Favorite Defunct Nightclubs

[pjs]

Pan's defunct restaurant thread started to drift into this area so I thought I'd start a new one. I can think of a couple or so.

Cafe Wha

The first place that served me alcohol without question. I think I was 15 years-old at the time. The drinks sucked and so did the entertainment. Someone outside the club tried to sell me some catnip and readily admitted it was such.

Max's Kansas City

Highlight: Gram and Emmylou.

Lowlight: The Miss Edie Tour. So low it was good, like most of Water's stuff at the time. Miss Edie's MC, Gina S., went on to fame and fortune drummin' with the GoGo's.

The Bottom Line

Their closing really sucks. Notable memories include Chet Atkins and Les Paul, doing the "Chester and Lester" tour.

Also fondly remembered was one of the last US performances of the original Hollies. Notable because their harmonies were exquisite and a fist-fight didn't erupt on stage.

PJ

PS Never dared ordering food at any of these places.

[Pan]

J's on 97 St. and Broadway, 1 block from the apartment building I grew up in. 1 drink minimum (~$7) per set to hear some great jazz performers like Ken Peplowski on clarinet and sax and my old schoolmate Bill Charlap on piano. J said that people on the Upper West Side were too cheap and resented buying even one drink per set, that her location on the 2nd floor of a building militated against walk-ins, and that too few people went there for dinner (truth be told, I had dinner chez les parents first and then went to J's for drinks and jazz).

[mjr_inthegardens]

TWILO... 530 W 27th St, 1994-2000

A mecca for dance music, voyeurism, and perfect sound.

-mjr

[Mayhaw Man]

Max's Kansas City

Highlight: Gram and Emmylou.

Green with envy. Just green.

[Suzanne F]

The Half Note, of distant memory (early 1970s).

Yeah, Bottom Line: Olu Dara, recently.

Lush Life: great sight lines and a big stage, as well as decent food

Sweet Basil: co-owner Phyllis used to be a schoolteacher, IIRC, and she would make sure everyone got and stayed quiet during the music.

[Mayhaw Man]

Yeah, Bottom Line: Olu Dara, recently.

I saw Olu Dara last week-twice.

Extremely nice guy. Charming as a matter of fact. He actually had a memory of something that happened at one of his shows almost three years ago.

He blew the roof off of the tent during his show at the Fairgrounds.

[Suzanne F]

My turn to be jealous. Both of us just love him. And his sidemen, too.

[Splificator]

There are so many--I don't even think restaurants are quite so ephemeral as nightclubs. A couple I recall with special fondness, mostly from the early '80s:

Tramps, when it was off of Union Square, for it's being a great bar where you could hear great bar music--Screamin' Jay Hawkins, like that.

Club 57, on St. Mark's Place, for its pateneted version of punk-rock, junkie vaudeville.

The Mudd Club. Great location, down on White St., and all kinds of fashionably weird music.

Lauterbach's in Brooklyn. Like being in a roadhouse in the middle of Missouri, yet close to the R train.

[Mulcahy]

TWILO... 530 W 27th St, 1994-2000

Absolutely.

And Palladium.

[muza]

Twillo and the Paladium were both amazing clubs. To those I would like to add The Shelter. It was called Arc in it's last incarnation before it closed. It is where the NASA parties began. 6 Hubert street at hudson.

[tommy]

The Garage - quite literally, a garage (actually an old gas station). bands would set up in the area where you'd have the cars on the lifts, and they'd sell beer out of a tub in the "office" part. somewhere in the east village. i have no idea where, and i haven't been able to locate the spot where it once was since i went there 15 years ago or so (my NYC geography wasn't so hot back then). i have a feeling it's now a parking lot.

[Blondie]

The Wetlands on Hudson Street. I never failed to have a great time there.

[jeunefilleparis]

Mother in the meatpacking district,,,,,, i believe it was on west 14th ,, they had tons of diffent nights,,,,,,,,, including Jackie 60 which was supposedly a blast though i never go to go to that one,,,,,, they lost their lease the summer of 2000,,,,,, imagine that, i think theres some store there now, bummer.

Tunnel had its moments too,,,,,,,

[Mulcahy]

Tunnel had its moments too,,,,,,,

Yes it most certainly did.

[jeunefilleparis]

Tunnel had its moments too,,,,,,,

Yes it most certainly did.

when i first moved here 6 yrs ago, my first NY New Years eve was spent there, it was totally insane but very fun-the place was huge and and maze like and the bathrooms were strangely coed and you had to pass the guys at the urinals to get to the stalls,,,,,,,,,

ironically, i ve only spent 2 ny eves in the city since then!

[tryska]

Definitely allt he ones alreayd mentioned - Twilo, Palladium, Tunnel, and Wetlands! I would also like to add the Latin Quarter.

[menton1]

What about Studio 54 and the (gasp!) original Copacabana? (60th and 5th)

[tryska]

I wish I had been able to go to both of those. Sadly they were before my time.

[menton1]

Sadly they were before my time.

Sadly, they were not before mine...

[Pan]

It was really a bar rather than a nightclub, but I really miss the St. Mark's Bar, whose space is now occupied by Tribe. I played there the last night they had music. I used to love their Sunday night open post-bop jams.

I also enjoyed the blues open jams at Finian's Rainbow on St. Mark's between 2nd and 3rd, which is now - I just can't remember what it's called now, but unlike the St. Mark's Bar, it was never closed or remodeled, so I'm just missing the music there.

[jeunefilleparis]

I went to one very fun show at Coney Island High when I was 20 and had great memories. I think that I went into shock when I saw what they were building there on St. Marks.

[picaman]

Squeezebox - Fridays at Don Hill's.

Jamie

[Pumpkin Lover]

Centro-Fly and arc both just closed. Centro was okay, but I loved arc when it was Vinyl. No more Be Yourself nights anymore--it's really, really sad.

[WPep]

No more Be Yourself nights anymore--it's really, really sad.

My

They'll be more....probably after the summer. He'll wind up with a weekly thing after traveling the world for a bit.

My favorite defunct places.....Twilo (on saturday), Vinyl, Sound Factory (the original), Centro-Fly (just closed), and Ohm (now Called DEEP....wierd space, but always had fun there).

Oh, and I went to the Funhouse when I was 10.....does that count?

[enrevanche]

Smalls, the dear departed jazz club on W. 10th Street in the West Village.

A little basement space. Rarely if ever did they attract the big names, but for a couple of years it was *the* place to hear up-and-coming young jazz players in the City, who would often show up and jam after their gigs. For a $10 cover you could stay 'til dawn and the non-alcoholic drinks (no liquor license) were free. The best nightlife value in NYC, hands down.