If you make the rounds, you know the nightclub scene can get old. Fast.
You drink a beer. The records spin. You dance.
Yawn.
But there is little chance of falling asleep at Baja Beach Club in Fort Lauderdale.
Bartender Pete Drollet douses the front of his jeans with lighter fluid and sets a match to it.
He kneels on the bar, lighting ladies’ cigarettes with his crotch ablaze.
Welcome to Baja Beach Club, the second largest entertainment chain next to Hard Rock Cafe.
The clubs are open in seven other cities across the country, including Miami, Chicago and Baltimore. Negotiations are even under way to bring a Baja to Moscow.
A bit daunting, however, is the fact that the club has opened in the Coral Ridge Mall where four others — Tremors, Heat, Pizzaz and Club Vegas — have failed in rapid succession during the past couple of years.
“I’ve watched them come and go,” club patron Lisa Budd said. “They just didn’t happen. But this place will make it because it’s not a typical club. That bartender is one crazy dude.”
Joe Frankel, Baja’s director of operations, said he relishes the challenge of creating success.
“The building’s past makes no difference to us,” he said. “Most of our clubs are in locations where businesses have failed. We make it work.”
They are off to a fast start.
When they opened two weeks ago, about 4,000 people streamed through their doors. During a two-hour grand opening party last Wednesday, 1,000 revelers came to meet, see and dance.
Frankel, who helped put the concept in motion six years ago, describes Baja as more than just another club. It’s an entertainment complex, he said.
“Clubs are not too interesting anymore,” he said. “You come, the disc jockey spins a record, the bartender pours you a drink, you dance. Big deal.”
The nightclub industry has taken a back seat to what people can do in their homes to entertain themselves, he said. “You have to maintain the entertainment factor, or you are out of business.”
Dick Barten, an expert in entertainment management, agreed that it was difficult for club owners to simply provide a bar and band; they need to entertain.
“Years ago, you could just stand up and sing,” said Barten, who owns Southern Nights in Fort Lauderdale, the largest independent entertainment agency in Florida. “Now, you have to dance and have a full-blown act if you’re going to sing.”
The trend goes in cycles, he warned.
“But people can take only so much. Then they start looking for something simpler. Look at Harry Connick Jr. Everyone loves him and he just sits there and sings.”
To stay in business, Baja combines a carnival atmosphere with the seduction of nightlife.
In addition to state-of-the-art light, sound and video systems, there are several bars and a free 40-foot shrimp and lobster buffet to feed the famished.
By June, the 35,000-square-foot complex will boast one of the largest game rooms in South Florida, with 160 machines.
In months to come, customers will be able to wander into the comedy room, or over to the piano bar. They will either bowl or opt for the volleyball court — with sand.
Most entertaining, however, are the employees.
To land a job at the Baja Beach Club, you don’t apply. You audition.
You are asked to sizzle like bacon. Tell a joke. Recall your most embarrassing moment.
“We set the tone that you must be a high energy, super-extrovert,” Frankel said. “If not for our staff, we would be just like any other club.”
He’s probably right. It’s not every day you see waitresses drop their trays to do a choreographed dance to Wild Thing.
Or bartenders juggling bottles of gin while breathing fire.
“It’s what we need. It’s different,” patron Laurie Pood said. “If you come in here in a bad mood, this place will bring you up.”
Drollet, the bartender, blows a whistle hanging around his neck, a signal that something bizzare is about to happen.
On goes a neon-colored swim cap, off go jeans to reveal swimming trunks.
Poised, he climbs atop the bar, then dives head first into a bucket of ice water.
“I’ll come back because of that,” said Alec Anderson, 23. “This will give other clubs a run for their money.”
So far, $400,000 has been spent renovating half the club; the other half will be finished in a few weeks.
The free food and drinks offered during ladies’ night cost “thousands and thousands,” Frankel said.
So how do they plan to stay in business?
Easy. When 1,000 people eat and drink for free, word spreads.
“People enjoy themselves on us, then they stay and spend because they are having so much fun. It’s very powerful,” Frankel said.
Kimba Kemp, 22, agreed. “If you can’t have a good time here, you’re a nerd and need to go home.”
