Site of Electric Circus (1966-1971)

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

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.

Images

Stairway in the Electric Circus

The dance floor at Electric Circus

A line of people waiting to get in

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The three buildings at 19, 21, and 23 St. Mark's Place were built in 1833 and by the late 1800s, were part of a burgeoning German neighborhood. In 1870, a German music and singing organization called the Arion Society bought numbers 19 and 21. After a few years, the society moved to another location, and numbers 19, 21, and 23 were purchased by a local brewer and real estate developer who converted the buildings into a music hall known as Arlington Hall.

Arlington Hall also hosted social gatherings and political meetings. It also occassionally attracted some unsavory elements, including elements of organized crime. In 1914, the hall was the scene of a shootout between rival Italian and Jewish gangs. A bystander was killed in the shooting, which marked the beginning of the ascension of the Italian mob over the Jewish mob.

By the 1950s and 1960s, the East Village was increasingly becoming a bohemian enclave. The 1955 demolition of the Third Avenue Elevated, which divided the East Village from Greenwich Village, helped to hasten the neighborhood's transformation into a Beatnik gathering place. It was during this transformation that Stanley Tolkin, a bar owner, took over part of the St. Mark's Place complex to use as a performance space.

In 1966, the venue attracted the attention of Andy Warhol, who, along with director Paul Morrissey, opened a disco called the Electric Circus. The pair hosted a series of near-legendary multi-media events known as the "Exploding Plastic Inevitable." The Velvet Underground was the house band and clubgoers could expect to be treated to projected lightshows, mimes, jugglers, trapeze artists, and experimental theater. Though the Velvet Underground performed nightly, other acts got their start as well, including Sly and the Family Stone, Deep Purple, and the Allman Brothers. The walls were not at a right angle to the floor and that, combined with swirling, multi-colored lights, gave the venue a thoroughly disorienting effect.

In March of 1970, a small bomb detonated on the club's dance floor, injuring fifteen people. Electric Circus never fully recovered from the negative publicity, and the avant garde aesthetic of Warhol was declining in popularity. The club closed for good in 1971. The buildings now house several retail establishments and restaurants as well as penthouse apartments.

Sources

Knight , Michael . 15 at the Electric Circus Injured in Bomb Explosion , New York Times . March 23rd 1970. Accessed September 29th 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/23/archives/15-at-the-electric-circus-injured-in-bomb-explosion-15-at-the.html.

Berman, Andrew . How an East Village Building Went from Gangster Hanout to Andy Warhol's Electric Circus , 6sqft. February 1st 2018. Accessed September 29th 2020. https://www.6sqft.com/how-an-east-village-building-went-from-gangster-hangout-to-andy-warhols-electric-circus/.

Friday Night Fever: The Electric Circus , Bowery Boys History. August 24th 2007. Accessed September 29th 2020. https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2007/08/friday-night-fever-electric-circus.html.

Ross, Alex. The Rest is Noise: Electric Circus, Electric Ear , The New Yorker . April 24th 2013. Accessed September 29th 2020. https://www.therestisnoise.com/2013/04/electric-circus-electric-ear.html.