You're not on the list: Bouncers keep vigilant watch

PARK CITY — For John Beck, head of security for The World Famous Harry O's, capturing a party crasher didn't come any easier than early this year.

Caught on a barbed-wire fence, hanging by his shorts, was a man who tried to scale a fence but didn't quite clear the top.

"He was hanging there. We had to go pull him out," Beck said. "I said, 'What's going on, man?' He said, 'I'm kind of stuck.' "

From scaling fences to name-dropping to putting on disguises, bouncers and security personnel along Main Street in Park City have seen just about everything from people trying to sneak into those exclusive Hollywood parties thrown every year at Sundance.

Harry O's has hosted many such parties attended by Hollywood's elite, in addition to consistently having the best musical performances every festival. Because of that, security typically works until 4 a.m. every day making sure the rules are enforced.

"I've seen it all," said AJ Achekzai, who has helped organize security at Harry O's during the festival for several years. "I've seen people try to jump over barricades. Or there may be a party of 10 and someone will try to sneak in the middle (of the group) and say 'I'm with them.' Why would you embarrass yourself in front of everybody else? It's hilarious."

During Sundance, Beck uses 45 people for security. Many times, multiple security members can be found standing in the cold outside the club at night, making sure only people with credentials get inside.

"We've had people try to crawl through windows and get stuck, people who try to make their own wristbands ... we had a guy last night try to draw a stamp on his hand," Beck said.

More times than they'd like to remember, bouncers at the doors of clubs or private parties will hear people claim they're "on the list" or that they're somebody important and should be allowed in, he said. Sometimes those people get aggressive and even hostile when insisting they're someone important, and they try to tell Achekzai how to do his job.

"I tell them, 'I don't bother you when I'm at McDonald's and tell you how to flip burgers,' " he said.

Maybe the wildest incident Achekzai ever had was the time a man tried to impersonate a UPS delivery person in an effort to get inside the club.

"I said, 'I didn't know UPS made deliveries at midnight,' " he recalled.

The man was denied access and sent away.

There are also times when women, braving Park City's below-freezing night temperatures in extra short miniskirts, will try to use their influence to get inside. Contrary to popular belief, Beck said, at Harry O's, a short skirt will not get you in the door of a private party.