Atlantic City Weekly

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He doesn't go gentle into that good nightlife. After entering with arms wide open in his early 20s, Tony Penza DJ'ed at some popular clubs, and, most recently, built a company that hosts VIP parties. Just over 30 now, Tony has one more surprising side: His five-day-a-week job as a mechanical engineer. He spoke with us after a typical day of providing consulting services to client Princeton University, just before the evening magic began in Atlantic City.

How did your "king of A.C. nightlife" reputation start?

On my 23rd birthday, one of my best friends took me to the Casbah. I'd never been to a nightclub. One trip, and that was it for me. I'd go every week, even by myself. Since things were so new then, sometimes you waited three hours to get in. But I got to know the DJs, and people got to know me, and I started getting special privileges ... and that was that.

You blazed ground as a DJ for a few years.

Everyone wanted to be a DJ. I'd always loved music, and now I had these connections, and I didn't want to start small. I wanted to be a Casbah DJ! As timing would have it, it just worked out because that summer they decided to put a DJ on the outside deck to play hip-hop and house music. After that, I did Caesars' Sandbox, and then Club Worship. I also learned a lot about the nightclub industry from helping out DJ Mo Green. Once my own DJ career ended, I still needed a reason to go out Saturday nights. Other party cities, like Montreal and Vegas, had VIP services, but Atlantic City didn't, so [I] started "VIP in Atlantic City."

How do you build that kind of business, make clients feel the magic?

With everyone I knew by that time, I only had to put a couple other things together, like finding ways to book rooms, limo services, entertainment. My promise is to give people the best. The special part is rolling into a place and it's "Hey, Tonyyyy." And I'm saying, "Here's my guy, I'd like to introduce you to ...." They know we're coming in, and we get special treatment. The DJs will shout out to our clients, or maybe they'll show our clients' pictures up on a screen. When you're with me or one of our other hosts, you're special.

You've got this Clark Kent thing going.

Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm, it's mechanical engineering. The key thing is the setting, the desk job; I can answer phone calls and e-mails as soon as they come in, as long as it doesn't affect my work, which is my bread and butter. That's the hand that feeds, and I'll never bite that. But my daytime job is a career, and my nightlife is a passion.

You recently started promoting Dusk, the new club at Caesars.