Status Clubs: The New Velvet Rope

Exclusive clubs and services are creating private playgrounds for the wealthy and connected

When it's time for a girls' night out in Dallas, Alexa Kapioltas doesn't waste a minute barhopping. She rallies her friends and whisks them to the Candle Room, an exclusive lounge voted the "best place you can't get into" by a local city guide. "Some of my friends think it's too hoity-toity, but many of them like the fact that it's a cool spot and that people can't normally get in," says Kapioltas, 29, a marketing executive in an architecture firm.

As more professionals try to maximize their leisure time, many are searching for communities of like-minded people. It's the velvet-rope...

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