Deep into the dungeons of Zhivago, more commonly known as ‘Zhivs’ or ‘Zhivvies’, is where workers in all realms of Adelaide’s hospitality industry go to get repulsively lit and dance Sunday nights away.
The Adelaide nightclub is well-known for catering for hospitality staff on Sunday nights through means such as free entry and cheeky vodkas secretly slipped over the bar.
An assistant manager at a pub in Adelaide’s north, John, 31, says he’s gone to Zhivago every Sunday for the past five years.
“I’ve been without fail 257 Sundays on the trot,” John said.
He says to utter shock, one of the bartenders at his pub proposed going somewhere different this Sunday.
“To be honest, when Kelly brought it up, I’d never even thought there existed an alternative to Zhivvies,” John said.
“I’ve missed wedding anniversaries, the birth of my second child — purely to get off my face with the team in Zhivvies’ beautiful basement.”
Hospitality Institute of Adelaide senior researcher, Professor Yeo, suggests that only one in 10 Adelaide hospitality workers spend Sundays at home — the rest are at Zhivs.
“If a bomb happened to drop on Zhivago late on a Sunday evening, you can confirm there would be a city-wide collapse of pubs, clubs and cafes within the next week,” Professor Yeo said.
“As a once renowned beer-pouring, dart-punching, tequila-shotting, Campari-drinking bartender — I can relate to how people in the industry love ruining themselves together at the same venue and time.
Professor Yeo says Zhivago is form of ‘psychiatric therapy’ for people in the hospitality industry.
“Sundays at Zhivago is ultimately a hospitality detox event — a time where workers can flush away all the trauma caused by high-maintenance customers.”
Featured Image: McGees Property
THE MANKAD 