Posted on: Friday, November 1, 2002
THE NIGHT STUFF
Zanzabar gets the party started on Thursdays
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer
|
| Kenny Murray of Schofield Barracks sings along with his favorite hip-hop tune at Zanzabar on a recent Thursday night. Music at Thirsty Thursdays leans toward Top 40 R&B hip-hop and a bit of old school.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser . . . • What: Thirsty Thursdays • Where: Zanzabar Night Club, Waikiki Trade Center, 2255 Kuhio Ave., 924-3939 • When: 9 p.m.-4 a.m. Thursdays • Cover: $10 • Under 21 OK?: Yes. • Age of crowd: 18 to late 20s • Dress code: No shorts, T-shirts, tank tops (on men), slippers. • Attire we saw: Casual and dressy. On women: dresses, camisoles, halters, tank tops, jeans, high heels, flats. On men: dress shirts, sweaters, khakis, cargo pants, jeans • Our arrival/departure: 11 p.m./1:30 a.m. • What we drank: Absolut cranberry, Stolichnaya vanilla & Coke ($12 total) • Peak crowd while there: About 400 • Queue?: Yes. • Sample music: "Hot In Herre" (Nelly), "Without Me/Billie Jean" (Eminem vs. Michael Jackson), "Play" (Jennifer Lopez), "Feels So Good" (Mase), "Are You That Someone" (Aaliyah) • Dancing?: Yes. • Tip: Over 21 and facing a long queue? Look for a second shorter line or ask security about starting one. • Overheard line of the night: "Where's the love, (expletive)?" — One male to another male, who kept accidentally elbowing him on the packed dance floor. |
Our almost unbearable wait in line to get into Zanzabar's Thirsty Thursdays weekly was made easier only by eavesdropping on some of the other characters in the queue.
An equally platinum blonde mother and daughter complained about their equally crappy boyfriends. A trio of guys spewed angst about whether anyone had seen a recent hit-and-run fender bender they had committed an hour earlier. A girl who looked about this side of 12 — but dressed in a halter most streetwalkers would deem too risque — begged security to let her in without an ID, to no avail.
I found out later that the lengthy wait we endured was mostly because of a mandatory deposit (usually about $20 or so) asked of 18- to 20-year-olds for entry. A Zanzabar manager said the refundable deposit was basically in effect to discourage the age group from any unruly behavior (i.e., any thought of trying to order an alcoholic drink) while at the club. An understandable move on the part of club management.
When the 18-20 line gets long, he said, a second one for those 21 and older is started.
Sadly, there was no such line on the night we showed up, and we wound up waiting 30 minutes to enter a club that was — at 11:30 p.m. — still filling up.
So much for the complaints. Otherwise, Zanzabar's Thirsty Thursdays provided a fun, if not necessarily enthralling, early weekend kickoff.
After a trio of newly-arrived women paused briefly near his ringside table, a guy next to us sporting one of the ugliest aloha shirts I've seen recently popped a couple of Starbucks mints into his mouth and adjusted his collar and close-cropped coif before turning toward his boys.
"I'm not gonna be back for a while," he announced confidently. Five minutes later, guess what would-be player was back on the bench? "Stuck up (expletives)!" was his excuse for his lack of success. Uh-huh, right.
Service was spotty. Being virtually ignored by servers for 15 minutes (again, while the club was still filling up) as they cruised by our table wasn't exactly appreciated. Maybe they were waiting for us to make the first move.
As Zanzabar began quickly filling with patrons, we moved to the club's still-spacious main bar area for drinks. Service here was wonderful, particularly from one friendly and attentive female bartender.
Our drinks were delivered in glasses that seemed miniscule for their contents' top-shelf price. Still, they were remarkably punchy. My partner in Night Stuff's Stoli vanilla & Coke was appreciatively light on Coke. Hard to complain about that.
An exuberant — if at times, mildly unruly — crowd worked the humid dance floor's chunky, bass-heavy sampling of Top 40 R&B and hip-hop, mixed with occasional oldies splashes. I suspect we appreciated a long set of anonymous old-school (well, mid-'90s, anyway) booty music as much as a mass of others who rushed the dance floor at its start.
By the time we left, Zanzabar's dance floor was packed, and every seat surrounding it had someone's butt comfortably parked in it. People were still streaming in. Pretty impressive for a weekday morning.
If you can handle eight hours of work on Friday half asleep (or with a hangover), Thirsty Thursdays is a fun, uncomplicated hang.
Got a night spot or club event we should check out? Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005
