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A lot of people saw it coming. Rumors have been flying for more than a year that the high-flying, cash-laden nightclub scene was being scrutinized by the feds. The shoe dropped Wednesday when the Internal Revenue Service and other law enforcement authorities raided Pure nightclub and Pure Management Group headquarters, confiscating a number of computers. Cash-heavy operations are known to get the attention of the IRS.

Sources have been telling me that doormen at several clubs are clearing $8,000 to $10,000 a night before they share tips. So much cash is pouring in that some doormen are making $400,000 to $500,000 a year, several nightclub executives told me.

“Pure has guys at the door making more than the president,” said one executive with intimate knowledge of the cover-charge system. A Pure executive told me over the weekend that 5,000 people showed up for Paris Hilton’s 27th birthday party and her guest appearance with the Pussycat Dolls. About six months ago, on a busy night at Pure, I overheard two men bitterly complaining about the cover charge. “They wanted $1,000 per person. I said the highest I’d go was $800!” one said. It’s not just Pure, the largest club in town with a capacity of 2,400. “If people have been waiting all night, they’re not going to go somewhere else and start over,” said a club exec (not at Pure). “Club employees, usually the size of big league umpires, will go down the line and fish for people who really want to get in. The line guy might get $200, but now everyone in the group is still going to have to pay a $30 to $40 cover charge. Sometimes, the doorman demands more, maybe $50 to $100 per person.”

Then there’s bottle service, which means you have to buy a bottle to sit in the VIP section. The usual requirement is one bottle per three patrons. Two-bottle minimums are not uncommon. Bottles at most clubs are going for $350 to $650 a piece.

This is insane. Of course there will always be morans who stand in line like livestock to get into some trendy nightclub. So separating the idiots from thier money is probably a good thing. I won’t even stand in line for a movie if it’s more than 20 people.




  1. My Science! says:

    Baahh says the sheep.

  2. the answer says:

    And you wonder why I just walk to the local pub and get me some Guinness or 120 min IPA. I used to bounce ( almost no difference from a doorman these days ) And yes a lot of money gets handled. Esp from drunk people who are so worried about people finding out that who they are with is a hooker.

  3. bobbo says:

    That does sound extreme–but it is an area where the free market really should have free reign==I support it. Go spend 1000 bucks to see Paris Hilton while I stay home and watch Glenn Beck.

    Yesterdays show was about Vallejo California going broke for things like (aka on thread point?) firefighters earing over 200K per year. By some union rules, the city can’t hire more full time employees so they pay 200K for the overtime. Shear stupidity. Vallejo may be the first city to go bankrupt and get rid of the outrageous retirement/overtime structure they have===just as most governmental agencies should.

    So–I’ve always thought firefighters had a cushy job getting paid to sleep but 200K is a job people have probably killed for?–but atleast it gets taxed?

  4. Crankier Geek says:

    “Of course there will always be morans who stand in line like sheep to get into some trendy nightclub. So separating the idiots from there [sic] money is probably a good thing.”

    Do you lose your license to call people “morans” or idiots when you don’t know the difference between there and their?

  5. McCullough says:

    #4. Do you lose your license to call people “morans” or idiots when you don’t know the difference between there and their?

    No, here on DU misspellings are encouraged. We are unlicensed.

  6. TG says:

    #4: to say nothing of “its” vs “it’s.” I guess we’re all heading for some strange, illiterate version of Esperanto.

  7. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    “Pure has guys at the door making more than the president,”

    But in all fairness, Pure has guys at the door who do more work, and serve a greater public service, than the President.

    ((They meant THE President, right?)))

  8. gquaglia says:

    Ever see some of the idiots that frequent these clubs.

  9. Esteban says:

    Anyone who wants to party with Paris Hilton deserves to be ripped off.

  10. Seth says:

    #4

    The word idiot is used to make fun of someone’s intelligence and not their knowledge.

    Knowing when to use their or there has nothing to do with intelligence. There are many intelligent people who could give a shit about English especially when they’re not a native speaker.

    If the only ammunition you have to tear down an argument is their grammar then I find that weak.

  11. MuffinSpawn says:

    Interesting how the government is hot to raid some club that just happens to attract rich people, but when it comes to corporations raping other countries and paying their employees next to nothing it’s best to give them huge tax breaks. I say more power to the lucky bastard who makes $200K a year opening doors and being overly polite to stuck up ass holes!

  12. My Science! says:

    #4.

    You left out They’re?

  13. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #10 – There are many intelligent people who could give a shit about English

    No there isn’t.

    A cornerstone of intelligence is the ability to demonstrate literacy.

    especially when they’re not a native speaker.

    Forgiveness is granted to all non-native speakers provided they try to communicate as clearly as they are able to.

    If the only ammunition you have to tear down an argument is their grammar then I find that weak.

    If one doesn’t care to to articulate an argument in an intelligent way, then one’s argument should be dismissed.

    An occasional misspelling, typo, or other mistake should generally be ignored on casual forums. But there is no excuse for regularly misusing there, their, they’re, too, to, two, your or you’re, aside from the non-native speaker defense.

    While I am willing to assume that the original grammatic flub was an innocent oversight, any argument that grammar doesn’t matter is ignorant and wrong.

  14. bobbo says:

    #13–OFTLO==starting class warfare are we now between the literate/illiterate the lazy/anal retentive?

    NO EXCUSE for misusing to and too? How then is this a casual forum and how do you tell the difference between literacy and spelling and a sticking keyboard?

    Normally, even if I slow down enough to proof read my own draft, I don’t catch typo’s/spellings/misuse unless a bit of time has elapsed.

    I’m horrified when somehow from out of nowhere (no where?–I won’t look it up) a completely wrong word is used.

    I’ve read that intelligent people who misspell reveal an anti-authoritarian component in their personality. I would think you’d be all for this rather than portraying yourself as the actual authority?????

    Get the point across, and don’t sweat the small stuff==and remember, its all small stuff.

    Now, will I go back and proof this?- – - – - – - – Naw!!!! Let ‘er rip.

    PS–Notwithstanding the forgoing, I do admire your own precision.

  15. McCullough says:

    #14. Thanks bobbo- and yes, it was early, I was sloppy, and I DID run it through grammar check which missed it. Blame Microsoft for that I suppose. This being a CASUAL forum, I would think it trivial. I do admit to being weak in this department however, and humbly beg forgiveness.

    Oh and about that authority thing, dead on.

  16. bobbo says:

    #15–McCullough===it was in my youth I read that bit when I had a concern about my inability to spell and follow grammar. A real mental block. Reading that was like giving ants to an anteater–there was no hope for my literacy skills thereafter.

    BTW–I thought your humor would have disarmed all but the most Stalinists of Cultural Purveyors. Maybe OFTLO is absolutist in more than just privacy rights—-and just as wrong.

    Keep the good stuff coming.

  17. MrBloedumpSpladderschitt says:

    “here on DU misspellings are encouraged” – more like enforced.

  18. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #14 – NO EXCUSE for misusing to and too? How then is this a casual forum and how do you tell the difference between literacy and spelling and a sticking keyboard?

    You don’t. But you don’t criticize grammar unless the post is clearly written by an idiot. McCollough is clearly not an idiot, so he should suffer no abuse. My comments were about the issue in general. I didn’t even notice the minor mistake in question.

    Also, I said the is no excuse for not knowing the difference. But that doesn’t mean there is any reason to get all huffy if a writer mixes them up once in a while. The writer in the case in question knows the difference. He just didn’t catch the mistake.

    Besides, I’m at work, and that makes me bitchy.

    I’ve read that intelligent people who misspell reveal an anti-authoritarian component in their personality.

    Seems like an excuse for poor grammar skills. I, by the way, have very poor grammar skills when compared to the top 10% of the population. It is only when compared to the whole that I am a freaking prodigy.

    BTW–I thought your humor would have disarmed all but the most Stalinists of Cultural Purveyors. Maybe OFTLO is absolutist in more than just privacy rights—-and just as wrong.

    Maybe you should read what I said in context of what I was replying to, and nothing more.

    You might also want to parse and correct this: “all but the most Stalinists of Cultural Purveyors”.

    I am not wrong when it comes to privacy rights. My rights are not on loan from authority. They are self determined, and derived from the only authority that holds sway over me.

  19. McCullough says:

    #18. No harm, no foul. Its interesting however how many mistakes I encounter in my daily pursuit of a juicy story, even with the best of them. At times I confess to correcting a misspelling here and there, which would be the editors job, of course, and not mine. And these guys are paid professional journalists. I think people here tend to write what is in their head at the moment, and I prefer that style of spontaneous thought process. If you start to agonize over the writing, and making corrections, you can lose the flavor of the original thought. Although, many times while it sounds brilliant as you are forming it in your mind, the translation suffers. As probably evidenced in this comment.

  20. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #19 – You are absolutely right.

    Errors are fine. But I hate the argument that weak writers make that it is good enough if I get what they mean.

    It isn’t. If what you have to say has value, then you should state it well. An error or two here and there is easily forgivable.

    riting like U R a Avril Levign song lirik is unaxeptible :-)

    One reason DU is pleasurable to me because the vast majority of posts here are from intelligent, literate people.



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