5 Secret Confessions From Nightclub Owners

A lot of interesting things tend to go down at nightclubs. You’d have to assume most nightclub owners would have a story or two to tell about what has happened at their places of business.

As it turns out, secrets sometimes make for good business too. Let’s take a five interesting stories from nightclub around the world.

Secrets Of The Penthouse

In Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, you can go on a guided walking tour of Vancouver’s most notorious venue, The Penthouse. If you go on the tour, you get to hear about mobsters, bootlegging, squad busts, Rat Pack parties, fire, murder and more, with club owner Danny Filippone.

If you’re looking for secret confessions from nightclub owners, you can’t overlook this opportunity.

My Nightclub Owner Horror Story

Here’s a hugely popular post at Reddit as told by a DJ who was given the opportunity to play his own featured spot at a nightclub. The owner kept coming in to tell him what to play, and was getting progressively drunker in the process.

If that wasn’t bad enough, whenever the nightclub owner told the DJ to play something, the crowd didn’t respond to it at all. So instead of listening to the owner, the DJ played what the crowd wanted.

Then the controlling owner had an outburst. The DJ had no choice but to play bad top 40 tracks for the rest of the night. Worst of all, he didn’t even get paid for his time.

Erney Jones

Jones was a Huntsville, Alabama nightclub owner, entrepreneur, inventor and family man who recently passed away at the age of 81, on August 25, 2014.

His tale includes stories of being beaten by the police, packing heat at nightclubs, innovation in nightclub decor, building a business empire consisting of a construction company, a car repair shop, rental apartments, nightclubs and more. According to his wife, Lorene Jones, he worked 24/7.

There’s no doubt there are many more interesting stories behind this renaissance man.

D’Amico’s 214

Earl D’Amico was the owner of D’Amico’s 214, which is now the Joliet Renaissance Center. His club hosted many famous stars, including Count Basie, Guy Lombardo, Tina Turner, Duke Ellington among others.

D’Amico’s brother asked him to be a part of his new upscale restaurant/entertainment facility. Their first major booking wasn’t too far behind. Louis Armstrong performed at the club, and D’Amico did everything in his power to make sure that the star was comfortable there.

The rest is pretty much history. Many famous performers came through the venue, and both audiences and the performers loved it.

Nightclub Owner Answers Questions On Reddit

Here’s another interesting tidbit from Reddit. 24-year-old San Diego nightclub owner put it to the world to ask him anything they want to about the nightclub scene, including how the operations work, DJs, booking big-name performers and so on.

This nightclub owner admits to partying and loving his patrons as long as they drink his booze. He also gives suggestions to DJs on how to get booked, talks about the bidding wars that happen with popular acts, how his friends enjoy certain “perks” with meeting famous people and more.

Conclusion

Nightclub owners have a lot of stories to tell… if you can find them.

What you are more likely to find – or what is easier to find – is stories from bouncers, doormen, performers or staff members. They – being constantly in contact with their patrons and performers -have plenty of stories to tell.

Perhaps nightclub owners are a little more secretive, but we all know that they have seen or done a few things that could make for a good story or two.