1980s Club Scene NYC
My prime club years were 1984 - 1991. I started very young. Cough. But really, it is true.
I was around for the death of the cavernous clubs (Danceteria, Area, Palladium, Limelight) the birth of the intimate clubs (Nell's, M.K.) the growing East Village and LES scene (The World, Pyramid, Save the Robots) the advent of theme nights and the "club kid invasion" and the rebirth of the cavernous clubs (Tunnel, Mars.)
Things I remember in no particular order, some good, some ugly.
-The utter fabulousness of Susanne Bartsch nights at Bentley's & then Copa. Copa was magic: Dancing to Voodoo Ray with the most beautiful boy and the most beautiful girl in thw world.
-Malcolm Forbes in his "leather" phase always with a different boy-toy.
-Marc Jacobs and his ultra hairy legs in short denim shorts.
-Andy Warhol & Keith Haring.
-One very cold very crowded New Year's Eve on a queue outside The Mike Todd Room of Palladium. RuPaul (before she had a hit single) was hoisted above by the crowd and actually walked on people's heads to get to the front of the line.
-Mutual handjobs with a very cute Aussie named Michael in the restroom (the one you could lock) on the top floor of Mars.
-Lady Hennessey Brown's show at Bentley's...It was like the kind of show you'd expect to see in some dark off the road place a guide in Thailand would drive you to...
-Sound Factory at 5:00 AM when all the familiar club door people and bouncers and bartenders would show up. I remember dancing with Codie Ravioli to "Car Wash."
-Getting to The Garage on one of the last nights before it closed: Dancing all night and getting high with a hundred others on the roof as the sun rose.
-Sitting on the big bed upstairs at MK with Lauren Hutton while we both smoked and drank long neck Buds.
-Getting chosen for admittance by Sally Randall at Palladium when it was really the hottest place and I'm convinced to this day that it was because I flung off my demure black overcoat and showed off my iridescent greenish/purplish Claude Montana blazer. (Uh, it was 1985, leave me alone.)
-Spilling coke on the disgusting floor of the disgusting balcony of limelight and my friend and I licking the floor in a desperate attempt not to let a gram go to waste.
-Getting kicked out of Pyramid with my friend "G" cuz we brought in our own beers.
-Gettting kicked out of Robots with my friend "G" cuz we were doing lines.
-Watching International Chrysis perform one of her last shows ever at Boy Bar. (After she died her friends were going through her things and found a mummified dead man in one of her trunks...Quite True.)
-Having a crush on an "older" (he was probably 30 lol) guy at my gym and the thrill of seeing him, dancing with him and asking him out at Mars.
-Hanging out with a 6'4" tranny named Robi Martin who was having her moment having had speaking lines in both "Longtime Companion" and "Last Exit to Brooklyn."
-Coming home with sometimes dozens of paper invites to other clubs that were handed out at the clubs. Do they still do that?
At some point, I just got bored with the scene. Actually, I think I got a boyfriend who did not like to go to clubs and that was fine with me. By the time I was ready to get back into the scene, it had changed and I did not like it anymore. It had gotten too hard and druggy and violent.
I had a lot of fun but I'm glad those days are over. It was too much work. Too many outfits, too much drugs and not enough sex. Not to mention it is totally for the young. You need to spend hours getting ready, spend all night (and sometimes all morning out) and then sleep half the day.
The funny things is, at the time I always felt like I was on the sidelines, on the outside looking in, when, in retrospect, I was deep, deep inside. I think I just knew too many people who went to clubs the first night they opened so that by the time I went (the second night, literally), I felt like I had missed out--which is clearly ridiculous and just an indication of my insecure self at that time.
I was around for the death of the cavernous clubs (Danceteria, Area, Palladium, Limelight) the birth of the intimate clubs (Nell's, M.K.) the growing East Village and LES scene (The World, Pyramid, Save the Robots) the advent of theme nights and the "club kid invasion" and the rebirth of the cavernous clubs (Tunnel, Mars.)
Things I remember in no particular order, some good, some ugly.
-The utter fabulousness of Susanne Bartsch nights at Bentley's & then Copa. Copa was magic: Dancing to Voodoo Ray with the most beautiful boy and the most beautiful girl in thw world.
-Malcolm Forbes in his "leather" phase always with a different boy-toy.
-Marc Jacobs and his ultra hairy legs in short denim shorts.
-Andy Warhol & Keith Haring.
-One very cold very crowded New Year's Eve on a queue outside The Mike Todd Room of Palladium. RuPaul (before she had a hit single) was hoisted above by the crowd and actually walked on people's heads to get to the front of the line.
-Mutual handjobs with a very cute Aussie named Michael in the restroom (the one you could lock) on the top floor of Mars.
-Lady Hennessey Brown's show at Bentley's...It was like the kind of show you'd expect to see in some dark off the road place a guide in Thailand would drive you to...
-Sound Factory at 5:00 AM when all the familiar club door people and bouncers and bartenders would show up. I remember dancing with Codie Ravioli to "Car Wash."
-Getting to The Garage on one of the last nights before it closed: Dancing all night and getting high with a hundred others on the roof as the sun rose.
-Sitting on the big bed upstairs at MK with Lauren Hutton while we both smoked and drank long neck Buds.
-Getting chosen for admittance by Sally Randall at Palladium when it was really the hottest place and I'm convinced to this day that it was because I flung off my demure black overcoat and showed off my iridescent greenish/purplish Claude Montana blazer. (Uh, it was 1985, leave me alone.)
-Spilling coke on the disgusting floor of the disgusting balcony of limelight and my friend and I licking the floor in a desperate attempt not to let a gram go to waste.
-Getting kicked out of Pyramid with my friend "G" cuz we brought in our own beers.
-Gettting kicked out of Robots with my friend "G" cuz we were doing lines.
-Watching International Chrysis perform one of her last shows ever at Boy Bar. (After she died her friends were going through her things and found a mummified dead man in one of her trunks...Quite True.)
-Having a crush on an "older" (he was probably 30 lol) guy at my gym and the thrill of seeing him, dancing with him and asking him out at Mars.
-Hanging out with a 6'4" tranny named Robi Martin who was having her moment having had speaking lines in both "Longtime Companion" and "Last Exit to Brooklyn."
-Coming home with sometimes dozens of paper invites to other clubs that were handed out at the clubs. Do they still do that?
At some point, I just got bored with the scene. Actually, I think I got a boyfriend who did not like to go to clubs and that was fine with me. By the time I was ready to get back into the scene, it had changed and I did not like it anymore. It had gotten too hard and druggy and violent.
I had a lot of fun but I'm glad those days are over. It was too much work. Too many outfits, too much drugs and not enough sex. Not to mention it is totally for the young. You need to spend hours getting ready, spend all night (and sometimes all morning out) and then sleep half the day.
The funny things is, at the time I always felt like I was on the sidelines, on the outside looking in, when, in retrospect, I was deep, deep inside. I think I just knew too many people who went to clubs the first night they opened so that by the time I went (the second night, literally), I felt like I had missed out--which is clearly ridiculous and just an indication of my insecure self at that time.
posted by Bart at 9:12 PM
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