Drais Hollywood came on the scene in LA, dominated the most premium real estate in Hollywood within the new W hotel, and started with a bang trying to bring a little of their Vegas model to LA (sans the actual afterhours). At first, for the first couple of months, it worked. Drais was hot. Everyone wanted to book private events, corporate events, tables, see and be seen at Drais. Once the glory time ended Drais was one of the few clubs in LA to fully execute a sustainable plan. Supperclub LA is the only club to do a similar sustainable approach (just much better).
Drais has within the past few months hit what is close to rock bottom. If you ever look at their crowd waiting in line outside on any given Friday or Saturday night the crowd is nothing but out of towners in all different sorts of dress clearly identifying their out of town status. This is why Drais is the only club to put a distinct warning upon their events. Their warning is “Dress Code: DRESS TO IMPRESS! All Patrons Subject to Doorman's Discretion. Upscale Fashion Forward Attire. No fitted caps or printed shirts with offensive or aggressive graphics (i.e. Ed Hardy, Affliction, etc.)”
Distinct dress code is good. It’s almost impossible to know the true dress code of any given club on any given night ahead of time. In some circles hipster attire for the non-hipster crowd is trending with plastic glasses and jean shorts. In other circles dressing in dresses and heels for any event is a no-brainer. In other circles it’s urban couture with partial cut up and see through shirts and men with distinct labels. The fact that they have to clearly warn people to now in 2012 wear Ed Hardy in LA (where Ed Hardy was over in early 2011) shows who the clubgoers are.
The only good night is Sunday because it is hosted by Dim Mak. Drais Hollywood was the only club aside from Boulevard3 that attempted to refuse to use promoters. The reason promoters in Hollywood exist is to curate specific crowds. When a club doesn’t use promoters it’s highly likely they will not curate a specific crowd, particularly if they not a tiny sized club (such as Hyde lounge).
Even tiny sized Hyde lounge and Trousdale lounge uses Hollywood promoters. They have very distinct crowds on very distinct nights. Crowds are why people go out and why they rave the next day. It’s all about the people inside, it’s not about the club décor or drinks they serve. Drais went crashing because they refused to curate any specific crowd. And now they are left with randoms upon randoms.
Enough to the point where now they actually make people wait outside in line (standard in Hollywood) to seem like a big deal.. and then charge now a $50 no wait vip access ticket. So for $50 you can pay to not wait in line. Which is worth it, if Drais was worth it. The irony is Drais is the same force that makes you wait. So this is a new nightlife twist considering Drais Hollywood could very well decide to make people wait in line now not too look good to passerby traffic, but to make the crowd waiting in line pay an extra $50. Nightlife just got funnier.
