Booze-Free Dances Appeal to Teetotalers

Dance music pulses through the mirrored, Art Deco-style nightclub as the bartenders hurriedly stir, shake and blend exotic refreshments.

A crowd of adults is partying this Friday night, but they are all sober. There is no alcohol in the drinks.

“It’s a major nightclub. It has everything but the booze,” said Joseph W. Perugini, one of the managers of Club Soda, a no-alcohol alternative for adults who want to socialize without drinking on Friday nights.

“There are people out there that just can’t drink, and they have nowhere to go.”

Many night spots offer dancing in an alcohol-free club ambience for teen-agers, but a boozeless bar for adults is unusual, Perugini’s partner, Thomas Rowlay, said.

“We could pack them in with kids, but at the same time, that’s not what we were looking for,” Rowlay said.

On other nights of the week Club Soda is the Night Life VIP Lounge, a full-service bar. The decision not to serve booze on Friday nights, typically a busy night for bars, was something personal to Perugini, who is a recovering alcoholic.

Fun Without Drinking

“I’m recovering, and I’ve met, through my past two years out there, a different breed of people (who) enjoy life without the sauce,” Perugini said.

“I’m just tired of reading, ‘Just say no to drugs and say no to booze.’ You’ve got to do something. Anybody can say that; it’s time we show people how to live. I feel real good about it.”

Perugini credits Night Life owners Pat Scarpa and Dave DeStazio, his employers for a number of years, with giving the no-booze night a chance.

It’s an idea that Night Life beverage manager Lester J. Szmajlo endorses.

“You’ve got people that maybe shouldn’t be drinking, that don’t want to drink and are off the sauce, who want to come out and have that same atmosphere, a party night, and not get drunk,” Szmajlo said.

Does the lack of alcohol mean a dull crowd? No, according to Club Soda’s two managers.

“It’s like ‘Is there life without drinking?’ Yeah, there sure is,” Rowlay said. “The important thing is, people who don’t drink are no different from people who do--I mean in terms of dullness--because you have some people who don’t drink who are dull and you have some people who do drink who are dull.”