Partington agreed, saying that when the occasional patron protests, she asks, "If this is really your ID, why can I peel it in two?...I've had people swear up and down that it's their license, but [when informed they can return when the owner is there to reclaim it], they never come back."

For those whose authenticity cannot be instantly determined, The Kells' doormen have learned some effective tricks of the trade.

"If they don't look like the person in the photo," Jimmy says, "we'll ask a couple questions, like what's their Zodiac sign. If it's an out of state ID, and we don't know the answer to a question, they probably don't either."

Feigned familiarity is another favorite tactic. When confronted with a hypothetical potential patron with a questionable New Jersey ID, Jimmy said, he might say, "'Oh really, you know, I'm from New Jersey too! Where did you go to high school?' Or we'll ask their friends, 'What's your friend's name?'"

"As you get more confident," O'Guin says, "you ask more questions. Terry [a bartender] over there talked to one guy for 5 minutes. There was this one girl last week, she looked exactly like the person in the picture. It must have been her older sister--she knew all the information. We just said, 'Thanks, no way you're 21,' and she walked away."

But sometimes, a little persistence pays off, because bouncers can be wrong.

"If she'd have fought us we would have given her her ID back," O'Guin says.

A Hard Day's Night