Get your groove on at Boogie Nights
Boogie Nights, formerly located in Lombard, is back and ready to party your platform boots off. (No, not the ones with the dead goldfish.)
Motif: Boogie Nights, attached to Bowling Green Sports Center in a building that used to house Synergy, feels like a throwback to the dance clubs of years past. The club is flashy but in a simple way.
There are plenty of lights flashing all over the place, balloons tied up everywhere you look and a big ol' disco ball hanging from the high-arched ceiling above the large dance floor.
It feels campy, but this is the type of camp that Boogie Nights patrons are looking for. The bar's name itself elicits a vision of what the place is going to look like, and it does not disappoint.
Speaking of the dance floor, it's smack dab in the middle of the club and is quite large. There's a stage against the wall, as well as a platform for the DJ, complete with a zebra-skinned wall behind the booth at the very back.
Surrounding the dance floor are tables, chairs and two bars. Want more? Near the front of the building, there's a staircase leading to the upstairs area complete with another bar and plenty of seating.
Crowd: The crowd at Boogie Nights isn't the usual group you'd find in a Naperville or Schaumburg club. Let's just say the age group skews a little bit older. I'm not saying you're going to run into your mom and dad here, but the odds of bumping into anyone's mom and dad mid-grind are significantly higher here compared to Features or Alumni Club. But hey, what's so wrong with that? And don't tell me you don't have that one friend who finds themselves either attracted to or sought out by the older opposite sex.
Don't worry, though, 20-somethings aren't completely absent from Boogie Nights. The staff appeared to be younger -- and pretty good-looking. I'm looking at you, female employee with the short skirt and knee-high socks.
Service: Quick, friendly service. There are three bars to choose from to get a drink, and waitresses check in on tables frequently.
Liquid consumption: Boogie Nights offers a full bar to help you get into the dancing mood if you weren't already. Also, Sunday night is hospitality night, featuring $1 drinks, $2 shots and $3 bombs. Wednesday is Ladies Night with $2 you call its.
Sounds: Boogie Nights is all about the hits from the '70s, '80s, '90s and early '00s. You better believe the sounds of the '70s and '80s are going to overwhelmingly dominate in a bar called Boogie Nights.
Parking: Plenty of spots are available in the large lots surrounding the building. And if physically parking your car is too much effort, there's a $5 valet.
Cover: $5 cover pretty much all the time.
Overall: Sick of the ultra-cool nightclubs with names usually found on the Periodic Table? Go ahead, pick an element. (Argon? Great place, if you can get in. Phosphorous? They spin the best techno from Greenland. Platinum? The cover charge there is ridiculous but so worth it.) With a club like Boogie Nights, you know exactly what you're getting.
Sure the place is campy and evokes memories of stock footage of people in clubs during the '70s, but you probably already knew that, and that's exactly why you're going.
Boogie Nights
243 W. Roosevelt Road, West Chicago, (630) 231-6000, www.boogienightschicago.com
Hours: 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Saturday