Last time I was in Los Angeles to visit my family, my friends were also in town for a little golf and relaxation.  What do 4 Korean dudes do on a Friday night in L.A.?  A night out on the town, but not just any town, the most infamous K-Town in the United States.

At the suggestion of some “locals”, we decided an opportunity to go “Super Clubbing” could not be missed so we decided to go to Le Cercle: Super Club.

As we walked into the club to our table, we saw neon lights and dancing poles and my first thought was “Is this a strip club or a dance club?”  We sat down at our dimly lit table and waited for our source of courage for the night to arrive, also known as Johnnie Walker Black (JWB).

The club was starting to fill in and immediately I noticed several differences compared to New York.  For one, the ladies were way more attractive with their fresh tans and their revealing outfits.  Although I would later find out these perks were at the cost of … smarts.  Second, the guys seemed less clean cut, dressed like they were still in high school wearing baggy jeans and a polo shirt about 2 sizes too big.

After about 2 drinks in, our waiter comes by holding a girl by her wrist with her friend right behind her.  They’ve officially been “booked”.  I pour the ladies a shot of JWB as we introduce ourselves and try to figure out if there was any love, or at least, lust is in the air.  Unfortunately, after the second shot, the girls left giving us some lame excuse like “We both have to go to the bathroom” which is a euphemism for “Not interested!”  No problem though, that’s what booking is for!

For the rest of the night, anytime either I or one of my friends wasn’t in the company of a lady, our waiter would bring someone new to our table.  That’s called booking.  Some say it’s like speed dating and others say it’s simply a more efficient way of meeting people without the awkward pick up lines you’ll experience at other clubs.  I believe as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into “It’s all fair in love and war.”  And to be honest, I’ve known people who ended up getting married because they met each other through booking.

I’ve often wondered why people choose to go to a booking club and I’ve heard several different responses from both men and ladies.  The men?  Well, what better way is there to forget your insecurities than for girls to come to your table to drink and talk to you.  The women?  Most girls say “It’s fun” or “It’s a great way to spend a girls night out”.  Whatever the reasons are, at the end of the night, they too are meeting guys and getting to drink for free!

It’s worth checking out at least once if you’re Korean American.  In Los Angeles, Le Cercle and Velevet Room are two places to give booking a try.  In New York, there’s a Circle Club that unofficially offers booking.  And, if you’re in Korea, well you’re in the motherland so I doubt it will be tough to track down a good booking club.

To conclude, I’ll leave you with some interesting quotes from real people.

Raymond (on Circle New York) - “Another note about the crowd, if you have a table and bought the bottle of whatever you bought, BE CAREFUL. You WILL be USED and your alcohol WILL disappear as will the girls you DRANK (past tense) with as they “disappear” to the bathroom.”

Lisa (on Circle New York) – “I spent my time dancing the night away.  Guy-to-girl ratio?  All I can say is that I always had a guy to dance with… ^_~ *heh*”

Matthew (on Le Cercle, L.A.) - “Just like last time, I went to the front of the line and asked for my host, Rambo.  Just a side note.  Rambo is a great host.  He works his tail off to make sure our table is having a great time.  AND from what I’ve seen, he does a pretty good job of picking out the pretty girls to bring to our table.  Too bad he can’t pick them by personality…”

Jinra ( on Le Cercle, L.A.) - “t’s huge, the music is decent and there’s ample room to shake it. If you have a vagina, $90 split between 4 others entails your own place to sit, a fruit platter, Crown and mixers. Not bad considering, it’d cost more elsewhere. I also loved that there isn’t much fuss getting in, table or no table. Possibly a sign of the times though. I’d go again.”

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