Article on Passion nightclub at Hard Rock

[Guest macboy]

Are the Ramirez brothers going to be working there? ???

 

Club scene getting Atlantic City touch

BY ROBERTO SANTIAGO

rsantiago@herald.com

Where else but at a Hollywood casino can Manhattan and Atlantic City nightclubs open within inches of each other?

Passion, a new $2.5 million ''Atlantic City-style'' nightclub specializing in different themes every night, opens Saturday next to the forthcoming ''Manhattan-style'' Pangaea lounge and Gryphon nightclub in the new Seminole Paradise entertainment complex, 5804 Seminole Way, outside the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood. The club will open at 9 p.m. with a two-hour open bar.

Passion, owned by former Atlantic City club mogul William ''Buddy'' Morton (he owned Deja Vu, Chez Paris, and the Surfside Club), said that Broward is ripe for a wild, trendy club like Passion -- which even offers a ''Chippendales-style'' male strip club called Tabu.

''In the next few years, Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale will join South Beach as a nightclub destination, especially when the casinos here get full-fledged legalized gambling,'' said Morton, 52, whose lavish, two-level club can fit 1,600 people.

Inside, in addition to the Tabu theater, which can hold 150, is the main dance floor, playing hip-hop, that can hold 600. Adjacent rooms -- one for house/dance mixes and the other for rock -- can hold 300 partiers apiece.

Two VIP rooms with separate entrances have bars offering bottle service.

The club could stay open 24 hours, but will likely close at noon, at least on weekends.

Anthony Venutolo, who covers Atlantic City nightclubs for Casino Player and Strictly Slots magazine, predicts Morton will have a hit.

''Deja Vu was one of the few places in the city that nightlife hipsters would flock to,'' Venutolo said. ``It was always packed. As a matter of fact, the club was featured on an episode of HBO's Real Sex, so it kind of had that semi-taboo, hip aura to it. Whenever I was there, the women behind the bar were gorgeous. Deja Vu was always a fun place for eye candy.''

To ensure that opening night weekend will be big, Morton has partnered with radio station Y-100's Jingle Ball concert on Sunday. He expects musicians from Alicia Keys to Black Eyed Peas to professional party person Paris Hilton to be one of the VIPS to venture through Passion's doors for the after-party.

''If they like the scene, I will be very happy,'' Morton said.

Morton is also counting that his theme nights, which may start later this month, will draw in the crowds:

• Sunday will be gay ''tea dance'' afternoon/evenings.

• Monday is service industry night, when people who work at nightclubs, bars, and restaurants can party at reduced prices.

• Tuesday is college night, when students under age 21 can party on the first level, restricted to nonalcoholic drinks.

• Wednesday is salsa night. Next spring, Morton plans to have Latin male exotic dancers entertain at Tabu.

• And Thursday is Empire Events night, which promises specialized hip-hop events for the 21-to-30 ''bling bling'' crowd.

''That's what we have planned now, but if people want something else, we'll give it to them,'' Morton said.

[V. Barbarino]

Deja Vu brings back memories...

4am one night I was 17 at the time with my fake id. I was with my buddy Donny big balls. Donny was parking the car and 3 dudes for no reason tried to beat me up. Right before it went down Donny 6'6 black/white walked over. One of the dudes happend to work at Deja Vu and when Donny went to beat the piss out of them, they gave up life time comp cards. Stacks of them. I use to go all the time. Great fucking club..

As for AC, the best club down there at the Borgata is held down my man Tsettos once a month... Even on New Years Eve... I told LP years ago to build in AC, but he didn't listen to me.

I got Pangea press invite in my email yesterday. Never read it though.

[V. Barbarino]

one last thing, Cooljunkie finally listned to me, they will be running Broward ads....... (take a guess where)

welcome to Broward CJ, glad you could finally join us. Remember one thing in Broward taht you need to do is to cover up your latin or uk accents in favor of the nyc/nj accent...Remember when in Rome do as the Guidos do...

[Guest pod]

Passion looks to be the "commercial" venue for this area, akin to a Bongos or what have you.

[Guest ddg]

johnny is gonna be there on saturdays..place looks really nice...got the preview last week...still needs some stuff done but its got potential...

[Guest djbruno]

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[Guest djbruno]

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[V. Barbarino]

if they get full gambling, then south beach should be dried up with in a year , club wise...

there is no way south beach can exsist with the hard rock, lauderdale and hollywood party scenes.

[Guest JMT]

my buddy talked to a lot the people in their marketing dept for business when they first opened the place. the indians have no desire to get the full class gaming license, unfortunately.

[ryan2772]

if they get full gambling, then south beach should be dried up with in a year , club wise...

there is no way south beach can exsist with the hard rock, lauderdale and hollywood party scenes.

are you kidding me??? south beach isn't going to dry up. 1. tourism, people from around the world come here to see south beach, not some casino. if they wanted a casino, they'd go to vegas. 2. locals will still be going to south beach, we all like variety. plus you got the younghans that have waited their entire pre-pubescent life to go out to the clubs on south beach. and plus the uppitty fancy folk still love their south beach hotspots.

[Guest pod]

There's not enough locals to support the scene as it currently stands. Full gambling would be a bad thing for the Beach.

[V. Barbarino]

There's not enough locals to support the scene as it currently stands. Full gambling would be a bad thing for the Beach.

thank you pod for making sense for these idiots..

LP and CJ both are jumping into broward, that there should open the eyes and ears of the club world....

Without broward and wpb, south beach is in huge trouble, as pod said, there isn't enough to go around now. As for tourists, why stay in over priced hell whole of sobe when you can stay big pimping in lauderdale on a much nicer beach with much more to do.

[V. Barbarino]

my buddy talked to a lot the people in their marketing dept for business when they first opened the place. the indians have no desire to get the full class gaming license, unfortunately.

[move]''In the next few years, Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale will join South Beach as a nightclub destination, especially when the casinos here get full-fledged legalized gambling,'' said Morton, 52, whose lavish, two-level club can fit 1,600 people.[/move]

[Guest JMT]

THE INDIANS DONT WANT FULL GAMING.

[V. Barbarino]

THE INDIANS DONT WANT FULL GAMING.

WHY WOULD A SMART CLUB OWNER FROM AC, SAY THIS IF THE INDIANS DIDN'T WANT IT? DON'T YOU THINK 90% OF THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS TO BUILD A CLUB THERE WAS BASED UPON FULL GAMBLING??????????

dude, get with the program, you make no sense.

that casino with no full gambling has a shelf life of 5 years...

[Guest JMT]

THE INDIANS DONT WANT FULL GAMING.

WHY WOULD A SMART CLUB OWNER FROM AC, SAY THIS IF THE INDIANS DIDN'T WANT IT? DON'T YOU THINK 90% OF THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS TO BUILD A CLUB THERE WAS BASED UPON FULL GAMBLING??????????

dude, get with the program, you make no sense.

that casino with no full gambling has a shelf life of 5 years...

the club and the indians are 2 entirely different things. open your mouth when you know what you are talking about. thats from the people running the casino.

have you even been to the other 2 fleabag casinos they run? they are fucking packed every week and have been since inception!

[Guest pod]

Money talks. If it looks to make a big profit, they will push for it in the end.

The Beach is gonna be in trouble, between the casino area, and Downtown, nevermind the anti-nightlife Beach government.

[V. Barbarino]

THE INDIANS DONT WANT FULL GAMING.

WHY WOULD A SMART CLUB OWNER FROM AC, SAY THIS IF THE INDIANS DIDN'T WANT IT? DON'T YOU THINK 90% OF THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS TO BUILD A CLUB THERE WAS BASED UPON FULL GAMBLING??????????

dude, get with the program, you make no sense.

that casino with no full gambling has a shelf life of 5 years...

the club and the indians are 2 entirely different things. open your mouth when you know what you are talking about. thats from the people running the casino.

again, a smart brillant club owner who operated the #1 club in AC, has spoken, maybe, you should take his word over your buddies word who probably sweeps floors there...

you are like in spaceballs: my sisters brothers cousins etc..... said this... bla bla bla

[ryan2772]

Without broward and wpb, south beach is in huge trouble, as pod said, there isn't enough to go around now. As for tourists, why stay in over priced hell whole of sobe when you can stay big pimping in lauderdale on a much nicer beach with much more to do.

are you on the ft. lauderdale board of tourism? if you're not, you should be...but are you trying to convince me with this statement? hell, i love ft. lauderdale. but people don't fly 12 hours from germany and finland and god-knows-where-else to go to ft. lauderdale. they want to see fancy south beach that they see on tv.

[Guest JMT]

the club will exist regardless of the gaming.

right now the indians keep 100% of the earnings from the gaming. if they step up from the class II license they will be taxed up the ass on all earnings. not to mention, all the added expenses of the facilty, when currently you cant even get into the place on a saturday night its so packed.

i want to see it happen, but its not going to happen anytime soon.

i dont see how having a friend who spoke with their heads of marketing somehow confuses you.

[Guest pod]

The European tourists do go to the Beach, but they do not make up the lion's share of the club money. The bulk of that money comes from regional and American tourists.

I live in Miami Beach, and I can clearly see the casino area as competition for the tourism dollars.

[Guest tres-b]

Money talks. If it looks to make a big profit, they will push for it in the end.

The Beach is gonna be in trouble, between the casino area, and Downtown, nevermind the anti-nightlife Beach government.

The beach will be fine. The majority of people are not going to come to Miami and stay downtown. The nightlife on the beach is suffering some, but blame the inclusion of hip hop into the weekly formats as well as the revitalized downtown for this suffering.

Tourists who come for the beach stay on the beach, not in a casino.

People coming to club it up will stay on the beach and party at Space/Nocturnal etc. not the casinos.

The casino will attract some but not people who are after an authentic Miami experience(whatever that means).

These Disney-style clubs just arent my thing. Give me Space over anywhere in Vegas. There is a character to Space(and similiar clubs) that cant be replaced by lights, interior amenities, etc.

The anti-nightlife movement is just terrible everywhere. These people(same in every city) just push and push for more restrictions. Terrible.

[Guest macboy]

When the State entered into a contract with the tribe to allow Class II gaming, it did so without extracting any financial benefit from the deal. Even though taxes are not paid out because it's on Indian land, the State could have extracted a percentage of revenues from the tribe to seal the deal. Many other states have done this, including Connecticut. Florida was dumb. They won't be the next time when the tribe tries to move to Class III gaming. The state learned from its mistake, and if it approved Class III gaming, it will try to get something out of the deal this time. That's why the tribe is in no hurry to get a Class III license. Right now all they do is make a $100,000 annual payment to the tourism bureau.

Also keep in mind there is a huge base of the population that does not want to see Class III gaming in this state, whether on Indian land or not. They want to be heard, regardless if they don't have a say on the matter.

That being said, there are some financial issues that have come up that may require the tribe to reconsider such a lobbying effort. The IRS is looking into whether the tax-exempt bond deal that was used to finance this project was legal. Normally, these tax exempt bonds are supposed to finance essential government functions, and the IRS does not believe the casino meets that requirement. This could cost the tribe over $200 million if it loses this subsidy. This will be a long drawn out process, but it seems the IRS has already made a preliminary adverse determination against the tribe. The tribe needs to consider the economic impact of such a loss.

Class III gaming would certainly provide them with greater revenues, and would definitely attract greater numbers of people who don't play poker or slots. Class III would not kill SoBe, but the impact will definitely be felt.