From Havana to the Copacabana

NYC's Hot Spot is Still the Dance Destination

By Taylor Rau

When a club has as much history as the Big Apple's Copacabana, what else can you really say about it? Plenty, in fact, as its legend and lore are as true and alive today as the soulful beats that echoed around its dance floors and wafted from its doors in its World War II-era revolution of revelry. Decades later, Copa's loyalists are still cranking out sizzling tunes from successful bands, and guests are lined up on the same sidewalks their predecessors trod, anxious to enter and enjoy the Latin-inspired experience for themselves.

At the Copa…

But perhaps it's unfair to label the Copa as Latin influenced — or possibly influenced at all — as its hallowed walls, albeit not in their original location, have housed an epicenter of beyond-the-borders entertainment and inspiration for untold artists, musicians and patrons.

“Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis started at the Copa and ended at the Copa,” says Glee Ballard, general manager and longtime employee. She articulates the club's history back to its roots, but says the current 48,000-square-foot Copa, which reopened its doors on 560 W. 34 th St. in October 2001, has been a highly successful silent witness to great sounds, large crowds and profitable promotions — modern but never forgetting its past.

“That feeling of nostalgia was a great bonus and is a great bonus,” Ballard says. “…We've gotten to taste so many aspects of parties and for that we're blessed.”

Latin Latitudes & Attitudes

Although the club's environment has influenced everyone and everything from the television hit “I Love Lucy” to film settings for “Goodfellas” and “Tootsie” to the memorable Barry Manilow song of the same name, Ballard says her staff and owners John Juliano's, Peter Dorn's and Ronald Hollick's formula for success has changed little.

“It's not surprising or hard to win a race when you have a good race car,” she says. “You just have to learn to drive and drive it well.” And in the 27 years since the club's management strayed from Disco and into up-tempo Latin music, their track record reflects that successful drive — largely by number. Ballard says after booking the best Latin bands in the business for more than 25 years, today crowds of 3,000 (median 30-years-old) regularly come through in a night, most of which indulge themselves on the venue's 6,000-square-foot main dance floor and catch the visual entertainment of The Copa Girls, a team lead by Melanie Torres, who are similar to Salsa go-go dancers and perform on three mini-stages during the three-times-a-week Latin Nights. Salsa bands such as El Gran Combo, Tito Nieves and Oscar de Leon, and Merengue bands such as Sergio Vargas and Tono Rosario have proven popular with guests.

Ballard says Salsa and Merengue are the top two genres at the Copa now, but Cumbia, Español, Bachata, fusions and others are still in demand. The club also has a Copa orchestra as well for in-house production or for outside band support. Perhaps surprisingly, Hip Hop is sometimes played there as well –– to satisfy a demand, Ballard says. Second to the Latin music, American music such as Hip Hop, House, R&B or the occasional Disco can be heard. With the Latin bands, Ballard says crowds typically peak on Tuesday nights around 10 p.m., around 1-2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Often, the headlining band will begin as late as 2 a.m., keeping the Latin rhythms flowing until 3:30 or 4 a.m.

“Basically, we are the home of Salsa and Merengue …we've chosen our path, despite the trends.”

Heady Decisions

Many trends, though, are set — rather than spited — at the Copa. A prime example is the French vodka brand Cîroc, which Ballard says was initially launched there and introduced to the local area and beyond.

“Latin people are, by nature, two things — status aware and loyal,” she says. “If you do break a product and it works, it's hard to unbreak it.”   The beverage inventory at the dance-driven venue also may not encompass everything, but what is stocked is carefully chosen and consistently profitable, she adds.   

Bestsellers for Copa's core clientele include Johnnie Walker Black, Johnnie Walker Blue (Green soon to come), Belvedere and Jack Daniel's. She says Jack ‘n' Cokes, like Cîroc, gained their local popularity from the club's push. House rum Bacardi and house vodka Smirnoff are guest and profit pleasing, and Ballard says she also observes high sales of Moët White Star and Hennessey. And while Hpnotiq and Appletinis have had their play (and Cosmos still do), Copa's volume winner is as classic as the club itself: the Long Island Iced Tea.

“There's nothing in the Copa that's beaten by the Long Island Iced Tea,” she says. “…Latinos drink strong drinks, and they hold their drinks well.”   Bottle service is also a huge earner with the clientele, she adds.

A newly implemented draft beer program installed by Budweiser supports the club's spirits offerings with Heineken, Bud Light and Budweiser on tap, something Ballard says was a heavily weighed but extremely satisfying managerial decision. She says it has eliminated much of the mess resulting from ice tubs and empty bottles in addition to hauling in big revenue, although her emphasis is on keeping the lines clean at all times for best results all around.

The beverage programs also compliment the Copa's food offerings, primarily snack food such as pizza but including Asian cuisine and Kosher meals that are second to none. The club's renovated kitchen was a $1 million-plus project, and Ballard says the food and beverages are worth every penny.

“We definitely have enough respect for the kitchen to do it after 27 years,” she says. “…The food is not secondary at the Copa, and the attention to it and budget for it is not secondary.” Neither is Ballard and company's beverage enthusiasm on their quest for guest/budget-pleasing beverages.

“The best products market themselves through taste or by being affordable, but if they do both … everyone is set, no matter how trendy … Our focus is really not on beverages but on entertainment, but we don't deny our customers good products and values.”

Sound Marketing

If the best products market themselves, Copacabana seems to adhere to that maxim. Advertising and marketing for the club is budgeted month to month and is four-wall focused (though radio plays a large part), and Ballard says the positive results are evident.

“We do a lot of price structuring to keep people coming, so there's a lot of ways for people to come to the Copa.” Additionally, redeemable coupons accessible on the venue's self-run Web site are effective, with as many as 1,500 coupons coming back each week.

What really keeps customers coming back week after week, though, is the club's sound marketing — or rather, its marketing of sound. Ballard says the traditions of old have been recently paired with new technology, and the atmospheric, acoustic results have kept the suspended dance floors packed. Ballard says the club's sheer size and open layout made this especially challenging.

“They were concerned about quality and wanted the best sound system in New York City because of their name and who they are in the business,” says Kevin Zambrana, president of Zambrana Productions, who maintain the Copa's systems. “…That, plus the fact that they have a heavy demand for quality sound as the premiere Latin club in the world which hosts world-renowned Latin acts three to four times a week. There is also demand from the many private events (the club hosts) that require high quality sound reproduction.”

Zambrana and Ballard say the Harman Professional/JBL VerTec system they collaborated on (vertically aligned arrays of speakers), teamed with strategic lighting for stage and dance floors, have met guest and management expectations. One way to meet the demands while keeping the budget from ballooning out of proportion was to go with a system that was fully integrated, where all the pieces were designed to operate together, thus optimizing the interoperability, while containing costs.

“We're truly as much a venue as a nightclub,” Ballard says. “…and we have to have the pit crew, too.” She says the roughly 100-person staff works like an extended family, learning the technology out of necessity and constantly making adjustments. With such pivotal, versatile sound and lighting, Ballard says format changing for promotions (such as Asian Night or bar mitzvahs) is typically as simple as the moving of tables and chairs.

“In a half an hour, we can go from a sit-down dinner (850 person) to ‘Here comes the band.' It's literally a turnover in many ways … and that's an expertise that's come over the years as a team.”

The resulting entertainment experience for generation-gapping guests may be well captured and voiced by Ballard.

“For myself, the Copa has been a huge part of my adult life. My everyday thinking throughout the day could involve the Copa … sooner or later, everyone has come here for one reason or another.”