Interview: How To Get Past New York's Toughest Bouncers

Electric Room: Damon

As I make my way down the tunnel beside the Dream Hotel entrance, I see a man, small and stylish, looking rather unassuming. As I approach him, his left eyebrow begins to raise, he glances at my beat-up sneakers, scans me from toe-to-head, and proceeds to inflict upon me one of the most intensely scrutinizing looks I've ever received, as if to question not just what I'm doing at Electric Room but why I even exist at all. This is Damon, the legendary doorman of clubs like Limelight, and he's who you'll have to get past to make it into the Electric Room. So tell me about your background. I'm from Detroit originally. I moved here in the '90s, and my first door job ever was when I did the guest list at Limelight. I was young, so i just accepted it and didn't realize how crazy it was until I got older; everything after that was smooth sailing. I learned everything from there. So what do you look for in people you let in? Obviously for me, style is number one. It could either be cool style or fashionable. And then sometimes you can just have a cool energy, and not be the most amazingly dressed person or amazingly looking person. It's important that you have a cool energy and you're going to add something to the room. What do people offer you to get in? Obviously money. People offer thousands of dollars. People have offered me trips, people have offered me...I'm a sucker for clothes. If you offer me clothes, you'll get in. I'm a sucker that way (laughs). If you offer me something like YSL or Chanel, you get in. That's the secret, basically. What do you do when someone is being aggressive? What's the most you've had to do to keep someone out? Ban them from the property. Ban them from the property for life. Lifetime ban. And what does someone have to do to get a lifetime ban? Just crazy situations. You have to do a lot. I don't want to ban people - I want people to be normal. And you really have to push me to the limit. Someone called me racist one time, screamed it and wouldn't stop, and was going crazy about it. So you know, I'm like, you're banned. [Cover photos via, via]