Wass up with Club Avalon. The Old Limelight/Church

[rbert]

I remeber Church/Limlight/Avalon when jason Ojeda was on mainfloor and Dj Riz in the chapel On fri night. It was off the hooked. Is the club really open or not. I thought it was seized by the feds. Is Avalon trying to be a hip hop club like speed where most of the the crowds are ghetto and wanner be gangster or they want to be a club Like Crobar and Pacha. Avalon has potential to be a hot club like Crobar and Pacha but putting hip hop music on main floor sucked. If i need to go to hip hop party I rather go to club deep sat or temple and providence. Im boycotting avalon till they get ther acted together.

[ibrandon]

Huh?

[chris817]

I've been boycotting avalon since they opened up

[diva421d]

I remeber Church/Limlight/Avalon when jason Ojeda was on mainfloor and Dj Riz in the chapel On fri night. It was off the hooked. Is the club really open or not. I thought it was seized by the feds. Is Avalon trying to be a hip hop club like speed where most of the the crowds are ghetto and wanner be gangster or they want to be a club Like Crobar and Pacha. Avalon has potential to be a hot club like Crobar and Pacha but putting hip hop music on main floor sucked. If i need to go to hip hop party I rather go to club deep sat or temple and providence. Im boycotting avalon till they get ther acted together.

Try WEBSTER HALL.

[djufonyc]

I remeber Church/Limlight/Avalon when jason Ojeda was on mainfloor and Dj Riz in the chapel On fri night. It was off the hooked. Is the club really open or not. I thought it was seized by the feds. Is Avalon trying to be a hip hop club like speed where most of the the crowds are ghetto and wanner be gangster or they want to be a club Like Crobar and Pacha. Avalon has potential to be a hot club like Crobar and Pacha but putting hip hop music on main floor sucked. If i need to go to hip hop party I rather go to club deep sat or temple and providence. Im boycotting avalon till they get ther acted together.

Do you remember when Keoki, and Jeff Mills were residents @ Limelight... The Original Limelight..

[kaydup]

acted?

[djufonyc]

acted?

LOL

[r0otsh3ll]

ah Mr. Peter Gatien

He was born in Canada in 1952. When he was seventeen, an unfortunate hockey-stick accident dismembered his left eye. He invested the insurance settlement from this accident, $17,000, into a clothing store and within a few years he had made enough money to open up his first club in Florida. With his continued success, the young, one-eyed businessman expanded and opened up his nightclub in Atlanta, Chicago, London, and eventually in 1983, New York City. The name of the clubs were Limelight. His name...Peter Gatien.

At his peak, Gatien dominated the New York City club scene. In 1994, he was owner of the biggest clubs in Manhattan: the Tunnel, Limelight, Palladium, and Club USA. These monster-clubs were often packed over capacity and were instrumental in bringing about the age of the clubkids and ravers. These dancefloors were the birthplace of glowsticks, ecstacy, and clownlike characters wearing outrageous costumes. The debauchery, drug use and open sexuality was a regular part of the atmosphere and this did not bode well with many moral critics and politicians. The fact that the Limelight was housed within the walls of a former Episcopal church made the indignation that more fervent. Near-naked Go-Go dancers suspended in cages, over an orgy of drunken, doped and horny kids in the House of God was bound to raise an eyebrow or two. And overseeing all was the One-Eyed King.

In 1996, Tunnel and Limelight were raided by the police and Gatien was charged with federal racketeering. He was accused of running the clubs as "drug supermarkets." At the same time, he was served with a state suit claiming that he owed $1.3 million in back taxes. And as if this wasn't enough, the horrific and brutal murder of Angel Melendez, a regular at Limelight, was casting a dark cloud over the Gatien Empire. The clubs were shut down and Peter Gatien was off to court.

Michael Alig, the flamboyant former promoter of Limelight's Disco 2000 parties, pleaded guilty to the murder. With this verdict, the state lost Alig who they intended to be the primary witness against Gatien in the drug trial. In February 1998, without any strong witnesses for the prosecution, Peter Gatien was acquitted of the drug charges by a Brooklyn jury. But he was not as lucky with the tax evasion trial. Gatien pleaded guilty in 1999 to grand larceny charges for cheating the city and state of New York out of $1.3 million in taxes. He served 45 days in prison.

Within his first year out of jail, the once-king of New York nightlife reopened both Tunnel and Limelight. But the glory days were over. With heightened security consisting of metal detectors and more bouncers, the resurrected clubs inevitably began losing their appeal and mystique. The only standout night was Sundays at Tunnel. Funkmaster Flex's hip-hop party was the only one drawing a crowd. In addition, Gatien's heavy hitters were finding it hard to compete with newcomers like Vinyl and Twilo.

In trying to keep up with the times, the Limelight began booking DJs like England's Gatecrashers and Detroit's Jeff Mills and Sheffield. Over at Tunnel, DJs Johnny Vicious, Eddie Baez, and Alex Lauterstein were given regular residency. "Right now, people are obsessed with models and celebrity," Gatien says. "But I think people are much more conscious and music-knowledgeable than they were five or six years ago. Now the real tastemakers are the people into dance culture, not the model scene."

Despite this last grasp to get back on top, the troubled Gatien filed for bankruptcy to delay eviction proceedings for nonpayment of rent$1 million to Limelight's landlord and $700,000 to the Tunnel's. To make matters worse, the Immigration and Naturalization Service filed charges in April 2000 seeking to deport Peter Gatien back to Canada on the grounds of his guilty plea to the grand larceny charges. And in what might have been the final nail in the coffin, the State Liquor Authority voted to revoke his liquor licenses. The failing don had to sell. An era had ended.

Today, the enigmatic church at 660 Sixth Ave is once again opened for business. Promoter John Blair briefly reopened Limelight in 2002 as Estate, but there was a lack of interest and the club quickly closed within a few months. But then Steve Adelman and his partner John Lyons, owners of Avalon Hollywood and Avalon Boston, decided to bring the Avalon franchise to New York. Steve Adelman, who used to work with Gatien running Limelight, Tunnel, Palladium, and Club USA back in the mid-90's, has transformed the once dark and gothic space into a 21st-century vision of club utopia. The building has been revised with a new custom-designed sound rig and state-of-the-art lights system. Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, Timo Maas, Richie Hawtin, Josh Wink, James Zabiela, Doc Martin, and Mark Farina are regular he adliners at the revamped icon.

As for the notorious Peter Gatien, he claims to have given up the nightlife business and is still battling the courts. Some say he has moved to Montreal, some say he is still here. There was also talk of him trying to set up shop in Connecticut. Regardless of where he ends up, Gatien has already earned a spot in the legends and myths of the New York City club scene. In years to come, the streets will still tell tales of the dark church and the One-eyed King.

FIN

[farmerrocky]

too bad this was all before my clubbing time ::sniff::

[djquick83]

too bad this was all before my clubbing time ::sniff::

A concept not yet known to Mr. Silverbull. LOL. Everything was during his time. BWHAHAHAHHHAAAAA.

[farmerrocky]

[Reeni]

A concept not yet known to Mr. Silverbull. LOL. Everything was during his time. BWHAHAHAHHHAAAAA.

hahahaahah

he was the fiercest fetus @ 54