A Couch at Mansion is VIP
We were in Miami, South Beach was filled with warm weather and warm bodies. The beach was lovely and the night life actually went late (closing time for bars is 6 AM). But I was going down to Miami and there is something I have always wanted to do, go VIP. I suppose there is a certain allure to it, but also I wanted one last big hurrah before I went back to school. I have some money now and in three months I will have no money at all. Miami was a big part of this hurrah, but going VIP would be the coup de grâce. So I made it clear to all involved that I was going to be gunning for this and that it would be expensive. Surprisingly, it actually turned out pretty even in the long run, but that part of the story, the justification, is a little whiles away.
So we got into Miami and on Thursday itself we started by asking the concierge at the hotel about getting into VIP at Space. We wanted to do that on Friday, but Space was surprisingly closed on Friday. We knew we could get in to Mansion with tickets, but then we thought, “Why not just go to Mansion in style?” After all, Mansion was the one place I really wanted to visit. We weren’t going on Friday though. I wasn’t wasting my good menu on Hip-Hop night, of all nights. Only thing worse would be Country night…
The concierge told us the basic rules of getting table service, rules I knew. You don’t buy a table, you buy bottles. The number of bottles depends on your level of service and the number in your party. Two-three bottle can get one bottle service, but four-five need to get two bottle service. At four people, we were committed to getting two bottles for our night on the town. That was no problem, we are four individuals with healthy appetites and a voracity for the drink as well. We couldn’t get in contact with the VIP manager at Mansion, so the concierge handed us the phone number and we were in charge of getting our table booked. Tom took charge in this and quickly put a call in, leaving a voicemail. A flurry of text messages later we were on the beach with plans made. A second after the plans were set, a plane flew by telling us that the Watchmen premiere would be on Friday at Mansion. We were going on Saturday however! No worries, for a second later another plane flew by with a banner saying that Britney Spears’ Circus After-Party would be held at Mansion on Saturday. Tom was incredibly pleased and we didn’t feel our time would be particularly wasted.
Fast-forward to the next day in the evening and we had a plan for ourselves, one that included fish for dinner. After all, we were in Miami! We dined at “A Fish Called Avalon” and then walked our way, a little early, over to Mansion. We stood in front of the doors and wondered how to get through the throng. There must be an entrance for VIPs outside this mess. Over to our left Camille spotted a second entrance with less people around it. We walked up to find a handful of girls scantily dressed in school girl outfits and very high heels. Tom introduced himself to the guy at the front and we quickly found out that he was the VIP manager for Mansion, for the night. We showed our IDs, dropped off our credit cards, and were ushered in through the back. That was all too easy. We were taken over to a couch, the music was blaring, but not too loud yet. The girl introduced us to our waitress. We proceeded to sit down and were then told that we were sharing the couch with another table. Essentially we would be getting half a couch. That would have been an issue if we were planning on sitting the entire night. That was clearly not the case.
The waitress brought over our menu and Camille and I chose a bottle of Bacardi. Khom and Tom chose some vodka. We asked for some Coke, cranberry juice, and orange juice as our mixers. Five minutes later we had a large bucket of ice, a lot of drinks, and two bottles nestled into our ice. The waitress cracked open the Bacardi and poured me my first drink. The club slowly started to fill in and before long it was packed. We chose to be on the House music side… This meant less of a crowd and a slightly older audience. Panning around I noticed the visualizations that Mansion was using for its walls. It took me a second, but the recognition came almost immediately. This was the Mac “Flurry” screensaver. There could be no mistaking it. Someone had decided to just let their screensaver run for the screen. It made me chuckle with geeky glee. But I was also getting pretty buzzed at about this time. I walked around the club and took part in the large crowd. The place was huge, but with two DJ booths it got crowded extremely quickly.
The drinking continued and at some point we also bought some Cuban cigars to enjoy the last of our vodka and rum with. We even hung out with our “neighbors” on the couch, a bunch of people from Europe. We were determined to finish our bottles by the end of the night. That end came somewhere around 3 AM and possibly a bit after. We walked home arm in arm for a very good reason. Some of us were still hung over the next morning after getting up. I was in good enough shape to remember the entirety of the night before, save it in posterity if you will in my mind. It is not often that someone like me gets to go for bottle service at Mansion. When you do, you want to remember every moment of it. That is until you get to do it again and I really want to do it again.
