Sugarland Nightclub

Dancing on a box!

I got to dance on a box here and it was fun. The music was good and the crowd was cool. I'm not a club type of guy but this was an enjoyable time. The bartenders were nice, although if you have a beer I recommend a bottle. I had some tap and it really tasted awful. Clean those tap lines, bro!

I've never been to Capone's, but I was intrigued to learn from a friend that they had stopped serving up pizza and started serving up go-go boys.

Oh wait, it's transformed into something called Sugarland, a dark and lusty gay bar/lounge/performance space. The drinks are moderately priced for the neighborhood; bartenders are friendly. Small outdoor patio in the back for smokers.

I really like the space, including the mezzanine with bar stools and cubby-like space underneath with couches.

Went here on a Friday night (10ish) and it was pretty empty; standing by the bar, rocking out to the hip hop/pop music - they were waiting on the 'guest DJ' to show. Am I that old to expect parties to start at 10?! I noticed more cute patrons at the bar as I left (11ish).

I hope they have some awesome things lined up - free pizza is a hard act to follow.

Happy hour: 5-8(?)

space: 3 stars
music: 4 stars
Bathroom: adequate, individual bathrooms.

I have put a lot of thought into what I wanted to write for this review.

NEVER, Have I been to a gay club where I felt like being gay is wrong. Sugarland was my first. DO NOT go to this club if you want to support gay people. Honestly, I was truly and completely disgusted by this club.

I accept that this is not "classy" but I took a guy to the bathroom (as the many gay men that went before me) with me and proceeded to make out with him. I was warned by the bathroom bouncer (why is there a bathroom bouncer to begin with?) that I wasn't allowed to go in with a man. To me this seemed incredibly ridiculous. I can kiss a man in a bathroom in a straight bar so of course at a gay bar it should be okay. So I proceeded to anyway. The bouncer opened the door, grabbed me by the arm and kicked me out, while dumping my beer on me!..FOR KISSING A GUY, AT A GAY CLUB, IN THE BATHROOM!

Thankfully, this was observed by other people and many came to my defense. Thanks for strength in numbers!

DO NOT go to this club if you are a gay man that just wants to be...free to be who you are. Go to a straight bar before you go here, you have more freedom....

This place was disgusting and sad. Disgusting being the root word here.

:(

Ok, enough nonsense, Sugarland! Pick up the pace! I shouldn't need 4 drinks and a face-sucking buddy to start enjoying myself here.

Sugarland has got this tangible potential energy that never seems to get going. I don't know if it's poor marketing or the ravages of a bitter New York winter (psh!), but the crowd here is really inconsistent. Sometimes it's brimming with people dancing and having fun, and sometimes it's dead. Stone dead. Echo! (Echo.)

When it was a nascent gay locale, I was really excited about what Sugarland could offer. Now it's not that interesting and too big for it's own good.

Also, walking into the bathroom is like walking into the sun.

I really want this place to do well, but I can't justify trekking to Williamsburg and walking down Avenue Whateverthehell to join a party that never got started. Nevertheless, I know I'll keep trying.

Sugarland is great if you love dancefloors but hate dancing.

PROS:
-

CONS:
-It's honestly just a clusterfuck of people

ETC:
I've had nightmares about Sugarland. Prophetic nightmares, as I had not been there yet. In my dreams, I experienced the horror of a dance club where nobody danced. Where everyone got on the floor and just stood there, creating an unmovable, unsexable block of humanity. This January I moved to NYC in search of a better life. And this is all I found. A room of awkward hipsters standing, doing nothing but sipping from their cups and chatting with their friends. Sure, you could trying elbowing your way in and dancing but that would like singing at the Helen Keller convention. There was only one gay couple making out. ONE! WHAT SORT OF A GAY ESTABLISHMENT IS THIS?!! Certainly you could have stayed home and talked to your friends? But, no. You had to ruin the dreams of a young lad, in search of gayer pastures.

Fuck you, Sugarland. I leave your rotting carcass to the heteros.

Forgive me, Judy/Babs/Cher/Lady Gaga, for I have sinned.

I feel it necessary to bump up the stars for dear ol' Sugarland because I've been having a blast here lately.

The cover is still $5, but worth it. The DJs have been killin' it* lately, and really connecting with the crowd's responsiveness. Two Robyn songs in a row? DON'T MIND IF I DO.

Still, this place gets really packed and after a while you find yourself squished up against a wall after losing your dance floor space.

Quick tips: go when you're already drunk, fight your way to the bar, and take advantage of the outdoor patio upstairs for smoke breaks and breathers.
__________

* Do people still say that? I feel dumb.**
** Which isn't a huge departure from most days of my life.

sometimes just before the olympics there is someone that is a shoe-in for the medal stand. Her routine is great, her skills are high, her outfit...DAZZLES under the lights of the auditorium. Then, come performance time, her music skips, her triple back is singled, she can't stick a landing, she goes out of bounds, she gets shakey towards the second half, her bow falls out, she misses her double lutz, she smiles and faces each crowd. She waves as her eyes tear.

Everything was there. What happened. Her scores are low. The crows is silent. ALL the potential,....it should have been so easy.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you SUGARLAND.

O Sugarland...

If it's one of those Saturday nights where you want to get kinda sloppy with some friends, dance a little, check out some cute guys, dance a little more... then Sugarland is a great option. I usually always have a good time there because if I'm in above-said mood, Sugarland delivers.

However...
The doorguy is a complete C U Next Tuesday. He is beyond rude, and will pretty much start sh*t with people and act like a supreme diva on a power trip.

Also- I was there last summer, When for no reason, the crackhead DJ decided to pick a fight with me. He threw me against the brick wall and bruised my arm and neck until my friend finally realized what was happening and helped break it up. He was obviously on some roids or drugged out. What made that night remarkable is that the bouncer and security guard made me seem like I was the bad guy and threw me out as the DJ threatened me to my face. Classsss

So in conclusion... Get passed the doorman and avoid the DJ, and you'll have a great time!

This place gets two stars for the hot hungarian go-go dancer and the cute hipster boy who flirted with me.

Otherwise this place is pretty much a mess. No one was really dancing and for a Friday night it felt fairly empty. Drinks were nothing special, the crowd seemed unenthusiastic, and the music was just plain bad.

If I am back in Brooklyn I will be staying at the Metropolitan.

What started out as a rocking graudation party quickly spiraled into disaster when the DJ at my party had nothing but Jazz on his playlist.
Are you kidding me?
My guests, all in their early 20's wanted to dance and get retarded and feel eachother up (we're from brooklyn) and pretty much just sat there waiting for hte DJ to leave. At the end of the party (oh the relief) my posse and I walked around Williamsburg looking for a happening party.
we ended up at sugarland. Because I rolled with some pretty awesome and sexy gay boys we got in with no problem. It might have been my fantastic dress...or that i was a college grad... or my gay boyf was a regular but we got in free.
Then when he told everyone why we were celebrating, we got rounds and rounds of gratis shots.
which then made the room spin round and round. With a beer in my hand, i danced everywhere with everyone. spilled that beer everywhere (my dress was a warzone) and had the time of my life. It was a great end to a terrible party...
Especially great is the drunk footage i have of me leaving the bar.
awesome.