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National Post Article on Boa
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| Sly_Guy |
Reposted from tribe...
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Arts & Life
Jacob Richler
Not a drop to drink: A nightclub serving nothing but water sounds like a grand idea in theory...
Jacob Richler
National Post
799 words
9 February 2005
National Post
Toronto
AL2
English
(c) 2005 National Post . All Rights Reserved.
Some business ideas seem too good to be true. For example, if a friend or associate of mine had approached me last year and proposed renting a massive, cheap space in Chinatown, fixing it up with little more than a great stereo system, then bypassing the expense and hassle of a procuring a liquor licence in favour of peddling water to the late-night trance-dance set, I would have thought he was mad -- or at best, a decade behind the times.
"Well, we had 4,000 kids pass through Boa on New Year's Eve," Ron Hitti told me of his latest venture, when I bumped into him the other night at the bar at Kubo Radio in Leslieville. "Seventy-five dollars cash each at the door."
You do the math. Even if the crowd was really nearer 3,300, that's ...
"Then," he said, looking still more pleased with himself, "We sell them Evian water at $5 a bottle."
If Hitti's glee offends at all -- and I cannot see how it would unless you are footing the bill for a teenage child -- remember please that he has long known the entertainment business from the opposite end of the of the overhead-vs.-profit spectrum. Which is to say that sector of the restaurant business that notoriously yields the very slimmest profits -- French haute cuisine. Along with the original Boa, his first Yorkville nightclub, Hitti had a share in nearby Brasserie Zola, and also in that costly and ill-fated stab at reviving Winston's, down in the posh heart of the financial district on Adelaide Street.
Boa Redux is situated in a starkly different part of town, on an unapologetically grubby corner of Chinatown, just off Spadina one short block south of Dundas at the listed address of 270 Spadina Ave. Drop by and you will find an awning labelled the Far East Theatre. Bypass that, head south past the Pho 88 restaurant, turn right at the Ginseng King on to Willison Square, and you will find the entrance to Boa at the theatre's former service doors, which are unmarked and painted mahogany.
Pass through by day -- after the club closes at 10 a.m., in any case -- and you will find very little evidence of nocturnal mayhem. The only hint of it is the incongruous scattering of clubland ad cards lying about the filthy sidewalk. A pair of them advertising an appearance by DJ Lady Dana --Queen of the Hard Dance Scene! -- at Viva nightclub in Markham this Friday night night have been wedged in behind the cardboard sign marking the back door to Pho 88, on which someone has written "Camera system on -- anyone dumping garbage here will go to the court." Yet there is no sign of cameras around, only garbage.
Boa opened here nearly a year ago, and I have only passed through once. It is not my scene, I'm afraid. I keep trying water, but I'm just not that into it. And the one time I came here late by night and discovered that water was really, truly the only libation available at the bar, I was out of the place and ensconced in a far more salubrious speakeasy around the corner in no time flat. Attribute it to a generational divide.
"It's weird," Hitti said. "When we were young, we went out to get f---ed up, dance and get laid. These kids just want to get f---ed up and dance."
Whatever is on their mind, you still need to hire a solid security detail to keep them in line. Especially when it comes time to throw everyone out. And on a blowout night like New Year's Eve, you might need 15 or 20 bouncers, at about $300 a head.
What's more, New Year's Eve fell on Friday this year, which means an unusual bonus in recovery time for the party-till-10-a.m. set that won't be repeated next year. Big cash-flow nightclub businesses attract a lot of protection scavengers. Boa needed a pricey new floor to sustain the action inspired by its new stereo. And over in Montreal, where Hitti drew the idea for the club, the old water-dance-and-trance clubs that opened nearly a decade ago, such as Red Light out in Laval, Sona on Bleury, and Stereo on St-Catherine Street, are either closing or retreating into an irretrievable state of tweaky seediness. So maybe the idea is not too good to be true after all.
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Here you are Jay, your political discussion for the day.
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| RobbyG. |
"It's weird," Hitti said. "When we were young, we went out to get f---ed up, dance and get laid. These kids just want to get f---ed up and dance."
Great:rolleyes: ...what a way to get a club noticed...He's basically describing a "Rave"...
Gee Batman...How can these kids get ed up it they don't sell alcohol?...Well Robin the ONLY other way is drugs:rolleyes:
What a great way to promote a club:confused: |
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| Ub3rTrancer |
| quote: | Originally posted by RobbyG.
"It's weird," Hitti said. "When we were young, we went out to get f---ed up, dance and get laid. These kids just want to get f---ed up and dance."
Great:rolleyes: ...what a way to get a club noticed...He's basically describing a "Rave"...
Gee Batman...How can these kids get ed up it they don't sell alcohol?...Well Robin the ONLY other way is drugs:rolleyes:
What a great way to promote a club:confused: |
I got a good laugh out of that quote... It is not like his trying to promote the club to an more conservative older crowd, i dont think itll hurt business at all. |
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| RobbyG. |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ub3rTrancer
I got a good laugh out of that quote... It is not like his trying to promote the club to an more conservative older crowd, i dont think itll hurt business at all. |
I realize that but I just feel that you should NOT "advertise" the fact that your club will have mostly cracked out people...especially to the City of Toronto & the cops...who know...they may already know but still....He should have said something more positive about the "scene" & his club. |
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| Shaya007 |
| quote: | Originally posted by RobbyG.
"It's weird," Hitti said. "When we were young, we went out to get f---ed up, dance and get laid. These kids just want to get f---ed up and dance."
Great:rolleyes: ...what a way to get a club noticed...He's basically describing a "Rave"...
Gee Batman...How can these kids get ed up it they don't sell alcohol?...Well Robin the ONLY other way is drugs:rolleyes:
What a great way to promote a club:confused: |
LOL!
btw has anyone noticed how many times the word Trance's been used in this article?!
I think they sent in the wrong reporter to the wrong club!!
:thepirate :thepirate 7 |
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| The Highroller |
| quote: | | "It's weird," Hitti said. "When we were young, we went out to get f---ed up, dance and get laid. These kids just want to get f---ed up and dance." |
OK USA! What world are you living in?:stongue: |
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| Pettiscool |
what a strange article
i want my 5 bucks for water back :tongue2 |
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| tatgirl |
I'm confused as to why he specifically plugged the Lady Dana flyer in the article...?
And why did he spend a whole paragraph giving directions to the club?
Also, he failed to mention that the NYE party was going til 10am on the SUNDAY.
That reporter sorta sucks. |
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| maxpain |
| quote: | Originally posted by RobbyG.
"It's weird," Hitti said. "When we were young, we went out to get f---ed up, dance and get laid. These kids just want to get f---ed up and dance."
Great:rolleyes: ...what a way to get a club noticed...He's basically describing a "Rave"...
Gee Batman...How can these kids get ed up it they don't sell alcohol?...Well Robin the ONLY other way is drugs:rolleyes:
What a great way to promote a club:confused: |
:haha: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA:stongue: |
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| Floorwhore |
What a poorly written article. Making money off a club with water as its main source of profit seems to be the only thing this guy wants to get across and it took him a handful of paragraphs to do so. Anyone with half a brain is aware that water is only a fraction of the income. He also claims that "water was really, truly the only libation available at the bar", also completely false.
Unfortunately (like others have mentioned already) it seems Rony wasn't aware he was being quoted for an article, and to make it "juicy" im sure Richler was very selective with what he put in there to make him look as smug as possible. If he didn't try to make him look like a money hungry bastard who didnt give a about anything but the mighty dollar would this article have ANY appeal to the average reader? I think not. |
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| maxpain |
| quote: | Originally posted by Floorwhore
What a poorly written article. Making money off a club with water as its main source of profit seems to be the only thing this guy wants to get across and it took him a handful of paragraphs to do so. Anyone with half a brain is aware that water is only a fraction of the income. He also claims that "water was really, truly the only libation available at the bar", also completely false.
Unfortunately (like others have mentioned already) it seems Rony wasn't aware he was being quoted for an article, and to make it "juicy" im sure Richler was very selective with what he put in there to make him look as smug as possible. If he didn't try to make him look like a money hungry bastard who didnt give a about anything but the mighty dollar would this article have ANY appeal to the average reader? I think not. |
It still would have appealed to the average reader since all the other articles done on BOA didn't have the same type of content and people still read them so don't act like this is the first article ever done on BOA because there have been others which have still appealed to the average person.
The guy wanted alcohol instead of water at the bar and just because of that the writer is Satan all of a sudden?
How can you have a news reporter right in front of you who is doing a story on you and your club and NOT know that you are being quoted? |
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