Club Reports: Scholars DTO, Noir Lounge, YAZ, Houndsmen Lounge, Palm Tree Club

Friday night in the city and we decided we would concentrate on new and newer venues. We began the evening at Scholars DTO.

Scholars is located where Frosty's Christmastime Lounge once operated. Just a small crowd on-hand during our visit. 

There is one DJ booth out in the arcade hallway. No DJ last night but a prerecorded track was playing Hip Hop hits.

There's another DJ booth in the back of Scholars itself. We're told they have DJ's playing EDM and House in here when they expect a crowd because of downtown events. Their target market is the college crowd but with a name like Scholars we were expecting some "college" theming but there wasn't much that we noticed.

 They do have multiple shiny disco balls so you know the place is legit. We'll report back when the place is crowded.

Around the corner in the former Suite B Lounge space is the new Noir Lounge.

The venue is immediately recognizable but it looks like the bar may have had a new facade put on it. It was early but no other customers during our visit.

The DJ booth is raised and now located at the far end of the room. It was here we found DJ Daniel (USA) playing mostly Hip Hop.

These wall cut-outs are still located over in Sammy's corner.

Those flared columns also remain.

The raised platform in the corner was installed by previous ownership under Arena Art Bar. The platform has been extended towards the rear of the venue for these VIP booths. Besides Suite B Lounge and Arena Art Bar, other clubs that operated here include Ann Teague's Lamp Supply, Sports Club at Celine, Peek Downtown and Knock Knock.

They do have a shiny disco ball so you know they're legit.

While it was empty during our visit, we're told they draw a late crowd. But they're surrounded by other Hip Hop clubs so there's a lot of competition in the area.

The first two clubs were brand new but our next stop was at YAZ and it's been around since about May.

The entrance door now brings you directly into their main room which is home to this large bar. Previously they were using an entrance door that took you into a side room.

In the booth we found DJ JPRZ (USA) playing House.

It was only 11PM so still pretty early but no one dancing. We have seen some crowds here during prior visits. No shiny disco ball.

Some great House music! And Miami-based DJ Daizy (USA) would be playing around midnight so the place would get crowded later.

At this juncture we vacated downtown Orlando and headed to newer club district Live @ The Pointe located at Pointe Orlando along International Drive. Made up of five dance clubs, they've suffered their first fatality with the closing of Houndsmen Lounge. The beautiful venue made up of dark woods and dark lighting never caught-on.

It will be replaced with Still Lounge by Snoop Dog (USA) and Dr. Dre (USA). No opening date announced yet.

Our destination within Live @ The Pointe was Palm Tree Club, the EDM venue owned by DJ Kygo (N).

Wasn't sure what to expect but we walked into THIS!

The opener Miami-based DJ Boy Meets World (USA) was still on when we arrived.

Dance floor was mobbed!

And then at 12:15AM, with little warning, there they were.....

DJ duo Sidequest (USA).

Their PR kit describes them as a "fun duo".

That would be a total understatement. They bounced in place pretty much their entire set and were as animated as we've ever seen anyone.

Palm Tree Club doesn't have a shiny disco ball but they do have a shiny disco palm tree.

You can never go wrong with Go Go girls.

The music was mostly EDM but there was also some Hip Hop hits in there, some Trap and a surprising amount of Dubstep.

Spotted in the Tech booth, DJ Alfred Michael (USA) controlling the sound, light and visuals.

Also spotted in the Tech Booth: DJ Cue (USA), Pete Manos & Ed Benoit. Pete reminds everyone about the Epyklandia Hotel Takeover taking place over EDC Weekend next month. Whether you're looking for an EDC afterparty or an EDC alternate party, there will be 3 days and 3 nights of music delivered by Florida's best DJ's...and then some! We will have a separate article with all the flyers dropping soon. More details HERE.

Crazy set!

A good time was had by all.