Legendary New York venues that are now closed
DJWORX takes a look at lost New York nightclubs in our ongoing lost nightclub series. From smoky jazz basements in Harlem to glitter-soaked discos in Midtown, from punk dives on the Bowery to all-night house marathons in converted warehouses, New York’s clubs have shaped global music and DJ culture. Always more than just places to drink and dance. They were launchpads for music movements, fashion trends, and social revolutions. Films covering these clubs in include – Party Monster (with Macauley Culkin from Home Alone!) and CBGB amongst others. We can also highly recommend the sadly ended Netflix series The Get Down for a fun portrayal of the birth of Hip Hop. Nothing lasts forever (@Ultracynic), and rising rents, gentrification, and city council crackdowns eventually shut down many of these legendary venues.
Studio 54’s glamour, Paradise Garage’s soul, CBGB’s grit, Limelight’s spectacle, Twilo’s marathon sets, The Tunnel’s chaos, each defined an era. As a globally influential city, New Yorks nightlife has always had a wide impact. DJWORX has a dance on some of the most famous dancefloors from NYC’s history.
A quick New York nightlife timeline
In the 1930s and ’40s, Harlem’s Cotton Club and Savoy Ballroom wwere the place to be seen. Nightlife continued throughout WW2, and by the ’50s and ’60s, supper clubs like the Copacabana offered glamour: think white tablecloths, live singers, and a strict dress code.
Disco owned the ’70s in Midtown (Studio 54, Paradise Garage) and punk took off in the Bowery (CBGB). The late 70’s saw hip-hop moving from block parties and into mainstream clubs.
The ’90s and into the 2000’s saw electronic music (not EDM) dominate cavernous clubs like Twilo and The Tunnel, while The Limelight blended performance art, fashion, and hedonism. We take a look at these lost New York nightclubs, starting with the most famous lost New York nightclub of them all.
Studio 54 – Disco’s most famous address
Studio 54 – Think velvet rope exclusivity, celebrity sightings (Andy Warhol, Liza Minnelli, Mick Jagger), and unrestrained nightlife glamour, plus lets be honest wide-spread drug usage, particularly coke. (Sounds a lot like nightclubs in the 2020s.)
Studio 54 was a theatre disguised as a club, with moving sets, snowfall effects, and a giant man-in-the-moon sculpture snorting “glitter”. However, getting in wasn’t easy, the venue was crawling with celebrities, and the riff-raff were kept out. Andy Warhol, one of Studio 54’s most notable regulars said “The key of the success of Studio 54 is that it’s a dictatorship at the door and a democracy on the dance floor.” So no, we wouldn’t have got in in all probability…
Why did Studio 54 close? It’s estimated that Studio 54 made more than $7 million during its first year of operation. That’s pretty impressive considering that it only took about $400,000 to get the club running. However co-owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager were convicted of tax evasion in 1980. On teh site these days is the Roundabout Theatre Company a Broadway theatre space.
Paradise Garage – The church of house
Paradise Garage is famous for DJ Larry Levan’s marathon sets which pioneered house music. This is where the term Garage music originates.
Listen to a set from Larry Levan at the Garage in 1985
Concrete floors, exposed beams, an incredible Richard Long sound system, and an almost religious enthusiasm from the dancers. The Garage was an inclusive space, and one of the earliest New York clubs to welcome the LGBT community. There was a also a significant black crowd, offering a counter experience to many white dominated clubs.
Why did the Paradise Garage close?– The lease expired in 1987; redevelopment took over the site. (That old story)
CBGB – Punk’s spiritual home
Ok so this is more of a venue than a lost New York nightclubs, but you can’t talk about New York without talking about CBGBs. You see nearly as many CBGB t-shirts as Ramones ones these days, but why was it so important?
Not everyone was into disco. And even then the disco’s could be hard to get into . Country, Bluegrass, Blues, and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers was founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973. The Ramones, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Blondie and many more all got a big career boost by playing here. The venue was narrow, gritty, and had sticker-covered walls. The punk ethos and vibe was crafted here.
Why did CBGB’s close? Rising rents and landlord disputes, closed in 2006. Read more on the CBGB official website. There is now a John Varvatos clothing store with some preserved graffiti from CBGBs.
The Limelight – The club in a cathedral
The Limelight was fashion. The Club kid scene dominated (think ‘Crasher kids but meaner), performance art was spread throughout the venue and you could see, Madonna, Grace Jones and RuPaul on the dancefloor (VIP section really). The Limelight was the spiritual successor to Studio 54. Think Gothic arches, stained glass, multiple rooms, theatrical spectacle. Druggy – Music was secondary.
Why did the Limelight nightclub close? Controversies in the press mainly around drug usage and underage patrons, police raids, changing nightlife trends. The Limelight shops, retain the original church architecture. It’s not much to look at it, it’s hard to imagine how culturally significant the Limelight was now.
Twilo – Progressive house homebase
Twilo was the home of Danny Tenaglia amongst others. Deep, dark dubby progressive house dominated. DJs like Sasha and Digweed held residencies and Carl Cox, Paul Van Dyk all played marathon DJ sets.
Twilo had a large main room with minimal hypnotic lighting and an amazing sound system. Of all the lost New York nightclubs in this article, this is the one we wished we had visited most.
Why did Twilo nightclub close? Twilo shut in 2001, with falling attendances compounded by a city-wide crackdown on drug use.
Listen to Sasha and Digweed in their pomp at Twilo
The Tunnel – All the genres under one roof on the Hudson river
The Tunnel offered a vast multi-room layout with house, techno, hip-hop, jungle, and live performances often all on the same night.
Why did The Tunnel close?The familiar tri-fecta death knell for many lost New York nightclubs – Rising rents, changing trends, a Mayor Giuliani’s nightlife crackdown.
Twilo’s space has been replaced by office and retail space while no trace of the legendary nightclub remains. (This sounds familiar)
See The Tunnel club in all it’s glory
Read more of the DJWORX lost nightclubs series. Got your own lost New York nightclub story? Let us know
