Demonstrating the reinvention and transformation that often happens in New York, this former Episcopal church once housed one of the city's most notorious nightclubs. The deconsecrated Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was one of Manhattan's most popular nightclubs from 1983 to the early 2000s. The club has a troubled past and attracted more than its share of infamy. Since Limelight's closure, the former church has gone through several iterations, most recently serving as a gym serving area residents.
Legendary Manhattan nightclub Danceteria actually existed in three incarnations. But it was the second one, on 21st Street, which is arguably the most the most famous and influential because it was there that a young Madonna Louise Ciccone was discovered. Unlike some of the city's other famed nightclubs, Danceteria drew an eclectic crowd and hosted performers from a wide array of genres.
From 1965 to 1982, Max's Kansas City was one of the most famous nightclubs in New York as well as one of the most influential music venues in America thanks in part to attracting regulars like Andy Warhol. The club was the work of Mickey Ruskin who worked to create a welcoming space for the city's creative community. Max's began as a pop art and glam rock mecca and later became the center of New York's punk rock scene. The building that once hosted some of the biggest names in both music and art now houses a Korean deli.
For a time in the late twentieth century, the Palladium reigned as one of Manhattan's most well-known nightclubs. It was the province of Peter Gatien, who lorded over a veritable empire of popular--and often notorious--nightspots. Located in a former movie palace, the Palladium hosted some of the biggest names in rock music. The club closed in 1997 and was eventually demolished by NYU. One of the university's residence halls now occupies the spot and bears the name Palladium.
Built in 1886 as a gathering place for the immigrants and blue-collar workers of the East Village, Webster Hall has one of the most colorful histories of any club in the city. It soon began to attract labor leaders and radicals and was the site of many rallies and labor strikes. In the early 1900s, the club hosted the Greenwich Village Balls, which attracted a large following among the Village's gay and lesbian population as well as early drag performers. By the late twentieth century, the club was one of Manhattan's most popular music venues. In 2007, it was named a New York City Landmark.
An otherwise unremarkable series of rowhouses on St. Mark's Place contains a surprisingly colorful history. Built in 1833, the buildings were once used by German immigrants, including the Arion Society, a German musical organization. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the buildings were combined to form a dance hall and ballroom called Arlington Hall. The buildings' most famous reinvention came in the 1960s, when Andy Warhol and director Paul Morrissey hosted the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a series of multimedia events in 1966 and 1967. In 1967, the space became home to one of the city's most notorious nightclubs--the Electric Circus.
Despite being open for only a few years, few music venues can match the illustrious history of the Fillmore East. In its three years, this New York City live music venue hosted many of the most iconic musicians of the late 1960s and early 1970s including the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, and Janis Joplin. The building, which originally housed a Yiddish theater, is now home to a bank, with a historical marker the only evidence of its remarkable history.
The Pyramid Club, a staple of East Village nightlife, opened in 1979. The club was one of the first to popularize drag shows and bring them to a more mainstream audience. It was also a launching pad for a number of musicians and bands, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In the 1980s, the club earned a reputation as a "temple of iniquity," and is perhaps the last of the great clubs of that era still open. The building is now part of the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District.
Club 82 operated from 1953 to the early 1980s and was one of Manhattan's most famous nightclubs and served as a welcoming place for the LGBTQ community. Though it was located in the basement of an unassuming building with virtually nothing outward to identify it as such, Club 82 was home to possibly the largest drag show in the United States. And like other "gay" establishments, it was also reportedly run by the Mafia. But this was no underground dive; Club 82 was elegant, and it boasted a number of celebrity patrons.
For three decades, the Bottom Line was one of Manhattan's most beloved nightclubs, and helped launch the career of Bruce Springsteen and many other legendary performers who graced the intimate club's tiny stage. Unlike some of the city's clubs, the Bottom Line didn't showcase performers of a particular genre. The club hosted a wide variety of musicians, from rock to punk to jazz. Faced with rising rents and declining popularity, the club closed in 2004 despite generous offers from some of music's biggest names who were willing to help the Bottom Line's "bottom line" because of what the club meant to music lovers.
For a brief period in the early 1970s, the Mercer Arts Center served as fertile ground for emerging punk bands in the city. The center was the work of Art D'Lugoff, who also operated The Village Gate, a popular Greenwich Village nightclub. He located the ambitious center on the bottom two floors of the derelict University Hotel, which collapsed without warning in 1973, killing four people and ending the brief but influential run of the center. The site is now home to Hayden Hall, which is an NYU residence.
From 1978 to 1983, the Mudd Club was one of the most popular underground clubs in New York. The B-52s performed on the club's opening night, and it also hosted leading bands of the era such as the Talking Heads, U2, and Judas Priest. The club's name was a historical reference to a physician charged in assisting Lincoln's assassins, and it maintained a gritty, anything-goes reputation. The club was far less famous than some of its uptown counterparts like CBGB, it had a devoted celebrity following. During its relatively short lifespan, the Mudd Club attracted some of the city's most well-known writers and artists, as well as some of the most important emerging musical acts of the era. The building, at the corner of White Street and Courtlandt Alley, has been converted into loft apartments.
For ten years, Paradise Garage was one of Manhattan's most influential nightclubs. The club was instrumental in popularizing dance music and was also an important venue for the LGBT community, which was welcomed. Though the club closed in 1987 and the building was demolished in 2018, Paradise Garage is still fondly remembered and there are still annual Paradise Garage Reunions.
The years between the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion and the early 1980s, when the gay community was ravaged by the AIDS epidemic are often seen as a kind of golden age for New York City's LGBT population. The West Village, in particular, was home to dozens of bars and clubs that catered to gay men, and one of the most popular was the Ramrod, a leather bar on West Street. Tragically, the bar was also the scene of a homophobic attack in 1980. The building, which is now home to Bongo Lobster Rolls, is part of the Weehawken Street Historic District.
In 1986, a former warehouse terminal was transformed into one of the city's most iconic entertainment venues. Until it closed in 2001, Tunnel, as it was known, was the work of "Club King" Peter Gatien, who owned Tunnel as well three other of the city's most famous clubs. The club was famous for its Hip-Hop Sundays, when, on Sunday nights, some of the biggest names in hip hop performed. Since the club's closure, the warehouse building has been converted for retail and office use.
This Tour is a Thematic Tour or Heritage Trail.
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This tour starts at the former location of the Limelight, Danceteria, and Max's Kansas City and includes many of the city's most legendary live music venues of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
