Club La Vela
Encyclopedia
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
owned by Patrick and Thorsten Pfeffer, and is located in the resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
community of Panama City Beach, Florida
Panama City Beach, Florida
Panama City Beach is a city in Bay County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico coast. The city is often referred to under the umbrella term of "Panama City", despite being a distinct municipality from the older and larger inland Panama City to the east, making Panama City and Panama City...
. It is billed as the largest nightclub in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. While open throughout most of the year, the club has gained most of its fame — or infamy, in the eyes of critics — during the weeks of spring break
Spring break
Spring break – also known as March break, Study week or Reading week in the United Kingdom and some parts of Canada – is a recess in early spring at universities and schools in the United States, Canada, mainland China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the United...
, when thousands of college students converge on the club.
History
If "PCB" is the nation's spring break capital, Club La Vela is arguably its capitol building. Built in 1984 as La Vela Beach Club and Concert Hall, the venue was designed and built by GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Alois Pfeffer. The original venue was much smaller than it is presently, but every year since the club has added nine so-called "theme rooms," dance floors, swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
s, bars and more.
From 1997-1999, World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
hosted an annual episode of WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...
at the venue in March. The purpose of each of the annual "Spring Break-Out" episodes was to gain favor with adolescent and young adult viewers who were not familiar with Nitro.
The club today
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
, trance
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
, rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
; one room also features foam
Foam
-Definition:A foam is a substance that is formed by trapping gas in a liquid or solid in a divided form, i.e. by forming gas regions inside liquid regions, leading to different kinds of dispersed media...
blowers. During summer and spring break, the club also features "The Darkroom," a venue for patrons under 18 years old, and the club periodically hosts "Teenbashes," on Sundays in which the club is open only to underage teens with no alcohol service.
At last count, the club features at least eleven different themed venues, including its famous pool deck and its Concert Coliseum.
Because of its popularity during spring break, Club La Vela has been the focus of numerous media reports and events. MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
has made the club its home during numerous spring breaks over the past decade. The club is famous, or infamous depending on one's point of view, for its bikini
Bikini
The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...
and wet T-shirt contests for women and "hard body" contests for men. Club La Vela has also been featured by E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
and is the home party spot to the "Girls Next Door" and the Playboy Crew, and its original show Wild On...
Wild On!
Wild On! is a travel show that was produced from 1997 until 2003 by E!.The series transported its viewers to the scariest "fun" destinations in the world, from Miami to Milan. It had three primary hosts over the years: Jules Asner , Brooke Burke , and Cindy Taylor...
. Other cable and broadcast channels featuring Club La Vela include ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
, TNT
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
, Travel Channel
Travel Channel
The Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television channel that is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, US. It features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows in African animal safaris,...
, MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
channel Canal Plus and Germany's RTL II
RTL II
RTL II is a privately owned, commercial, general-interest German television channel.It was founded as a second-generation commercial broadcaster in 1993. It quickly became infamous for its perceived "trash programming", comprising lots of soft porn as well as shows such as Peep and many...
and Pro7. Dozens of retail
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
brands have sponsored various events at the club, almost all attempting to attract the attention and business of college-age youth.
The club has been the subject of numerous reports that it has been sold, and is closing to make way for high-rise condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
s. The most recent reports had the club closing after the 2005 spring break rush — but the club remains open to this day. http://www.springbreak.com/index.php/content/view/62/67/
Legal issues
Largely because of its size, popularity, party atmosphere and frequent media coverage, Club La Vela has been subject of several run-ins with the authorities. Occasional troubles with the Bay CountyBay County, Florida
Bay County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 163,505 . Its county seat is Panama City, Florida. The county is best known for its white sand beaches and crystal blue water, where large pods of dolphins swim year-round...
sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
have occurred over the years, with little or no legal action resulting against the club itself or its owners.
That changed in June 2001, when owners Pfeffer, Nolan and Bushwik and club corporate parent Sea Watch of Panama City Beach, Inc. were indicted by a federal grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
of operating a crack house
Crack house
Crack house is a term mainly used in the United States used to describe an old, often abandoned or burnt-out building often in an inner-city neighborhood where drug dealers and drug users buy, sell, produce, and use illegal drugs, including, but not limited to, crack cocaine.In the 1980s, inner...
. The charges stemmed from a raid the previous year on the club. Federal prosecutors intended to use the forfeiture
Asset forfeiture
Asset forfeiture is confiscation, by the State, of assets which are either the alleged proceeds of crime or the alleged instrumentalities of crime, and more recently, alleged terrorism. Instrumentalities of crime are property that was allegedly used to facilitate crime, for example cars...
provisions of the law to seize club property, which they were entitled to do before the trial, but elected to wait until a verdict was handed down. The charges were the end result of a five-year investigation of Club La Vela.
At the October 2001 trial, prosecutors showed the jury BlowPops, chewing gum
Chewing gum
Chewing gum is a type of gum traditionally made of chicle, a natural latex product, or synthetic rubber known as polyisobutylene. For economical and quality reasons, many modern chewing gums use rubber instead of chicle...
and glow sticks that were seized in the raid. The items were presented as evidence of drug use, despite no evidence of actual drugs. After just more than an hour of deliberation, the jury found the defendants not guilty on all counts. http://www.emdef.org/laws_and_cases.html#floridalavela
Despite its legal history, Club La Vela owners claim to maintain a zero tolerance
Zero tolerance
Zero tolerance imposes automatic punishment for infractions of a stated rule, with the intention of eliminating undesirable conduct. Zero-tolerance policies forbid persons in positions of authority from exercising discretion or changing punishments to fit the circumstances subjectively; they are...
policy in regard to drug use and alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
sale to or consumption by under-age patrons.