When you think you’ve finally learned the ins and outs of NYC nightlife, think again. There is another side of nightlife that most Manhattanites don’t get the chance to experience – mainly because they are too uptight to venture into other boroughs. If you get into the right group of people, they will open your eyes to an underground nightlife scene that will literally blow your mind.

These underground parties go on in surrounding boroughs outside of Manhattan. Here, there are no strict doormen. No one cares what you’re wearing. Guys don’t need to buy a table to get in, and no matter who you are or what you look like everyone will pay to get in.

Before we get into the specific details, do not confuse this as a new form of nightlife that you can pop into instead of going to meat-packing at midnight. These places only exist to those who know about them – typically those within the industry who know someone affiliated with the party.

Which happened to be the case this particular night.

The night began around midnight when our crew decided to head down to W.i.P. As always, the DJ was great and we ended up staying out until  4am. As we were leaving the club, one of the guys in our group invited us to go out to Queens to see his friend DJ. Umm, go to Queens at 4am to see a DJ?! Although I was extremely unsettled about going, peer pressure ensued and I was on my way.

About 15 of us piled into a black Suburban and we crossed the bridge into Queens. After about a 20 minute drive, we pulled up on a side street at our destination. There was no visible club in sight but you could hear and feel the intense base coming from the music inside a big building.

Our guy approached the door and a big bouncer asked who we were with. After a little name dropping we were escorted in, pushed to the side, and searched. We each got patted down and all of our purses were searched. The hostess informed us that everyone would have to pay a $40 cover to get in.

Even though we were with a group of tall, gorgeous girls; it didn’t matter – Manhattan code does not apply here. After we paid, we were let into the main room where people were hanging out enjoying really intense house music.

After taking in our surroundings, we decided to go to the bar for a drink. I usually order a specialty cocktail but I was out of luck. The bar selection was comprised of Deer Park water bottles filled with vodka and Tropicana bottles full of vodka and juice. Each $35-40 – take your pick. We got a few bottled concoctions and sat down at a table next to the DJ booth.

All I kept thinking is wow, people are paying the retail price of Grey Goose for random bottles of vodka (from god knows where). I guess you have to do what you have to do when you want to party beyond legal club hours.

Anyway, our guy informs us that his DJ friend won’t be playing her set until 6am. At this point it’s a few minutes after 5am and I’m crashing. I manage to pull myself through to hear a few beats from this DJ and I’m actually glad I did. The DJ was a hot chick who is apparently a big deal in this after-hours world.

As soon as she took the set everyone jumped up and started going wild. Her beats were sick but I couldn’t hold out any longer – I had to make an exit and get home to bed. I grabbed my girlfriend and we left. It was about 7am and the sunlight hit us hard. As we walked outside, we noticed that there was a line of people waiting to get in.

Apparently this party runs from 4am-2pm every Sunday. How is this possible? What are these people doing up at 7am waiting to get into a club?

We quickly tried to find a cab when we realized we had no idea where we were. Of course, the few cabs we did see only wanted cash to go back into the city. Un-real! We walked a few blocks and finally found a cab that took pity on us and drove us into the city. We stuffed our faces with McDonalds and crashed the minute we walked in the door.

I’m glad that I got a chance to be present for this experience, but I won’t be making any 4am trips to Queens any time soon. I need my beauty sleep so I’ll be sticking to  my midnight rendezvous. Props to the people who can hang like this, they make the rest of us look weak.

Haute Chick