House
Saturdays @ Coogee Bay Hotel: 3rd July 2010
by James on Jul.03, 2010, under Coogee Bay Hotel, Dubstep, House
My friend is here tonight, and I haven’t been, so I take Marty and Derelict with me in the quest to not only visit all the clubs in Sydney but also to go forth in the search for the best chocolate ice cream in Sydney, haha, so here we go!
Dancefloor @ Coogee Bay Hotel Sydney
Saturdays @ Coogee Bay Hotel
Assessment Time: Midnight – 03:00AM
Opening Hours: Unknown – 03:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: www.coogeebayhotel.com.au
Address: Coogee Bay Rd, Coogee, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual was ok tonight. Sneakers and hats allowed. Half the crowd wore t-shirts, the other half, casual collars. Only a handful of people including us were nicely dressed. I certainly felt very well dressed as I walked in tonight.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free tonight, but these guys have the fingerprint scanners installed. I get worried when a venue has this technology as it would only mean violence has occured here before.
Guestlist: None tonight. It was a regular Saturday, and the Coogee Bay Hotel does its own promotions.
Occurence: Every Saturday bar special events where entry fee applies.
Inside: The actual club is just one section of the whole complex – similar to how The Albion is setup. Walk in and the live band room is on the right, sports bar on the left. Keep walking in to enter the large beer garden at the back, and bistro on the left. On the right is the club. In the walkthrough video below, we walk from the entrance straight into the club. The clubbing room itself has a wooden dancefloor to hold about 100-150 people comfortably. Some lounges around the surrounding carpeted areas. It feels a little bare, but the whole place is dark, so you eventually forget about the barebones setup.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: Did not buy from the bar tonight. However throughout, the line was about 2 people deep. Expect at least a 5 minute wait.
Music: Non-Commercial House, Dubstep, Rnb/pop mashup.
Crowd: Mostly young people here. Teenagers and early 20′s. A handful of people in their 30′s as well, who have come for a bit of a dance after dinner I guess. Pretty much everyone here was caucasian, and probably locals. I would not imagine a non-local making the trek all the way out here on a regular night.
Entertainment: No MC, no podiums. Just the DJ and dancefloor, and some UV lights
Atmosphere: It was busy throughout the whole night. It never got too packed, so you could always have room to dance. Sometimes it got close to squishy but nothing to worry about – you could dance somewhere else – the dancefloor was large enough to accommodate - people danced on surrounding carpet areas as well. Pretty dark in some places around the floor but lighting keeps the floor itself well lit.
Evictions: I saw 2 dudes in total kicked out for being drunk. One was ready to start a fight on the dancefloor. The other was throwing TAB betting sheets all over the sports room and pretended nothing happened when questioned by security – paper littered all around him – hilarious.
Video: Walkthrough
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Related:
Saturdays @ Hugo’s Lounge: Saturday 2nd July 2010
by James on Jul.03, 2010, under House, Hugos Lounge
Random birthday invite at Hugo’s for some drinks. The only time I was here before was I believe on a Thursday with a friend, who happened to be a kleptomaniac that night, and so eventually we were kicked out. Tonight its a different set of friends, so hopefully I will be able to stay here longer than 15 minutes, so here we go!
Hugos Lounge Sydney Dancefloor
Saturdays @ Hugo’s Lounge
Assessment Time: 09:00PM – 11:00PM
Opening Hours: – 03:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: http://www.hugos.com.au/
Address: Level 1, 33 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross, Sydney
Dress Code / Door Policy: Appears to be strictly smart casual. Collared shirts and dress shoes for men. Dresses for women. Inside I don’t recall any non-collared shirts or guys just wearing casual. Women all are dressed very well. Hats allowed. No mohawks.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free on birthday guestlist. $20 after 10PM from what I heard from someone who was trying to get in, but I do not know for certain about this.
Guestlist: See website.
Occurence: Every Friday and Saturdays
Inside: Walk up the set of stairs to the forked entrance. Take the right stairs to visit the bar and lounge area. It’s mostly for stand and talk and drink. Take the left set of stairs to walk through the narrow walkway and into the main room. Another bar is presented along with an entirely carpeted area with lounges along the walls. An area in the middle for dancing. Overhead disco balls roughly mark the designated dance area.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: Cocktails are roughly $17-$19 each.
Music: House by DJ Dolso
Crowd: Mostly older caucasian crowd. People mostly in their 20′s and older. Being more of a classy place the people are more well behaved.
Entertainment: It was just the DJ
Atmosphere: Definitely pretentious, but the people on the dancefloor seemed pretty friendly which was good. The whole place is very dark, so I guess thats a good thing for everyone.
Video Walkthrough
Related:
Oxford Art Factory Quickie: Saturday 22nd May 2010
by James on May.23, 2010, under Dubstep, House, Oxford Art Factory
Oxford Art Factory Main Room
03:30AM – 04:30AM
So just quickly after Arthouse it was about 3:30AM, and I still wanted a quick dance, so we went to Oxford Art factory and walked through (snuck by) the door man via the back entrance and had an hour of dancing. The music initialy was pretty good to dance to. I would have no idea what genre it was, but the place is freaking loud – speakers blaring non stop.
How loud is it you ask?
Here’s a video:
Later at 4 or 4:30 the DJ changed to someone else, and the music was less danceable for us, and we left.
Crowd is all caucasian. At this time the place still had about 30-50 people which was amazing. Drinks are good value too.
Me and Marty were dancing crazy style, and got some dancers with us. A guy came up and insisted we dance using our middle fingers as instruments as part of the dance. So we ended up dancing around with our middle fingers in the air, around the place, etc etc. Interesting.
Oxford Art Factory is a nice place to visit for a dance, if you are into the housey/dubstep kind of scene.
7/10 only for lovers of the music genre advertised that week. I cannot recommend for normal innocent clubbers.
Related:
Quickie: Saturdays @ The Argyle: 8th May 2010
by James on May.08, 2010, under Argyle, House
Looking for a place to go. Lowenbrau was too packed in the dance floor area, and nobody wanted to go to The Orient, as the crowd seemed a bit too old, and plus there was a $5 charge (we are asian) so off we go to the Argyle – here we go!
Saturdays @ The Argyle
Address: The Rocks, Sydney, http://www.theargylerocks.com
Dress Code / Door Policy: Strictly smart. Collared shirts for guys, dresses for girls, or nice pants. Casual is frowned upon and you are unlikely to get in if you are wearing such material.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free
Guestlist: None
Occurence: Every week
Inside: The bar is two levels, but dancing only occurs upstairs, where the DJ is.
Cloak Room: Free Upon entry. It is compulsory to use the cloak room. (?)
Bar: Three bars to serve the entire place.
Music: House (I don’t remember)
Crowd: Mostly Aussie and Euro. There are also asians and Indians.
Entertainment: No extra entertainment
Atmosphere: It seemed a bit more dead than usual tonight. Blame it on the very cold weather tonight. However the place was still busy for most of the night, just not as busy as you expect Argyle to be.
Video: 360 of the top dancing level
Timeline:
We just danced, but not that much. There wasn’t much room to dance so when there was suddenly a 2×2 metre spot that opened, I took it and belted out the moves. Everyone is staring. Marty joins in, and everybody loves us. It’s fun, but I think we only danced for 20 or so minutes tonight.
Also, I met a girl dancing guessed her name was Cherie. She said it was Sherry. Close enough. I am pretty awesome.
Arrivederci
Left as the place was quickly dying. I think it was 02:30AM.
Recommendation
Not a place for pure dancing. The Argyle is a place for drinking and dancing if you want. Recently renovated it looks pretty good as well. Check it out for a drink if anything else. No rating as this place doesn’t qualify.
Related:
Saturdays @ The Glasshouse, Wollongong NSW: 17th April 2010
by James on Apr.17, 2010, under Glasshouse, House, RnB
Main dancefloor area - Glasshouse, Wollongong NSW
In Wollongong (an hour from Sydney) tonight to check out the clubs. We have just left The Ivory, I am fuming and swearing to god about their bullshit no camera policy. Across the road is The Glasshouse, the next place on our list of clubs to visit, so here we go!
Saturdays @ The Glasshouse Tavern
Assessment Time: 12:30PM – 01:30AM
Opening Hours: Unknown – 03:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: No website available at time of writing
Address: 90 Crown St, Wollongong
Dress Code / Door Policy: Casual ok. No hats allowed inside. It was 50/50 casual, collared shirts for guys. Most girls had dresses. Dress up costumes were ok in here as well, as there was a group of people dressed up as the members of KISS.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $10. We bargained the door girl to $5 for the four of us each.
Guestlist: None
Inside: As you walk inside the premise there is an outdoor courtyard, albeit very small. Walking inside the Glasshouse itself is large bar area to mill around with stools and tables. This is to the right. To the very left is a two stepped podium to hold about 15 – 20 people. In front of you is the main dancefloor, elevated from the rest of the bar (the entire Glasshouse venue is on a slope) to hold about 150-200 people. The entire place is wooden floor board.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: Did not drink here
Music: RnB, House, Pop, Top 40
Crowd: Mostly local Aussies / Caucasians. Young.
Entertainment: No MC. Just podiums.
Atmosphere: In the dancefloor it was constantly packed, and people were dancing about, but not much signing along. The vibe didn’t seem to be there – I think the venue itself just was a bit too airy for intimacy. Outside the dancefloor in the bar areas, it was not that busy. You could easily get a stool if you waited around for a minute or two.
Video: Walkthrough
Related:
Saturdays @ Ivory Bar, Wollongong NSW: 17th April 2010
by James on Apr.17, 2010, under House, Ivory Bar, Pop
Crowd at The Ivory, Wollongong NSW
Four of us are here to check out the Wollongong nightlife for one night – We just left The Harp Hotel, and we are off to the next club down the street – it’s Ivory Bar, so here we go!
Saturdays @ Ivory Bar
Assessment Time: 11:30PM – 12:30AM
Opening Hours: 8:00PM – 3:00AM
Lockout: None
Website: No website could be found.
Address: 77 Crown Street, Wollongong NSW
Dress Code / Door Policy: Probably safe to dress smart casual here. Most people were dressed smart, though casual was allowed you would be probably looked down upon. No hats allowed. No photography allowed.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: $10 flat charge all night
Guestlist: None
Inside: Imagine The Establishment in Sydney, but without the back room, and half the size of the main room / bar area. This is exactly what you get at the Ivory – You walk into a lengthy room with one bar to the left adoring the wall. There is a section behind this wall for smokers. DJ booth (I cant even remember if there was a DJ booth) should be at the front. There is a big LCD screen displaying random messages set by the people here partying tonight. Lounges near the entrance and to the right hand side. Main dancing area is at the back.
Cloak Room: None
Bar: I did not drink here tonight. The bar specializes in cocktails, so you can imagine the prices at this bar to be of the upper end range.
Music: House / Funky House
Crowd: Older crowd, but dressed up nicely, so as to keep up with appearances. Mostly late 20s, 30s, and some 40s and 50s were spotted here. A lot of good lookers. Entirely Caucasian.
Entertainment: No extra things to keep the vibe going. It held up on its own for a bar.
Atmosphere: Music is loud, the venue seems new and the vibe amongst the dancing patrons is pretty good. People are dancing and drinking away. In terms of dance space, it is a little cramped, but not sardine packed. It’s enough to survive an hour here, but I would not imagine an entire night here.
Video: Walkthrough Video
Related:
Saturdays @ The Harp of Erin Hotel, Wollongong NSW: 17th April 2010
by James on Apr.17, 2010, under House, Retro, Rock, The Harp of Erin, Wollongong
In front of a brave Karaokeist @ The Harp of Erin, Wollongong
We have decided to spend a day in Wollongong to see the wildlife at night. We have been recommended by the locals to check out The Harp for pre-drinks, so here we go!
Saturdays @ The Harp of Erin Hotel, Wollongong NSW
Assessment Time: 22:15PM -23:30PM
Opening Hours: Unknown, but it is a bar, so typical bar hours, which would be 10am – 3am.
Website: http://www.harpoferin.com.au
Address: 124 Corrimal St, Wollongong NSW
Dress Code / Door Policy: Anything goes. it is a bar, so most casual clothes can get away with it. Hats are not allowed in here.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free entry for both the bar karaoke area as well as the dancefloor area.
Inside: Walking into the main entrance you are presented with the main room where there is a karaoke thing going on. Get up and sing! they say. The standing area holds 150 or so people, and there is a stage on the right, where you stand up to sing, or where a band can play. Bar is to the left. A wall divides this area from the second area – The second area has a central bar, surrounded by tables and stools. On one side is an enclosed area which is the dancefloor, and it is sligly elevated from the rest of the room. It holds about 60 or so people .
Cloak Room: None
Bar: Standard beer prices
Music: House music in the dance room. Typical bar karaoke music in the karaoke room. The types of music you will be subjected to range from rock to retro.
Crowd: Mostly locals, some sydneysiders – with most being caucasian.
Entertainment: Karaoke of course! But only in the karaoke room.
Atmosphere: Karaoke room – busy the whole time we were there. In the clubbing room, the general atmosphere in the bar was busy, but not packed. A good balance to allow us a bit of room to dance.
Video:360 view of the Karaoke Bar Side
Video: Walkthrough on the younger side, with dancefloor entry:
Related:
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Hello! I'm James. This subjective blog serves to post every dance event I attend to. I go out clubbing once or twice a week. I may include some stories as well. Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments - Thanks for dropping by!
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