South Beach

Nocturnal Admissions

ightclubs in Miami come and go like the tides, leaving in their wake nothing more than mounds of club flyers and a few pretty cool memories of nights out on the town. But since the opening of Nocturnal Night Club in downtown Miami was being billed as “The most anticipated club opening in downtown Miami history,” not only because the club was two-years in the making, but also due to the power-players behind the scenes, who could resist the lure of a chance to hang with the beautiful people again. Last Saturday all the elements came together in what I'd say was a true Miami A-List event.

Sofia Vergara and Ingrid Casares at Nocturnal Miami

The white-hot TAI Entertainment team of Tommy Pooch, Alan Roth and Ingrid Casares joined-up with Zack Bush and Erica Freshman to host the opening, and Jared Leto’s Band “30 Seconds to Mars” (who knew Jared had a band?) was to be the main attraction, but just as I was shooting an email over to Zack Bush to guarantee that I was on the guest list, my friend came spilling in through my door…

“I just got a tour of Nocturnal, its amazing,” she gushed. “You are coming with me on Saturday, I just had a meeting with the director of marketing, and so don’t worry about a thing.” Thank God, I thought. Waiting in those horrid crowds at the ropes while the doorman looks you up and down deciding if you have the "right look" was something I never want to do. I want to be known, I want to be right, I want to be in!

Unfortunately, at about 7:30pm Saturday I got the call—my instant VIP hookup said she wouldn't be attending the night’s soiree. The phone call left me still on the guest list, but out of the VIP. Of course I was crestfallen. I wanted guaranteed VIP action. She promised to make some calls on my behalf, but I still hung up the phone in a huff. She called back a few minutes later, trying to make up for it. “Since I am not going, Steph, why don’t you come over and borrow that hot dress you are always eyeing?” My mind perks up—at least if I am dressed the part, my conquest of the Velvet Ropes will be much easier. I relax. My blonde tresses were shining and all I ate that day was a bowl of fresh fruit. I was ready to take this club opening.

A hop-skip-and-a-cab-ride over the causeway and my friends and I are downtown. This is like a whole new experience—crossing the causeway for fun has always seemed like something that ended when I quit bartending, and quit getting out of work at 5am and needing somewhere to go to unwind. Downtown was reserved (at least in my mind) for after-hours only.

We pulled up in front of the club at 11:30 and found two of our friends waiting for us along the outskirts of an enormous crowd. The normal hassle at the ropes is taking place: Everyone is yelling out their own name, hoping to catch a promoter’s attention and have someone realize that they “are on The List.” Listen, kiddos—In Miami, everyone is always on The List. Simply being on the list isn’t good enough any more. You have to be in the know. I scooted past the crowd to the side door- no lines, no waiting. “Stephanie Wilson,” I said, “on Eddie Smith’s list.” and the magical velvet ropes parted, and up into the club we went.

Being that the opening of Nocturnal was so hyped, I basically expected to be disappointed—nothing could ever live up to that kind of buzz. I was so wrong.

Jared Leto with fans during his performance at Nocturnal Nightclub in Miami

When I reached the top of the stairs, I realized that this club was above and beyond what is typical to all other locales. From one glance around the posh interior, I could tell that no expense had been spared on the decor.

House music blared over the state of the art sound system as the light show danced around the walls. We entered from a side stairway and were on the second floor of a three-story, 20,000 square foot monster club.

From the middle of the room you could see down onto the dance floor below, where girls dressed as electric butterflies were flapping their wings, with lights buzzing through the air around them. A quick glance to the left showed a separate lounge area encased in glass, complete with bar. I'm not one to be without a drink in my hand, so off I went with the invitation's promise of “Open Bar” in my mind.

It was only when I asked for my typical Bacardi O and Soda that I realized that it wasn’t an entirely open bar, much to my dismay. But the music in this room was hip-hop, and I decided to shake my thing for a lil’ bit and forget about the prices—they weren’t any more expensive than any of the other clubs in Miami anyway.

Jared Leto's "30 Seconds to Mars" band at Nocturnal Nightclub in Miami

After working up a sweat for a few minutes, we decided to float through the club and everywhere we went we were greeted by smiling faces, gorgeous girls and delicious men… for about one hour. Then it got too crowded. People were swarmed around the two bars on the second floor. The stairways between the first and second floors were packed. Large crowds had formed around the two entrances to the rooftop VIP room. One of my girls even got shoved and took a tumble right in the middle of the crowd, much to the amusement of her boyfriend, who had to collect her off the floor. Although, lets be honest, the fall could have been due to all of the rum and cokes that she collected from the open bar.

Around 1AM Jared Leto's band came on and ripped through six songs. At one point Jared jumped out into the crowd and finished the song amidst his fans.

After the performance we made our way downstairs to check out the scene in hopes of having a little break from the crowd. Down here, there were three bars with no crowds. People were pushing their way upstairs in order to be closer to whatever action they thought was up there and we were free to move and groove on the main dance floor.

At 2:30 my friends were getting antsy, so I told them to go ahead and take off without me. I wanted one last walk through to see if we were missing anything. It’s always easier to finagle your way into the restricted areas when you're smaller in numbers, so I grabbed one friend and we made our way back upstairs. To our delight we found that the rooftop had been opened up and we scurried up the stairs as best we could, being that it was now 2:45am and I was wearing three-inch heels.

Miami!

The party was totally revived when we stepped onto the roof. There were dancers everywhere covered in various colors of body paint dancing on all the massive speakers that surrounded the dance floor. There were two more bars on the roof and they were all lined with the kind of beautiful people Miami is known for, but there were no celebrities that I could see, only our local Miami stars such as Buster from A3TV running amidst the crowd with a camera following him, as always. Look for me on the segment, cocktail in hand, smile on face, busting at the seams about the fantastic party.

We get into the grove on the roof, being that the music was a perfect house mix and ideal for the moment. After working myself into quite a sweat, I take a trip to the ladies and unfortunately catch a glimpse in the mirror. My makeup is gone, replaced by a shine from the humidity. My hair is out of control from being on the roof in the sticky Miami air, made even more intense from the heat generated from all the dancers lost in the moment.

From that one glance, I knew it was time to call it a night- I look like one should look after a night out in Miami, not during. I grab my friend and we float down the two flights of stairs and pour out onto the street where there is still a line of people waiting not-so-patiently to get into Miami’s newest hot-spot. I hoped they would all made it in, but, this being Miami, I knew most wouldn't.
 

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