By Diana Arzu
The electricity of New York City’s nightlife can be found in Manhattan’s many night clubs. The University’s students as well as other students from the New York metropolitan region enjoy going to clubs in Manhattan to party, meet mutual acquaintances, dress to impress and have a good time while everybody in the club is getting twisted.
Everyone in their college years more than ever have the urge to go out and party at clubs. Although most can not even get in due to their age, most find a way to have a good time. But which clubs to go to? How to know if the clubs are worth going to?
There are many clubs in Long Island but many more in the city of New York. Manhattan is known to be the center area for popular clubs, restaurants, bars and more. So for anyone who gets a little bored in the suburbs and wants to party hard with a tremendous amount of people everywhere you turn, Manhattan is the number one spot.
University students travel a good amount of time, approximately half hour to go to a club. Popular clubs such as Webster Hall, Babalu, Copacabana, Spirit, Speed, Saloon, Flow, Viscaya and many more which would take a whole page to list, are all clubs some University students have attended and gained personal experience clubbing.
Daniella Cutugno, a senior speech language pathology major, has attended some clubs in Manhattan and enjoyed them, such as the club Spirit.
Cutagno, a 21-year-old, said, “It’s a mix environment. Upstairs is hip-hop and it’s pretty thugged out and downstairs is techno like club kid type.”
For those who are familiar with the club Spirit like Cutugno, “Now they brought in the Sound Factory club because the resident D.J. was Johnathan Peters but overall, I would definitely recommend anybody to go.”
Most people go to the club to look good and impress. For the most part, people go to check out the ladies or the guys. Raleigh Gibson, 20, explains his experience at a club called Webster Hall.
“Webster Hall is pretty tight. They have a whole bunch of dancers and Thursday and Friday nights, it’s 18-years-old and up,” Gibson said.
Although clubs has their good side, they have their downside as well.
“The D.J. plays techno a bunch of times and won’t switch it. I guess it depends on what night you go.” Gibson, an undecided major, said. “On the second floor, they have a lot of VIP rooms. I mean my overall experience of Webster Hall is hot and a bunch of girls there too.”
There are people who’d rather party all night whereas some like to just lingo at the bar to some music and if they decide to get their dance on, then they go to the dance floor. Larissa Kuzan, a junior accounting major, gives her insight on club Saloon located near Manhattan College.
“It’s really nice and has like three bars. It’s more of a bar scene than big club scene,” Kuzan, the 20-year-old New Jersey native, said.
Even though Friday and Saturday nights are popular to go out, other nights of the week are popular as well.
“A lot of [people] attend that club Thursday nights. Mostly college kids go there,” Kuzan said.
So for those who just want to converse and meet others around the same age as themselves, Saloon would be the spot.
So ok, now you’ve got an insight on some clubs in the city, but what about a club that has a whole different style and music than the rest? Most clubs in Manhattan are similar with a unique difference that makes it a little spicy such as club Copacabana. Copacabana, a 21 and over club, is a Latin club with mostly Latin music such as Merengue, Salsa, Bachata, Reggaeton and other types of music to vary. Broadcast journalism major, Tathiana Rosado loves Copacabana.
“I like the atmosphere and the ballroom dancing because they dance Salsa, Merengue and other Spanish music,” Rosado said. “It’s different from American clubs. Besides atmosphere, there are different types of dancing instead of one style.”
So then how about a person’s experience actually working at a club? Is it really fun? Pride’s middle linebacker and defensive end, Joey Lewis, said, “It can be a rough field because some people wants to start fights with you just because you’re trying to do your job.”
Lewis, a Bio-Chemistry major and pre-med student enjoys his job as a bouncer well, besides the chaos that occurs.
“I like it because our job is to make sure our customers enjoy themselves and leave with a happy face and knowing that they will always be welcome at the club,” Lewis said. “It’s also difficult because you have to take care of people who disrupt others from having fun such as a person who has had too much to drink or trying to prevent people from fighting.”
It may sound like a cool job but dealing with these kinds of episodes comes along with the package such as standing for long periods of times according to Lewis.
“But mainly, our rule is to protect the benefits and safety of people,” Lewis said.
Some clubs Lewis has worked as a bouncer is club Coda, Strata, Deep and 40/40.
Even though everyone has their own personal experience clubbing, everyone should have an experience at a club. It is a moment of joy and part of one’s youth.