What WERE the best club nights in NY?

[starshaped]

I was watching a program on tv last night about the US scene in the early days.What with the tide starting to change over here with the closure of big clubs and other smaller clubs starting to come through,what were the best clubs in NY which are no more? and why did they end?

[rdancer]

My favorites clubs had to have been TWILO, TUNNEL, and OLD EXIT! the closed cause of DRUGS DRUGS AND DRUGS.

[starshaped]

Originally posted by rdancer

My favorites clubs had to have been TWILO, TUNNEL, and OLD EXIT! the closed cause of DRUGS DRUGS AND DRUGS.

What sort of things did they do to crack down on drugs? Home in London got shut down cos of them and Cream and Gatecrasher got raided a couple of years ago and it's been going down hill ever since for them.

I've heard of Twilo but what music did they play at the other two at their peak?

[danwilson]

MATT HARDWICK, the biggest club ever in NY, was Studio 54 in the late 70s. That was before my time. Twilo played exactly what they play at Gatecrasher. Twilo had Sasha and Digweed as residents for Once a month. Paul Van Dyk was there once every 2 months. They would get, Carl Cox, Deep Dish, Danny Tenaglia was there for a year. Twilo closed because someone was killed there. The Limelight, Tunnel, Palladium were all big clubs. Drugs was the reason they closed.

[ou812]

Roxy in 98-99 when Boris was spinning..............that was a great party.

[starshaped]

Did they crack down big on drugs then?

How long has Limelight been closed? I remember Gatecrasher used to have nights there if i'm not mistaken.

Oh and Matt Hardwicks a dj,not me.

[bLizAnci]

Originally posted by danwilson

MATT HARDWICK, the biggest club ever in NY, was Studio 54 in the late 70s. That was before my time. Twilo played exactly what they play at Gatecrasher. Twilo had Sasha and Digweed as residents for Once a month. Paul Van Dyk was there once every 2 months. They would get, Carl Cox, Deep Dish, Danny Tenaglia was there for a year. Twilo closed because someone was killed there. The Limelight, Tunnel, Palladium were all big clubs. Drugs was the reason they closed.

twilo did not play exactly what gatecrasher did..

vasquez ruled saturday nights..packed weekly...

nobody got "killed" there....

and the club was closed due to pressure by the city and lack of valid permits....

tunnel,limelight got shut down for various reasons...but never for "drugs"..in the end they had to be sold...thats why they closed.

the property of Palladium never belonged to the owners of the clubs...it was owned by nyu...

the underlying reasons might be drugs...but the official legal reasons is never drugs.

-z

[starshaped]

Yeah i kinda knew that Twilo was far more prog/house orientated than Crasher has ever been.

[danwilson]

Matt, the Limelight from 1992 to 1997 was by far the popular club in NYC. That place was so packed. I went there like 10 times and the lines would be so long. The DJs at the Limelight were Rob Corbett and Gonzo. They were amazing. Corbett has a website. www.djcorbett.com You can email him there. What happened, when Rudy Guiliani became mayor. He clamped down on the Clubs. He wanted to shut them down. So they used drugs being caught in the clubs as an excuse to shut some of them down. The Palladium in the mid to late 80s were the biggest Club in the 80s. But in the early 90s, it started to go down and the Limelight became the most popular club. The Palladium's crowd changed in the early 90s. It became like a hip hop type crowd. Corbett played house and some dance mixes. He was great.

[jaysea]

to the kid who said exit? old or new, exit has always blown shit, and should not be compared to Legendary venue's or party's lol

but for me, the best party, was disco 2000 @ limelight it was in the prime of the club kid days and drugs were everywere and Style was STYLE, and people were fucking original, and Limelight was in its spookiest back than, and it was an amazing party

gonzo,keokie,corbett,Rob gee.....lots of dj's spun, and it was a great party, every wed night i would get WET and WORK IT

plus thats when you could roam the whole building freely, and there were so many little spots and secret rooms, and all this crazy shit, the upside down room! was killer!

it was great,

Arena @ Palladium was also amazing, Jr worked it

but to be honest, nothing compared to Junior at the tunnel!

That was insanity.....the silver bedroom, the coke lounge

as we us to call it, lol

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

and SAVE THE ROBOTS!!

carbon, System,NASA......N A S A !!

AREA (Nasa)

Private eye's.....................

Future after hours at octagon!

everything good comes to and end :*(

[starshaped]

One of the clubs mentioned in the program i was watching was NASA,looked kinda cool.

I know that it's house music that has always been the biggest over there but were any of these great clubs trance clubs?

[danwilson]

Sleepiswaste, your wrong. Twilo closed because James Wiest died of a GHB overdose in 2000. I will show you the story. I have alot of links about this story. Go here. http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=James+Wiest+twilo&hc=0&hs=0

Twilo on Saturday was a totally different crowd then on Friday's. The Saturday party is basically what Roxy is on Saturday today. Sasha, Digweed, PVD, Carl Cox were the djs who made Twilo what it was. Read this story.

Week of July 11 - 17, 2001

Feds Steal the Fun From Nightlife

Rave Robbers

by Tricia Romano

Twilo's last gleaming: mourners say goodbye.

photo: J.K. Condyles

It looked like any other vigil: Flowers and candles littered the sidewalk, handwritten screeds and love letters for the lost friend covered the door. People gathered around and took photos, hugging each other and bidding farewell. A few cried, and some danced to the music booming from a silver car parked at the curb.

But this vigil wasn't for a dead rock star: It was for a club—Twilo—which, after a three-year battle with the city, was finally shut down on May 24 when the State Supreme Court Appellate Division ruled that the city did not have to renew its cabaret license. The closure capped a tumultuous year for the club: Last July, 21-year-old James Wiest died of a drug overdose at Saint Vincent's Hospital after a night spent partying at the venue. His mother, Linda Wiest, is suing Twilo. And earlier this year, allegations arose that the club's security personnel were instructed by management to hide OD'd patrons in a small back room, and that the club hired on-site private ambulances, allegedly to avoid alerting 911 and the NYPD. The city had had enough.

While the notion of 40 or so folks mourning the loss of a club is more than a little overzealous, the attendees would do well to shed their tears for what may soon be the biggest casualty yet: the superclub, the trademark of New York nightlife.

Just a few weeks after Twilo shut its doors, its rivals, the Limelight and the Tunnel, also faced possible closure when owner Peter Gatien—no stranger to Giuliani's unrelenting war on clubs and ghastly "quality of life" campaign—had his clubs' liquor licenses revoked by the State Liquor Authority. Though Gatien was granted a stay of revocation on June 21, he has filed for bankruptcy, owing $1 million to the Limelight landlord and $700,000 to the Tunnel landlord, as well as $3.5 million in federal, state, and city taxes. He is now looking to get out of the business. "At this point, you feel like you're playing Russian roulette when you open a nightclub," says Gatien.

Still, with the Canadian club-owner facing possible deportation based on his 1999 guilty plea to grand-larceny charges, cheating the city and state out of $1.3 million in taxes, Gatien says that the Tunnel's landlord is not keen on keeping it a nightclub. "[The city] goes after larger clubs," says Gatien. "They get more press out of it, and the busier you are the more exposed you are."

If the Big Three—arguably the largest and most famous of New York's dance music halls—are all shut, they will leave a massive void that might not be filled. In baseball, they'd call this a home run.

Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington, who heads the city's Multi-Agency Response for Clubs and Hotspots, did not return repeated phone calls asking for comment, but recently told the Associated Press, "We've been closing these little buckets of blood for about three years and paralyzing them."

"No one wants to open up a new venue, the rope has been set so high," says promoter Matt E. Silver, who organized the electronic-music tents for the last two Woodstocks.

Most disturbing, however, is a renewed, national campaign against nightlife. If Giuliani's weapons for fighting clubland are frustrating and archaic, like his enforcement of the 1920s Prohibition-era "cabaret law," which limits movement by more than three people without a license, the new national strategy is even more daunting. Giuliani and his successor will no longer need to rely on such local laws. The remainder of New York's increasingly anorexic club scene now has an even bigger demon to deal with: the feds.

The State Palace Theater investigation began after the 1998 death of Jillian Kirkland, a 17-year-old who collapsed on the dancefloor. Though it is still unclear what drugs she took, the feds' target is clear: Ecstasy.

Though Ecstasy's been a prominent part of club culture for well over a decade, recent drug busts—like last year's seizure of 2.1 million pills (worth $40 million) at Los Angeles International Airport—and a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reporting a substantial increase in use among high school 12th-graders—from 5.6 percent in 1999 to 8.2 percent in 2000—have raised its profile considerably. The federal government has responded with Operation Rave Review—an extension of its War on Drugs—and a new, lean strategy designed to specifically combat "club drugs," a phrase coined by NIDA.

Last July, agents gave speeches at a Club Drug conference in Arlington, Virginia, on the dangers of Ecstasy, complete with slang terms like "rolling" and "candy flipping," and showed a nine-minute videotape of ravers high on E rubbing vapor rub and waving glow sticks, presumably to accentuate their highs.

But, as Gatien points out, drug-free clubs and raves are an unrealistic, impossible goal. "Maximum-security prisons have a big drug problem. You can't expect clubs to be an oasis where no crime occurs," says Gatien.

"The DEA's really locking into the idea that the underground dance scene and the mass distribution of drugs are linked," says Philip Rodriguez, general manager of the West Twenties club Baktun, who was recently granted a cabaret license after a year-long fight with the city. "They've got it in their mind that these issues are twin cousins. It makes me really nervous."

"Rave and rap are bad words in the concert industry," says Matt E. Silver. "If you say you have a rap show, your insurance goes up threefold. If you say you have a rave, you're going to have a community battle."

The DEA's campaign is in some ways just the tip of the anti-club legislation iceberg. Across the country, city governments are using new methods to stem raves and electronic music events, which they see as havens for the use of Ecstasy and other drugs. In Chicago, an ordinance passed in May 2000 subjecting promoters of events in unlicensed venues up to $10,000 in fines (written so widely that even the DJ could be hit); in Saint Louis, Missouri, promoters are now required to end events at 3 a.m.; and, says Patterson, cities like Detroit are using local laws similar to the crack house statute to go after club promoters and owners.

So it's no longer a matter if the feds will use this law in New York, but rather, when. And the biggest question is, Who's next?

"If they succeed with electronic music," says Patterson, "then hip-hop and rock-concert promoters have something to worry about."

If anything, Twilo's closure signifies the end of New York as the clubbing capital of the world. New York's nightlife gave birth to countless fashion, musical, and cultural trends via places like Studio 54 and Danceteria, which existed in a golden era predating task forces and quality-of-life campaigns. Even Madonna, who was a dancer at Danceteria, is a product of New York's club scene. "Clubs are cultural venues in some ways, and they don't get seen as such," says Rodriguez. "Rudy has such a hard-on for our industry, I don't think he knows the difference between the Tunnel and the Knitting Factory."

"It's been rough for all clubs in the last five years, with all these task forces," says Gatien. "The time and energy that used to be put towards creativity is now being put in the defense of the nightclubs."

Matt E. Silver contends that Giuliani's tactics have killed the culture of nightlife. "There were important deals made in clubs. Who knows if there'd be LL Cool J or Run DMC?" says Silver.

The remainder of the New York's superclubs, among them Vinyl and Centro-Fly, are taking a keep-your-head-down, keep-your-chin-up stance. Trying to fly low on the radar, even DJ Danny Tenaglia urges his fans in e-mail posts to keep the glow sticks at home.

While the hard-line tactics presented by Giuliani have resulted in a "safer, better nightlife," according to Twilo attorney Peter Sullivan, it's leaving club owners and promoters caught between a rock and a hard place. "Either way, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't," says Estopinal, echoing a common sentiment.

"It's gotten to the point where you implement all sorts of invasive security," says Gatien. "While it's more fun than a prison, there's a sort of big-brother type of feel when you go to larger clubs."

Likewise, big event promoters are keeping an eye on new developments and reconsidering their security measures, thanks to the DEA's new warfare.

"I've had DanceSafe on the premises, but I would think twice about that," says Silver, who calls the DEA's excising of the chill room an "irresponsible approach by the government." He maintains that hiring private ambulances—which caused an uproar over Twilo—is necessary for any type of large event. "All concerts have ambulances on standby, any festival situation, that's just what you do," says Silver.

"We used the same medical staff as Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium," points out Sullivan.

Many club owners and promoters say that Giuliani's zero-tolerance approach may have the opposite effect, driving kids to small, unlicensed, and unsafe venues. "It's going to go way underground," predicts Kausch. "It's not going to stop drug use."

530 West 27th Street, once the site of New York's most internationally famous techno nightclub, where thousands of glittered patrons eagerly lined the block, is now deserted but for the few hangers-on. A dark gray sky casts an ominous pallor over the street. Empty Red Bull cans roll across the sidewalk, and "mourners" pass out glow sticks in a cheeky wink at the ravey origins of the club.

The car that had been bumping techno pulls away and the crowd thins out. In a few days, the signs will be torn down, the flowers and candles removed—and with Twilo's infamous awning up for sale on eBay there will be few physical reminders left of the club.

Across the street, a sign flashes "No Vacancy" in the front of a small, nondescript building. The sterile facade belies its glamorous patrons.

"Oh, that's Bungalow 8," sniffs a Twilo-ite, nodding toward the new hot spot where models like Kate Moss cavort. "It's an uppity celebrity joint."

[danwilson]

starshaped, yes When Twilo had Sasha, Digweed and PVD. They played Trance. Trance became popular when they became residents at Twilo. Also, Johnny Vicious at the Tunnel played amazing trance.

[bLizAnci]

Originally posted by danwilson

Sleepiswaste, your wrong. Twilo closed because James Wiest died of a GHB overdose in 2000. I will show you the story. I have alot of links about this story. Go here. http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=James+Wiest+twilo&hc=0&hs=0

you keep reading......and i'll keep living.

underlying factors might have been drugs...but legal factors were permits.

-z

[danwilson]

Another story. You know whats crazy. When people would pass out at Twilo. The Security people there would just throw them in back rooms. Thats what they did with that kid who died.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n709/a02.html

A former security guard at a Manhattan nightclub that the city has tried to close said in an affidavit that during his three years of work there at least 100 unconscious or nearly unconscious patrons were pulled into a back room by club workers and left there without medical help.

The club, Twilo, at 530 West 27th Street, in Chelsea, is one of several Manhattan nightclubs that have contracted with private companies to have ambulances wait outside their doors, ready to take patrons who have drug overdoses to hospital emergency rooms. The ambulances allow the clubs to bypass the 911 system and escape the attention of the police, city officials said.

The Manhattan district attorney's office is investigating the practice, which came to its attention last fall when emergency room nurses at St. Vincents Manhattan noted that a large number of young people suffering from acute drug overdoses were being brought in by ambulances run by MetroCare Ambulance, a private company, on weekend nights.

For two years Twilo has been a target of the city, which has alleged that the nightclub is a veritable supermarket for illegal drugs like Ecstasy and GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate. Last summer, a 21-year-old medical student, James Wiest, collapsed on the dance floor at Twilo and later died at St. Vincents.

The former security guard, Joseph Murray, was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment after three revelers at Twilo overdosed and were taken to hospitals in October. In an affidavit prepared by the city in connection with its lawsuit to close the club down, he gave details of that incident, in which he said that Twilo's managers asked him to assist in taking a semiconscious patron to a "safe area." He also said he had seen the same action taken in July with another patron who he later learned was Mr. Wiest.

"During the three years that I have worked on security inside Twilo, I have seen at least 100 instances in which unconscious or semiconscious patrons have been placed in the safe area by security and left there," his affidavit reads. Mr. Murray added that he was told by Twilo managers that "security is not permitted to call E.M.S. or 911 for any patron."

David Maloof, a lawyer representing Mr. Wiest's mother, said he was investigating whether his client's son was left in a back room without medical attention.

Club officials dismissed Mr. Murray's assertions.

"We feel horrible that he is making these allegations," said Peter R. Sullivan, a lawyer for Twilo. "The truth is that Twilo is far and away the safest venue of its kind."

Deputy Fire Commissioner Francis X. Gribbon said that during the incident on Oct. 8, Emergency Medical Service workers responded to a 911 call from the club. The workers were greeted by security guards who said there was "no situation at the club, no patients here," according to an E.M.S. report from that night.

According to the E.M.S. workers' report, as they were leaving, they received a report that patients were still inside the club. E.M.S. workers found a young man and a young woman in a room near the bar. Another patron told the emergency workers that someone had been "moving bodies around the club, trying to hide them," the report says.

Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington said yesterday that the city was still trying to close Twilo. "Until a court gives us an order to close them, there is not much we can do," he said. "We pray that no one else dies."

[jaysea]

sat at twilo was not like ROXY

LOL

some people just will never get it?

[barvybe]

dan, if you read your own article it states that the club was closed after a 3 year battle with the city. that kid died during the last year of that battle. the club was closed due to permits - you'll note that the city simply didn't have to renew the licenses.

its kinda like capone - he was convicted for tax evasion, not for murdering people. the city was after twilo cause they saw it as a world reknowned symbol of drugs and corruption - but they didn't close it for drugs in terms of what legally happened.

Jaysea - as usual hitting the spots on your parties to remember.

as for comparing twilo saturdays with roxy saturdays - i'm not sure i would go there either. different parties. i will say that twilo saturdays were always a sick sick party until the morning with a great vibe.

there have been lots of great nyc parties, kinda all depends on what you get into and where you have family. i used to love friday confusion at centrofly too. when you start going back to nasa, tunnel, roxy boris parties - u definitely get nostalgia and think about all the good times.

[Xpander]

Originally posted by danwilson

Sleepiswaste, your wrong. Twilo closed because James Wiest died of a GHB overdose in 2000. I will show you the story. I have alot of links about this story. Go here. http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=James+Wiest+twilo&hc=0&hs=0

Bullshit, the city had a bone to pick with Twilo for ages. Please, if the reason why the city closed Twilo was because of some dead clubber, Exit, Tunnel, and Limelight should all be parking lots by now. As for drugs? HA! Yeah, because you know...obviously all the other clubs in the city are clean.

FYI,James Wiest didn't get "killed". He died from his own carelessness. Not to mention you're comparing Gatecrasher and Twilo?! Twilo Saturdays and Roxy Saturdays?!?! What kind of bonehead freak are you?!

[DINO nYc]

The Gatien Clubs (Palladium, Limelight, Tunnel, Club USA...best club nyc ever had)

... Gatien's journey into the nightclub business started when his eye was gouged out during an accident at a hockey match. Gatien (pictured above) was 17 at the time, and used the accident insurance settlement of $17,000 to invest into a clothes store. Five years on, in 1983, he used the fruits of his investment to open up the first Limelight club in Florida. During the years that followed, he opened Limelight venues in Atlanta, Chigaco, London and New York, as well as adding The Tunnel, The Palladium and Club USA to the New York circuit. At the peak of his career, he owned the city's four biggest nightclubs. Limelight NY was at the centre of New York's early 90's 'club-kid' culture boom, and the media attention this attracted only served to heighten its popularity ...

... But in 1996, things started to go wrong for Gatien. Police raids of The Tunnel and Limelight resulted in Gatien facing court charges for allowing his clubs to operate as 'drugs supermarkets'. He was also ordered to pay $1.3 million in back taxes. These goings-ons secured Gatien a reputation as a public menace - a reputation furthered in 1996, when he was indicted on charges of drug dealing and conspiracy, and his promoter, Michael Alig, was jailed for the murder of a Limelight punter, Angel Melendez. The murder scandal led to the permanent closure of The Palladium and the temporary closure of Limelight. Though Limelight was re-opened, it became apparent that Gatien's nightclub empire was slipping from underneath him ...

... Trouble started at The Tunnel in 1999, when an 18 yr old clubber died of a drug overdose. City authorities condemened the club for drugs and violence. Then, earlier this year, a 16 yr old was stabbed to death outside the club, and the authorities stepped up their efforts to close it down. Gatien has decided to quit whilst he's ahead, saying 'It's time for me to move on.' But whilst he attempts to sell The Tunnel in order to pay off his debts to the state, NY City council continues with its effort to get a supreme court ruling to close the club down. It is not known how much Gatien is attempting to sell The Tunnel for, but there are rumours that he also has plans to sell Limelight.

[DINO nYc]

CLUB USA, ____WEST 47TH STREET (BETWEEN EIGHTH & BROADWAY) Opened in the fall of 1991, by Peter Gatien of The Limelight. This huge disco built in what was once a piano factory had rooms and funiture designed by outragous French designer Jean Paul Gautier. Featuring a NYC/Times Square motif, even down to peepshow video booths on the second floor. Next to the Hotel Edison, which Promoter Steven Cohn held his infamous Sleaze Ball's in the late 70's.

In 1998 the long empty Club USA building was torn down so that the site could be used for a new hotel.

[danwilson]

Xpander, I'm comparing Twilo on Friday and Gatecrasher for there great European Trance DJs. I'm basing the Roxy party now and the Twilo party on Saturday on what i'v read from Robpromotions.com People on there talk about those 2 parties and how similar they are.

[Xpander]

Originally posted by danwilson

Xpander, I'm comparing Twilo on Friday and Gatecrasher for there great European Trance DJs. I'm basing the Roxy party now and the Twilo party on Saturday on what i'v read from Robpromotions.com People on there talk about those 2 parties and how similar they are.

Excuse me, Twilo brought all types to their Friday party. By AT LEAST the last couple of years, prog house was all over the place. Where as Gatecrasher was OVERWHELMINGLY trance. And the Roxy and Twilo Saturdays? They were both GAY! Aside from that they were both big gay crowds, the music wasn't the same! Twilo Saturdays were known to feature various European DJs while Roxy's party brought in less internationally known talent.

Next time, why don't you find out WHY people think those parties are similar? Sheesh...

[danwilson]

The DJs Twilo is most known for on Friday, were Sasha, Digweed and PVD. What type of music do they play. Trance

[Xpander]

Originally posted by danwilson

xpander, Gatecrasher has alot of UK hard house DJs. The DJs Twilo is most known for on Friday, were Sasha, Digweed and PVD. What type of music do they play. Duh

PvD? ARGUABLE. But now you're telling me Sasha & Digweed plays HARD HOUSE?!?!?! I'd like you to point out one freaking time period when Sasha OR Digweed played Eurotrance as the majority of their set.

3rd time's the charm, Sherlock?

[danwilson]

Xpander, I never said Sasha and Digweed played hard house. They play Trance with some progressive house.