I went to Heartbeats because my...

I went to Heartbeats because my girlfriend is a dancer, and she had asked me to go for morale support on her first night at a new club. I had only driven by Heartbeats a few times while on business in BC, but it had apparently undergone quite a makeover after being taken over by the old owner of the Country Palace (now Angels, in Kzoo). Almost the entire building, inside and out, is covered with gleaming chrome diamond plate, quite the attention getter even at 10pm. It's a little garish, but fits the mood of the place. When I walked in, no one was manning the door, but about 5 minutes later a doorman/bouncer took up his station so I'm still not sure if there was supposed to be a cover charge or not. The place was crowded with a good mix of patrons, but the thug factor was a bit high, if partially balanced by the redneck contingent. I'm not sure how much this had to do with it being amateur night. Overall the feel of the mood was pretty friendly.

Drink prices weren't bad, but they were all like $3.25 or $4.50, and of course the servers don't carry coinage so they expect it to be an automatic tip because most customers pay in whole dollars and they don't even offer to bring back change.

It's not a very large club, but it does seem bigger inside than the exterior would suggest. The center of the room is taken up by a slightly raised, t-shaped stage with one pole near the entrance. There are several, small VIP rooms and at least one "Champagne Room" situated around the corners of the main room. The VIP rooms are for individual couch dances ($20/song), and the "Champagne Room" is for longer term interaction with the dancers ($50/ 15 minutes paid up front, with a "free" bottle of champagne provided when you pay for 2 hours). These rooms are isolated from the main room only by semi-opaque curtains, and have a subtler, more cozy decor compared to the rest of the club, which I would presume is to make customers more eager to spend time away from the chrome and mirrors.