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Like you said you are young. NY used to have a much better nightlife than it does now. With the exorbitant prices of drinks that one now pays!!!!
NYkiddo may have been a Bloomberg administration press aide (always pro everything happening under Bloomberg). NYC had much more nightlife under GIULIANI, so if you are even in your 30s you'll remember an entirely different time.
All the superclubs are GONE and the space they occupied used for other things (Condos, bank branches, expensive retail,etc.)
And with much higher drinks they cater to a very different crowd. That's not a bad thing, but it is a change.
NYkiddo may have been a Bloomberg administration press aide (always pro everythclub happning under Bloomberg). NYC had much more nightlife under GIULIANI, so if you are even in your 30s you'll remember an entirely different time.
All the superclubs are GONE and the space they occupied used for other things (Condos, bank branches, expensive retail,etc.)
And with much higher drinks they cater to a very different crowd. That's not a bad thing, but it is a change.
Very true. I remember in my late teens visiting the Sound Factory. That place is long gone. much of the club cracking happened under Rudy G, however if club paid fines and played ffairly with the drug cracking down these establishments can remain open. Under Bloomie nightclubs began being eradicated. One good example is CBGBS in the Village which for me marks the end of era and also the end of the grunge scene which was replaced by the Hipster scene which is responsible for so much gentrification in Nyc. most clubs became high end shops, and luxury housing. I have been to Xs and Lax in Vegas, both clubs blow any club or lounge in nyc out of the water.
Very true. I remember in my late teens visiting the Sound Factory. That place is long gone. much of the club cracking happened under Rudy G, however if club paid fines and played ffairly with the drug cracking down these establishments can remain open. Under Bloomie nightclubs began being eradicated. One good example is CBGBS in the Village which for me marks the end of era and also the end of the grunge scene which was replaced by the Hipster scene which is responsible for so much gentrification in Nyc. most clubs became high end shops, and luxury housing. I have been to Xs and Lax in Vegas, both clubs blow any club or lounge in nyc out of the water.
You have to remember that most of the great clubs and "pop up" parties of back in the day were only possible because of the abundance of cheap rent spaces and quite frankly areas of Manhattan (and elsewhere) that were mainly industrial, or deserted/abandoned after work hours and or weekends.
As the City began changing in the 1980's and picking up steam in the 1990's those unwanted areas became hot for residential and or commercial use, so rents went up forcing costs to increase and at some point owners simply decided to throw in the towel.
Don't forget also the impact the AIDS epidemic had on the club scene especially gays. Between the nuisance abatement laws and those regarding "risky public behavior" that might spread HIV clubs could be fined out of existence.
I remember well the various clubs in Tribeca, SoHo, Far West Side, etc.. but they were often the only things over there late at night. Once housing began to move into those areas in good numbers the complaints about noise, public sex, fighting, traffic, etc... would come ...
Many of those spaces are still around in various forms; 84 King Street home of the famous "Paradise Garage" (yes folks it was and still is a garage) remains where it always was and IIRC still used for it's original purpose, a garage for Verizon.
You have to remember that most of the great clubs and "pop up" parties of back in the day were only possible because of the abundance of cheap rent spaces and quite frankly areas of Manhattan (and elsewhere) that were mainly industrial, or deserted/abandoned after work hours and or weekends.
As the City began changing in the 1980's and picking up steam in the 1990's those unwanted areas became hot for residential and or commercial use, so rents went up forcing costs to increase and at some point owners simply decided to throw in the towel.
Don't forget also the impact the AIDS epidemic had on the club scene especially gays. Between the nuisance abatement laws and those regarding "risky public behavior" that might spread HIV clubs could be fined out of existence.
I remember well the various clubs in Tribeca, SoHo, Far West Side, etc.. but they were often the only things over there late at night. Once housing began to move into those areas in good numbers the complaints about noise, public sex, fighting, traffic, etc... would come ...
Many of those spaces are still around in various forms; 84 King Street home of the famous "Paradise Garage" (yes folks it was and still is a garage) remains where it always was and IIRC still used for it's original purpose, a garage for Verizon.
Let's not forget the impact of ecstasy and other narcotics which helped dismantle the Manhattan club scene. For those who have Netflix check out limelight documentary.
Let's not forget the impact of ecstasy and other narcotics which helped dismantle the Manhattan club scene. For those who have Netflix check out limelight documentary.
The narcotics were a serious issue, yes. But they were also an excuse.
Bugsy is right. NYC only had so many clubs because of the great industrial collapse. Landlords were desperate to rent out their real estate. Even during the Giuliani era, many of the club raids and busts were real estate issues. Remember when Disney offered to save Broadway if the city would get rid of all those porn stores? And the majority of them were closed and Times Square has not been the same since.
During the Bloomberg era, things were done to the West Side to attract major investment. The High Line was created, plus the 7 line extension. The remaining warehouses/nightclubs were operating on very valuable real estate and so they rapidly went. The same could be said for nightclubs in Chelsea that have been replaced by high end retail (the Limelight). A number of places in the Lower East Side are gone as well.
Also, the nightclub sector was at its all time high during the era of white flight. With well off people living in Manhattan again, there wasn't going to be tolerance of the noise, drugs, public sex, and prostitution the clubs were attracting.
Church that once housed Limelight is landmarked thus cannot be torn down. Those buildings have been bounced back and forth over the years and quite honestly even before Peter Gatien's woes and the infamous murder, the club scene at Limelight was pretty much over. It did hang on as "Avalon" for a few years but area residents just weren't having the noise and so forth. Plus that part of Sixth Avenue had already begun to change. Church of the Holy Communion and Buildings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Era of large disco/clubs had already begun to dwindle and tastes changed to the lounge/bottle bars that are littered all over Tribeca and Chelsea.
The narcotics were a serious issue, yes. But they were also an excuse.
Bugsy is right. NYC only had so many clubs because of the great industrial collapse. Landlords were desperate to rent out their real estate. Even during the Giuliani era, many of the club raids and busts were real estate issues. Remember when Disney offered to save Broadway if the city would get rid of all those porn stores? And the majority of them were closed and Times Square has not been the same since.
During the Bloomberg era, things were done to the West Side to attract major investment. The High Line was created, plus the 7 line extension. The remaining warehouses/nightclubs were operating on very valuable real estate and so they rapidly went. The same could be said for nightclubs in Chelsea that have been replaced by high end retail (the Limelight). A number of places in the Lower East Side are gone as well.
Also, the nightclub sector was at its all time high during the era of white flight. With well off people living in Manhattan again, there wasn't going to be tolerance of the noise, drugs, public sex, and prostitution the clubs were attracting.
High Line is a recent incarnation and while it did add to the value of that part of Greenwich Village/Far West Side, the heyday of nightclubs, bars, free sex etc.. had long since gone. Soon as the "Meatpacking District" became a shopping and tourist mecca made famous in "Sex and The City" it became clear things were cleaning or cleaned up. The trannie hookers were finally got shot of, gay sex clubs (ditto) for the most part. The big and often loud clubs like Roxy were long shuttered. Indeed when word was hinted that the Roxy was going to reopen a few years ago local residents mounted "we think not" effort and that was that.
As for "white flight" and so forth; the rich and or famous were always part of the NYC club scene. You would find them at Studio 54 early in the evening then most headed downtown to Area, Paradise Garage or any of the other after hours clubs and went or partying until well past the sun rising.
Still stick with that because large parts of Tribeca, Chelsea, Far West Side, etc.. were largely abandoned or under used landlords had no qualms renting space to anything from a night club to a gay sex bar. You see this also in the former Flower/Garment District (mainly the 20's) where at one time there were all sorts of bars and clubs including for trannies. Now the area is mainly residential and does have some bars and a few clubs but not like it once was back in the day.
I remember parties in the 1990's and late 1980's being given in car dealerships on the Westside and all sorts of places. Now all that real estate is just too valuable to be rented on the cheap for parties or clubs.
What really did clubs/bars in was the various nausnice laws that meant a club even in a zoned industrial area could be given a summons and or shut down for noise and so forth complaints by local residents.
If you own a club and patrons leave and go a block or so away to make noise, have sex or whatever logically that is not under your control. However the City of New York sees it differently and will often side with local residents that *YOU* are ruining the quality of life.
Very true. I remember in my late teens visiting the Sound Factory. That place is long gone. much of the club cracking happened under Rudy G, however if club paid fines and played ffairly with the drug cracking down these establishments can remain open. Under Bloomie nightclubs began being eradicated. One good example is CBGBS in the Village which for me marks the end of era and also the end of the grunge scene which was replaced by the Hipster scene which is responsible for so much gentrification in Nyc. most clubs became high end shops, and luxury housing. I have been to Xs and Lax in Vegas, both clubs blow any club or lounge in nyc out of the water.
Sound Factory, ha! I don't think I made It there but I went to Cheetah (same space) a few times in my early 20s. The first club I ever went to though was Tunnel when I was 18.
And NYC doesn't have a club sceene anymore, it has a bar sceene.
Except a hipster is not a skinny white american, at least not necessarily. Its my contemporaries and friends who live in places like Williamsburg. People with good educations (graduate degrees often) and who often work in various creative fields.
The jealous from the blue collar crowd is that this crowd lives a very different lifestyle from how they live. A number of blue collar people get crappy jobs and let themselves get trapped by a sense of responsibility that prevents them from making any major lifestyle changes. A hipster, who can move to a city far where he/she grew up, is an almost magical person to those stuck in crappy lives. Take the majority of hipsters in Williamsburg. If they really wanted to relocate to California, Florida, Boston, Texas, etc., it would be pretty easy for them. They have the education, and the flexible mindset to do so.
Jealousy aint got shyt to do with anything. Hipsters arrive, rents SKYROCKET, property taxes SKYROCKET (for those who wanna respond with the renter vs homeowner argument), blue collar people forced out. The douchebag and pretentious attitudes as well as the culture vulture and spoiled brat ethos of many in this demographic just puts gasoline on a burning fire.....
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