Xander
Hollywood, CA
Male, 32
I promoted at several of Hollywood’s hottest clubs during a period of unemployment, mainly to see what all of the fuss was about. While it was fun and definitely had its perks, it also confirmed quite a few of the suspicions and stereotypes I’d previously held about how the industry works.
None of this will come as a surprise to anyone who has gone out in Hollywood more than once. Whatever you think of it as an outsider, it's much worse as an insider. The club's General Manager will explicitly tell promoters that there were too many Mexicans or Persians or fat chicks. Most places in LA don't even bother with the illusion of a line anymore. It's just a mass of people at the front and the door girl/guy or bouncer hand picks who comes in. Hot girls have first priority obviously. There is a preference for white and especially blonde. I've seen them wave a group of girls in and then when they get to the fat one in the group, pull the rope in front of her. Being dressed well helps for both guys and girls. They’re loathe to let guys in because they know the frustration of not getting in leads to guys springing for bottle service and that's how the club makes its money. Really good-looking guys who dress like Hollywood hipsters can get in without girls but everyone else better grease, buy bottles, or know a promoter really well (like you saved his life in 'Nam). Age is a much bigger impediment for women than it is for men. Oh and one last thing.... there is no such thing as a list. The promoter didn't type up 4,000 names to hand to the door girl. It's just an excuse to not let you in (ditto for "private party" or "we're at capacity.")
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Yes although never successfully. As you can imagine, it's a hard thing to prove. More common is sexual discrimination, when men sue over getting charged when women aren't. This has mixed results. The practice of charging cover charge to men and not women has been successfully opposed and although the practice is still common, clubs have had to pony up and pay disgruntled guys. Courts however have upheld "Ladies Night" where girls get to take advantage of drink specials that the boys don't.
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There is definitely a hierarchy. At the top are the promoters that deal directly with club. They are a known brand and bring the "right" people (read: white people, hot girls, Hollywood hipsters, low-level celebs). The promoting team will be small and often consist of trust-fund kids. At the bottom are ethnic promoters with ethnic crowds. They are like cattle herders, just trying to bring the most people through the door who are willing to pay cover. Being a promoter is very much a chicken-and-egg type of thing because to get hired by good venues you need a good crowd and to get a good crowd you need to be already promoting good venues. There are really two ways a promoter can move up the hierarchy. One is to start at the bottom working for a club that is looking for more business. They'll be actively looking for more promoters and might give you chance. Slowly you build your crowd by promoting crappy places well until you have a good enough following to get a slightly less crappy place and that will attract slightly less crappy people to your "list" (which is really just numbers in your phone that you text). This positive feedback loop continues until hopefully you cease to have crappy people and actually have a good crowd. By far the easier way to do it is to find a promoter who is already doing good venues and become his sub-promoter. You'll be listed on the clipboard as one of the promoter's "subs" and he will get credited for the people you bring (but you'll have your own tally to delineate between your people and his). Usually you'll have some minimum number of skanks - I mean people - that you'll have to bring each night to keep being his sub. Eventually if you bring enough people you might become his promoter partner. Ideally the promoter you work for is a friend so he knows and trusts that you'll bring good people (i.e. hot girls) and doesn't do things like steal your people or not pay you for people you bring in. If he doesn't know you then you'll have to convince him that you have hot girls you can bring out.
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Plan ahead. Know how hot (or not) the venue is. Get there early, brings girls if you can. Dress appropriately. Be nice to the bouncer but not too nice. Don't throw a tantrum; it looks retarded. Be ready to grease. Sneak in a flask so your money is spent getting in and not on overpriced drinks.
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If there's one thing people standing on the other side of the velvet rope aren't, it's original. The same things are said: "But my friends are in there" (and they ditched you? Shitty friends) "But I'm on the list" (weird, I don't see Dickhead listed here) "It's my friend's birthday" (there's always Facebook) "I know the owner" (not well enough, apparently) The best story is my own. Before promoting I once hired a high-end escort to walk me in. I didn't go online and call her up. She just happened to be at the hotel bar we were pre-partying in. I paid her $50 to walk in with me to the nearby club. I'm sure it was the easiest money she made that night.
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It ranges from less than a year to as much as four years, typically. The average is probably two. Les Deux in Hollywood lasted five years which is the longest I've ever heard of. Much depends on the size of the place. The bigger the place, the more people they have to fill it with and the less discerning they can be. This accelerates a club's demise. It's not a coincidence that the places that had staying power, like Hyde, were small.
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I've personally never seen it because I worked mostly classy places. But there have definitely been incidents particularly as the clubs start attracting the less-optimal crowd. I can remember specifically a bouncer being shot and killed at a club called Vanguard a couple years ago
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