The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Dead clubs

Faces, Cambridge, Massachusetts
closure reason: died with disco (1990)

 

The Starck Club, Dallas
cr: unknown (1989)

 

The Cave, New Orleans
cr: ceiling collapse (1931)

 

Le Palace, Paris
cr: drug trafficking (1989)

 

The Living Room, Providence, RI
cr: building declared unsafe (1991)

 

The Blitz Club, London
cr: declining attendance (1989)

 

Air, Tokyo
cr: unknown (2016)

 

Golden Pudel, Hamburg
cr: fire (2016)

 

B018, Beirut
cr: bombing (2014)

 

Heartbreakers, Columbia
cr: insider deal (early 2000s)

 

Elgin Jailhouse, Aberdeen
cr: fire (1998)

 

Florida 2000, Nairobi
cr: evicted (2013)

 

The Booby Trap, Winter Park, Florida
cr: criminal activity (2015)

 

The World, East Village, NYC
cr: owner found dead on the premises (1991)

 

Disco Schatzi, Hagegrunn
cr: fire (2012)

 

In Extremis, Sarasota, FL
cr: demolished

 

Bongo’s, Bradenton, FL
cr: demolished

 

Stowaway Club, Newport, Wales
cr: fire (2018)

 

Bangor Cave, Blount County, Alabama
cr: illegal gambling (1938)

 

Reina Nightclub, Istanbul
cr: attacked by ISIS (2017)

 

La Favela, Bali
cr: gas explosion (1992, 43 killed)

 

Sari Club, Kuta, Bali
cr: terror attack (2002, 202 killed)

 

Christian Audigier Club, Las Vegas
cr: bankrupt (2014)

 

Arma 17, Moscow
cr: shut down by the Russian military (2016)

 

Art of Lovers, Osaka
cr: prostitution (2013)

 

New City Club, Tokyo
cr: structural instability (2014)

 

King Xhmu Discotheque, Sapporo
cr: unknown (2014)

 

Enchanted Forest Teen Club, Dayton
cr: burned (1972)

 

La Belle Angèle, Edinburgh
cr: arson (2002)

 

Proscape Gardens, Memphis
cr: unknown (1979)

 

The Bitter Lemon, Memphis
cr: unknown (1972)

 

Club Oberá, Oberá, Argentina
cr: paranormal activity (2013)

 

Lolito’s, Moscow
cr: front for a child prostitution ring (2014)

 

Cocanut Grove, Boston
cr: burned (1942, 500 people killed)

 

The Station, West Warwick, RI
cr: burned (2003, 100 people killed)

 

40/40 Club, Atlantic City
cr: destroyed by Hurricane Sandy (2012)

 

Medusa’s, Chicago
cr: lost its lease (1992)

 

The Hospital, Montreal
cr: no business license (2005)

 

Sutthisan Rama, Bangkok
cr: financial crisis (2004)

 

Cross Club, Prague
cr: safety code violations (2014)

 

The Tunnel, NYC
cr: non-payment of rent (2001)

 

Xenon, NYC
cr: declining attendance (1984)

 

The Doors, Johannesburg
cr: mass murder on premises (1997)

 

Pyyzm, London
cr: onsite rape and murder (2013)

 

Eclipse, Coventry
cr: continued drug arrests (1995)

 

Gatecrasher One, Sheffield
cr: burned (2007)

 

Pusher, Manchester
cr: police drug crackdown (1974)

 

Kettells, Seattle
cr: unknown (2009)

 

No Comment Club, Paris
cr: unknown (2014)

 

Cabaret du Néant, Paris
cr: waning of ‘clubs that celebrate death’ fad (1867)

 

The Nsect Club, Hampton, VA
cr: weak attendance (1995)

 

Cousin Bill’s, Oklahoma City
cr: tornado (2012)

 

Hillbilly Ranch, Boston
cr: burned (1980)

 

Chandalier, NYC
cr: unknown (1985)

 

The Metaphysics, NYC
cr: destroyed by WTC collapse (2011)

 

The Electric Circus, NYC
cr: outmoded (1970)

 

Shorty’s Underground, Cincinnati
cr: floor collapsed (1995)

 

Panorama Club, Portland
cr: unknown (2003)

 

The Odyssey, Los Angeles
cr: burned (1981)

 

Coconut Teaszer, Los Angeles
cr: foreclosure (2006)

 

The Starwood, Los Angeles
cr: unpaid taxes (1981)

 

Gazzarri’s, Los Angeles
cr: irreparable earthquake damage (1993)

 

Clifton’s Pacific Seas, Los Angeles
cr: declining attendance (1960)

 

Floodlights, Beverly Hills
cr: never existed (2000)

 

Nafta Club, Nazare, Portugal
cr: building collapsed (2002)

 

The Adventurers Club, Orlando
cr: unknown (2009)

 

Mystic, Malta
cr: mass suicide on premises (1970)

 

Honey Moon Trail, Rock Springs, Maryland
cr: owner murdered (1963)

 

JB’s, Flint, Michigan
c: burned (2014)

 

The Magic Kingdom, Indonesia
cr: bomb blast (2002, 180 killed)

 

The Cave @ Homa Chateau, Gullin, China
cr: flooded (2014)

 

Lavish, St. Louis
cr: unknown (2002)

 

Old Joanna’s, Swansea
cr: burned (1998)

 

Dady-O Nightclub, Cancun
cr: drug trafficking (2014)

 

Luv-a-Fair, Vancouver
cr: safety code violations (2004)

 

Memory Lane, Cayman Islands
cr: collapsed (2003)

 

Cabaret de l’Enfer, Paris
cr: demolished, replaced by supermarket (1950)

 

Satellite Lounge, Cookstown, NJ
cr: fire

 

Majestyk, Leeds, UK
cr: fire

 

The Axiom, Houston
cr: too many drug overdoses

 

Cheetah, Venice, CA
cr: fire

 

Playboy Club, NYC
cr: outmoded

 

The Vault, NYC
cr: destroyed during West Street expansion (1996)

 

The Mineshaft, NYC
cr: health code violations (1985)

 

Palladium, NYC
cr: purchased by NYU and demolished

 

Charlie’s Club, Moore, Oklahoma
cr: tornado damage (2014)

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. The critic and filmmaker and the blog’s very own Steve Erickson interviewed Zac and me about PERMANENT GREEN LIGHT under the title ‘The Suicide Vests of Cherbourg’, and you can read our back and forth here if you like. ** Steve Erickson, Thank you so much for the interview. It came out really well, and, yeah, I’m very grateful! Yes, I was tempted to drop a comment to SmellMyFear to the effect of ‘Why Starbucks?’, but, alas, I did not. The Hammer album sounds to be super interesting. I’ll definitely score it. Everyone, In addition to Steve Erickson’s interview with Zac and me, which is linked at the p.s.’s head, he has a few other real goodies for you this weekend, in his words … (1) Here’s AS THE HEATWAVE ENDS: A PLAYLIST FOR THE END OF AUGUST 2018. (2) Here are my reviews of Robert Greene’s BISBEE ’17 and (3) my review of Blake Williams’ PROTOTYPE.** Sypha, Hi. I will admit that discovering olivertwisted was not an unpleasant experience. The Cyberflix games were CD-roms. I don’t know if they’ve been technically revamped for current day usage. I hope so. Very unique, at least at the time. I’m going to hold off on getting Shenmue until I get back from NYC and have a short work break. Yum. ** Amphibiouspeter, Hi! Yeah, I can’t quite put my finger on the unlikeable aspect either. You have a great weekend too! ** Alex rose, Alex! Maestro! I think the slaves are better for one-on-one wars. Can I be a general of your army? Like … please? With sugar on top? Your no news is like others’ news windfall. Ha ha, Gary is many things in addition to be a superb writer, and one of the main additional ones is bitch, as I can say from far too personal experience. So much of a bonus to get to shoot the opposite of shit with you! Spend your Friday on sheer luxury. Big love, me. ** Statictick, Hi, N. Thanks for spending some of that hotness on here. I think Bullwinkle lunchboxes are worth a pretty penny now. ‘Inhotim and Bernardo Paz’? Don’t know about that, I don’t think. I’ll go find out. Thanks for wanting to get to NYC. Yeah, hopefully the film will get to you somehow. Bon weekend. ** Jamie, Hey, man! It was so great getting to not only meet you but hang very qualitatively yesterday! I devoured half of that cheddar cheese the very second my front door clicked shut, and, man oh man, more thanks on top of my spoken word thanks! Yeah, that bookshop seemed like a serious pipe dream, but nice that the walk occasioned and inspired wandering, one of the things this place is best at providing. Ha, it would make a good album cover. Maybe for your long awaited solo album? What do you say? Well, I hope you guys have huge fun for the rest of your time here and then post-here. And I look forward to when wifi and you hook up again. We can share our war and peace stories. May your every accidental encounter with Bono this weekend involve him making a respectful beeline around you. Crown jewels love, Dennis. ** Misanthrope, Bud. As in buddy not as in the smokeable kind. Unless you prefer the latter. I wonder if any of my friends were in frats back in school. Huh. I’m going to ask every last one of them, even the women. I think it’s a pretty rare thing when you see people with unlined faces and non-grey hair at those ‘revisit the past’ band gigs, so OMD are lucky dogs. ‘You never know’: abso-fucking-lutely. I hope you feasted on sleep or vice versa last night. Oh, how is ‘The Meg’? That seems to have the potential to have the kind ‘disaster movie’ badness-meet-blast effect that I seem to like. ** Bill, Hey. Yeah, I ended up choosing some happy ending slaves that time. I don’t know what came over me. Well, I guess if one is what one owns, as seems to be a popular mode of thinking about self-identity these days, and if one stores one’s things in the effected area, … maybe? Sorry, that was quite a stretch. I obviously need a weekend too. Christine Schutt, yes! She’s great! I should spotlight her in a post, and strange that I haven’t. Have the most weekend-iest weekend ever. ** Okay. I did a post on today’s topic years ago, and, out of pure curiosity, I decided to make a brand new one, and there you go. See you on Monday.

16 Comments

  1. Amphibiouspeter

    Hey DC,

    I’m pretty sure Pryzm still exists, but it’s like a chain so maybe that specific one closed down. I reckon everyone here will be able to reel a list of their own ones as well, so mine are: the Arches, Glasgow which shut down because a few people died at the club, it was a big deal because the clubnights funded an amazing arts program which is now just gone; Buffalo Bar, London which was the go to place for indie clubnights but the lease wasn’t renewed because property was going through the roof; Lomo in Porto, technically not dead but RIP the vibe. Shame because that was the best place I’d ever been in my life.

    It is super sunny here again, so wishing you a great weekend!

  2. David Ehrensten

    Ou-sont les Clubs D’Antan? These were scenes of a perpetual “Now.” No future was connected to them so we couldn’t see their end. No past either.
    “Tamburlaine” was my favorite.

  3. Sypha

    New City Club, Tokyo, looked like a very cool place, but that it was structurally unstable isn’t a shocker. A club called Lolito’s turns out to be a front for a child prostitution sex ring… who’d have thunk it? Kind of sad to read about the Palladium and Tunnel closing, as they both featured prominently in the novels of Bret Easton Ellis (the former appeared in RULES OF ATTRACTION and the latter appeared twice in AMERICAN PSYCHO). The Station Fire was, as you can imagine, a HUGE deal here in Rhode Island… that was a big news story here for awhile. It’s funny, I’ve been to so very little clubs in my life but I find them very fascinating.

    Sadly I won’t be tagging along with Misa to NYC next week for various reasons, the main ones being that physically and mentally I’m just not up to it. As I told him it’s been a hell of a summer: the hideous heat notwithstanding (this was the hottest August on record in Rhode Island, and I’m sure Rhode Island wasn’t alone), my parents had various health issues to grapple with that ratcheted up my anxiety levels (mostly resolved now), plus my own health issues (and the stress of proofing my novel), and the usual work stress on top of that… well, it was pretty rough going! But I hope you have a good time.

    Last night I started reading LOCUS SOLUS (while listening to the new Troye Sivan on my Walkman, ha ha). This is one I’ve wanted to read for awhile now, ever since I saw it on your top 50 list, but I’ve kept putting it off. But my interest was raised when I saw it mentioned in a book that came out this year called THE STAR OF GNOSIA (by my friend Damian Murphy, and which I highly recommend to everyone on here, he’s a splendid writer), and in that collection there’s a story where one of the characters hypes up that book as well, so I decided to finally give it a shot. Only read 21 pages or so so far but already I’m very much enjoying it.

    • _Black_Acrylic

      The Damian Murphy book’s not yet released in the UK but I’m keeping an eye on it.

  4. Misanthrope

    Dennis, The interesting thing about your “dead” posts is how they coalesce something that I think we take for granted or just don’t think about much. You know, the way things come and go and most times we don’t even blink but once or maybe twice, and then we go on as if those things had never been there in the first place.

    Yes, that OMD concert was full of teens. I think I told you that Andy McCluskey even stopped and said at one point, “Somehow, our demographic gets younger as we get older.” Even he noticed it from the stage. And I’d look around during a song, and they were all singing along to every word. Really nice to see, in a way.

    Funny thing, too, about the tall guy effect at a standing-room-only concert…or this particular NO concert. There may have been five people there taller than I was. I found that interesting.

    Well, Kayla went out with friends last night for her friend Anna’s birthday. They went to DC. I got a call at 3 a.m. that she’d blown a tire and needed to get picked up. Luckily, it was in our city, about 5 miles away. She didn’t have a jack or tire iron and didn’t know how to change a tire. My tire iron didn’t fit, so we’re going to take care of that today. About ready to leave, actually. So yeah, nice broken ass sleep! Ugh.

    I’ll give a report about The Meg later. I’ll be seeing it this afternoon and then hitting that Mexican restaurant later. Then writing some more tonight. But yeah, there’s not much out right now in our area movie-wise, so I’m up for some mindless fun. Also, my friend, her mother had a heart attack a couple weeks ago -she’s okay- and she needs a day/night out (with me, hahaha) to relax and get a little stress relief.

  5. Bill

    I’d totally hang out at some of these clubs, sigh.

    No Comment Club looks like a haunted house! Did you go, Dennis? I was at the Golden Pudel for a fun gig a few years ago; sad to hear of the fire. And sorry to hear the old standby Medusa’s is gone.

    Yeah, I’d love to see a Christine Schutt day.

    Look forward to enjoying Steve’s interview with you and Zak, and the other goodies over the weekend. Have a good one…

    Bill

  6. Jay

    My art teacher in HS was a gogo dancer at The World and Tunnel, and lived in it for a while. He’s told me many crazy stories about the place and the Club Kids. Seems like a really twisted and weird sense of community they had. He talks about it with nostalgia, even though he wanted to kill himself by the end of it. Wonder how he’d feel about seeing the clubs close. I guess it’s the weird contrast between a place full of people and then it become empty, and this idea I got that clubs kinda keep people’s secret lives, so once they close its like those parts die with them and the secrets burn up. Great post, as always.

  7. Jay

    Sorry if I commented twice. I think the first time I tried, it didn’t work. So here you go:
    My art teacher in HS used to be a gogo dancer at The World and Tunnel in the 90s, cuz he was friends with Lisa Simpson and Michael Alig. We get together every so often to hang and every time he’s told me so many crazy stories about these places and the Club Kids. Its a very twisted and weird sense of community they had, specially with how hedonistic and reckless they were, or so it seems to me. He’s always really nostalgic about it even though he wanted to die many many times. I sent him this post to see if he’d spill some more stories, but I wonder how he’d feel about the clubs closing. I have this weird notion that clubs hold peoples secrets and when they close, its like those secrets die with them. Also the thick contrast between a nightclub chockful of people suddenly emptying out. Its like a carcass of some sort. Thanks for the post Dennis, great as always.

  8. h

    Dennis! See you soon in NYC! x

    PS. I like the title of that interview piece. ‘The Suicide Vests of Cherbourg.’ It’s certainly scary, but it sounds innocent too. Strange. I shouldn’t say further though. It’s a tricky discussion in public.

  9. Steve Erickson

    Thanks for the praise for my interview. I came up with the headline in about a minute, when my editor asked me to supply it after I came home from the exhausting day of my film shoot, read the E-mails which had accumulated during the day and saw that he needed something really quickly.

    The new Troye Sivan album is excellent. I’m working on a review now, which will hopefully appear in Gay City News. (This may sound really petty, but I’m not pleased that Capitol Records still hasn’t responded to my request for a free download and I went from listening to a stream they sent me 2 days before release to Spotify.) It’s not particularly leftfield, but the songwriting is very strong, he’s a talented singer and the constant back-and-forth between ballads and club-oriented songs really works. His lyrics aren’t very sexually explicit, but they’re nonchalant about describing a young gay man losing his virginity through anal sex and seeking out hook-ups with older men on Grindr, which aren’t exactly common subjects in top 40 singles. (I wonder if “Seventeen” will prove controversial with the “CALL ME BY YOUR NAME promotes pedophilia” crowd.) As far as quality mainstream pop (that actually sells, unlike present-day Charli XCX or Carly Rae Jepsen), Ariana Grande’s SWEETENER is the only real competition I’ve heard this year (and she pops up for a duet with him.)

    I remember New York’s Limelight club. The amount of drug sales and use that went on there resulted in its Canadian owner being deported. I walked past the building a few years ago and it was clearly still in use, but I don’t think it’s still a dance club. The first time I went there (to see some rock band I no longer recall), I thought “someone will try and sell me drugs.” Sure enough, within 90 seconds of entering the club, a dealer asked “Do you want to buy Ecstasy?” I also remember MTV VJ Matt Pinfield introducing the band and getting booed and deluged with plastic beer cups. I definitely saw the rave-lite group Utah Saints there, where the drugs would’ve made more sense.

  10. _Black_Acrylic

    Like Amphibiouspeter says, I’m sure we can all think of our own lists of dead clubs and it’s a weirdly enjoyable thing to do. I just found a site that lists various Leeds ones and it really does trigger the ol’ Proustian involuntary memory reflex. Ah the Orbit was an awakening, such a formative experience for me and my schoolfriends.

    Alex was round today to discuss our plan for Thursday’s Yuck ‘n Yum presentation at the Creative Dundee event. I have a list of 7 slides and I’ll say a few words on each, with Alex joining in to discuss this year’s Interregnum show in Seattle. What I plan to do is gather together a few YNY statistics: how many issues there were, how many artists, that kind of thing. We might even shift a few Compendiums, you never know your luck in a big city.

  11. chris dankland

    hi dennis !!

    i had a quick question — will the event on thursday september 6 in nyc show the film? or will the film only be shown on wednesday september 5? i have tickets to the 5th, but i’m deliberating about whether i should go on thursday event instead. i definitely want to see the film.

    i hope everything is going well with u 🙂 the cave seems like the coolest club to me, if it was actually underground like that. i don’t want to get crushed by a ceiling collapse though

  12. Corey Heiferman

    The elaborate palaces and dark holes in the wall each have their appeal. Weird for me to see night clubs getting coverage and advertising on local TV.

    The most important dead night club to me at this point is the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv, the wreck of which has stood on the shore for almost two decades as an unofficial living memorial to a bombing that happened there hurting and killing very young victims. I used to pass by the place more often. Now it’s finally being demolished and built over.

    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-demolition-begins-at-abandoned-dolphinarium-on-tel-aviv-beachfront-1.6095427

    I really enjoyed the Wojnarowicz show at the Whitney. Everything was asking to be worshipped and seemed to fit in to a personal iconography. I wanted to look at everything. The galleries were very well organized, though I must admit that to me the new Whitney is a very sterile building with a very fun fake fire escape bolted to its side. When I walked out of there I felt like spray painting the lid of a garbage can. I didn’t end up actually doing it, but I think this kind of itch to do it yourself is the best sign that art struck a chord.

    Things just went right on this trip to USA. Plans came through. Expectations were met. Obligations of varying degrees of fun were carried out. I guess I was hoping and fearing a more exciting trip where the country would either seduce me or vomit me out. Instead, the whole experience briefly reconnecting with the people and places I’ve left behind here has felt warm but also cold, like a cordial coffee with an ex.

    My next big adventure travel wise is Berlin for a week in October, with a possible day trip or two outside the city. Does anyone here have any suggestions?

  13. JM

    beaut, best post in a while, fictionalized nonfission and pressurized angst. delicious

  14. echoman2000

    Gracias.

  15. d

    Excuse me, but the death notice of Hamburg’s Golden Pudel Club have been somewhat exaggerated.

    It’s alive and barking, now owned by the Golden Pudel foundation, i.e. protected from any real estate schemes.

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