Ruby Skye: Sky's the limit at this mega-nightclub
Ruby Skye is not only the biggest nightclub in San Francisco, often filling to its capacity of 900. The level of entertainment is sky high, too. You want the top DJs in House music? Ruby Skye has hosted most of the top DJs in the world, including Armin Van Buuren and Tiesto. The top live musicians? Ruby Skye has presented Alicia Keys, Prince, Rihanna and John Legend.
There’s more. Most nightclubs are all sizzle: flip on the house lights and the magic vanishes. Not Ruby Skye, a playhouse and movie theatre built in 1912 that’s a gorgeous room in any lighting. Victorian embellishments like golden angels and harps on the ceilings are illuminated by 21st-Century light shows, an electric blend of old and new.
The mostly Twenties crowd begins drifting in when the doors open at 7 p.m., but the dance floor and two full bars on either side don’t fill up until close to midnight, when the DJ headliner take his throne above the floor. If it gets too congested, there’s another dance floor and lounge upstairs (the balcony when it was a theatre), where you look down on the DJ and dancers below. In keeping with the theatre theme, Go-Go dancers, fire dancers and cirque-style aerial performers add to the dreamlike scene.
DJ house music rules, with the exception of live performances once or twice a year. Eight large speakers face the main floor and there are four more upstairs—and these are no ordinary speakers. Since 2006, the sound system and the club itself have received awards for being #1 among U.S. dance clubs.
Groups of 4 to 20 can rent VIP areas downstairs, or reserve couches upstairs in the Lizard Lounge or the new 414 lounge (with all leather couches and its own DJ and bar). Those packages cost $240 to $500 and come with your own waitress, bottle service and no cover charges.
All club-goers can order from the “classic traditional” menu, with items as basic as a slice of cheese pizza and as elaborate as Lamb Lollichops on a bed of Mixed Baby Greens with Champagne Vinaigrette, topped with Candied Walnuts and Dried Cranberries.
Centrally located one block off Union Square, the club is open every Friday and Saturday night; most Thursday nights; and one Sunday each month for “Fresh”—the biggest gay/lesbian party in the city. There are also many special-event nights each year; Halloween and New Year’s Eve are killer.
Posted by Bob Cooper
