The door at Velvet Rope on Pier Street, where the line on Saturday reportedly included 'everyone except one guy.'Photo: Ash Kim / Wazel News
The doorman at Velvet Rope, the Pier Street nightclub, turned away the mayor of Palmetto Bay twice on Saturday night, first at 11:20 p.m. and again at 12:45 a.m. after the mayor returned, witnesses say, "in the same shoes but a different jacket."
The bouncer, who goes by Big Sal and has worked the door for eleven years, told Wazel News he did not recognise the mayor "and it wouldn't have mattered, the policy's the policy."
The policy
Velvet Rope's door policy, posted on a brass plate, reads: "No sandals. No boat shoes. No yacht talk." The mayor was wearing, by every account including his own, boat shoes.
On the second attempt, the mayor is said to have explained who he was. Big Sal's response, reported by three people in the line and confirmed by Big Sal, was: "Then you of all people should know about the boat shoes."
"I turned away a prince once. He came back in loafers. We had a great night. It's not personal. It's footwear."
— Big Sal, Velvet Rope
The shoes, as photographed by a bystander and verified by the bouncer: 'yep, those.'
City hall responds
The mayor's office said the mayor "was in the area for an unrelated reason" and "did not attempt to enter any establishment." Shown a photograph of the mayor at the door, the office said the man in the photograph was "possibly the mayor, possibly someone with the same shoes."
Asked whether the shoes were the ones he wears on the yacht, the office said the mayor "does not have a yacht," then, after a pause, "does not have a yacht at this time."
Velvet Rope's week
Big Sal has also received, by his count, eleven job offers, two marriage proposals and a letter from the harbor board asking whether he would consider "doing the door" at its meetings. He has declined all of them. "I've got a door," he said. "It's a good door. People come from all over to not get through it."
The club has enjoyed its best weekend of the year, with lines around the block on Sunday as residents came "to see the door." Big Sal has turned away, by his count, "two councillors, a judge and a man who said he was the pelican."
The pelican, through the harbor board, has said it was at home.