead room due to the underground nature, with the DJ in the far left corner. The dancefloor side can hold approximately 100 people.
Cloak Room: None. I was forced to leave my laptop bag on a sofa. I came back to it half an hour later and found that someone had opened my bag had been left the zips open. Oh fuck!! I looked inside my bag, but nothing was stolen… this shit happens all the time to me.
Bar Prices / Line: The line was 1 or 2 people deep, but prices unknown as I didn’t drink tonight.
DJs: Unknown
Music Style: Indie, House, Pop, Rnb – whatever the crowd is into
Crowd & Ratio: Pretty much almost everyone here is a backpacker, while the local population are less than a handful. Most are Anglo-Saxon but there are also Asians, and Africans. Age range from 18 to low 30’s. Pretty friendly vibe here.
Entertainment: Nil
Atmosphere: The first thing I noticed was that it was as packed or more than Friday nights here, which is pretty amazing. People are everywhere, drinking, dancing, making out, etc. This is where everybody in the city went. It can get crowded and overheated near the DJ corner. The floor also has a thin layer of liquid comprised of the spilled drinks that patrons have clumsily held. As mentioned, its a pretty much party vibe here throughout the night, whether or whether not the people know half the songs being played.
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A friend’s birthday. He has chosen to dance it out at Side Bar
Fridays @ Side Bar
(Assessment time: 10:30-2:30am)
Address: Corner of George and Pitt St, Sydney
Dress Code: Casual allowed. Hats allowed.
Entry Fee/Cover Charge: Free all night
Crowd: Backpackers from mixed backgrounds
Music: Top 40, Pop, Rock, Rnb, House – general party tunes. So some tunes you’ll like, and some you wouldn’t.
Atmosphere: It was pretty cold outside, so the place hadn’t reached capacity yet. it was probably 40% capacity. The important bit was that there were people always dancing in the floor area.
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A friend has asked us to accompany her tonight to a 28th birthday at Manhattan. Time to check it out!
We arrive, and the register clearly has a $20 sign. However they just stamp us and let us in. Strange…
Manhattan Lounge (Fridays)
Website: http://www.themanhattan.com.au/
Music: RNB
Crowd: Asian
Entry: $20 stated. $10 was also reported, but we got in for free
Location: 50 Elizabeth St, Martin Place (Right next door to Hotel Chambers, Across the road from Verandah Bar)
Space: Walk downstairs and its about the same dance area as Bamboo/Hotel Chambers, without the outside bits. It’s long, pretty narrow small, and provides a cosy atmosphere somewhat. Again, no photos, I’m sorry.
NB: This was the last of the in-house Fridays. A new organised event is now in place for Friday’s at Manhattan, called FunkInk. www.funkinkonline.com
Timeline
Bumping into people
1/ Bumped into my uncle’s best friend. He’s almost 30 but still looks early 20’s. We have a bit of a chat. I ask if he cleanses, tones an moisturises. He confirmed it, and even had the time to exfoliate every week. I can’t wait to be 30.
2/ Bumped into a girl I met at Crystal Bar last year. We had kept in contact, but she has a very stuck up attitude. She demands I give her attention. Her view on things make me laugh and I brush her off. Later as we dance, she comes right into our circle and grinds with me. It’s hard to ignore someone when they throw themselves at you. Her friends were normal, and I actually wanted to go for them instead.
Atmosphere / Music
Given the small area, people were all cosied up near each other. So whenever you were in the dance area, it was always seemingly ‘not dead’, when it probably was. However the place and vibe wasn’t too bad at all. Music was typical RNB to keep people happy.
Family Run Bar = slow.
Took about 15 minutes to get served glasses of water. Even then, we only got half a cup full, as they were so busy. The bar looked to be run by a family, as they all looked very similar.
Coda
Friends left 1.30. I left to go onto Side Bar
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