While there are a countless number of places to dance, drink and have a fun night, check out these 8 cool clubs we'd love to spend a couple of hours in.
1. Studio 54: The infamous Manhattan disco where anything could happen – and everything did
No club is probably better known than New York's Studio 54, the mother of all cool clubs in the world.
54, which was in operation from 1977-1981, was known for its celebrity clientele, the nightly mob scene outside its doors with thousands of people jostling for a spot beyond the velvet rope and the drugs and debauchery going on inside.
It was the right club, in the right place at the right time – for a total of only 33 months. The stories of what happened inside – from Bianca Jagger (then wife of Mick) riding a white horse into the club on her birthday, to the famous crescent moon snorting coke over the dance floor – are endless. Everyone from Hollywood's elite to world politicians were regulars including Andy Warhol, Liza Minnelli, Elizabeth Taylor, Halston, Mick Jagger, Calvin Klein, Elton John, Margaret Trudeau, Truman Capote, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Diana Ross, Cher, Salvador Dali, John Travolta, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and Brooke Shields to name just a few.
In 1978, club co-owner Steve Rubell made the mistake of telling the press the club made $7 million in its first year and that "only the Mafia made more money." That comment put Studio 54 on the radar of the Internal Revenue Service and it was soon raided. Rubell and co-owner Ian Schrager were arrested for skimming $2.5 million.
Schrager and Rubell pleaded guilty to tax evasion and spent 13 months in prison and while the club remained open under different management, it was never quite the same.
2. Café du Bagne: A prison themed cafe dubbed one of the "seven wonders of Hollywood"
Themed clubs first popped up in Montmartre (Paris) in the later nineteenth century. In 1885, Café du Bagne (Café of the Penitentiary) was the first of its kind with a prison motif. Within a few years, the trend made its way stateside and by 1925, The Jail Cafe opened its doors on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.
At the Jail Cafe, patrons were served at a table which occupied its own cell, by waiters dressed as convicts. Customers "roughed it" – they weren't given any utensils and were encouraged to eat with their hands.
The Jail opened a second location downtown, but by the time it was named one of the “seven wonders of Hollywood,” by a local newspaper, the trend of theme establishments died down and the cafe closed its doors.
3. Cocoanut Grove: The glamorous hotspot that was once the toast of Hollywood
The world famous Cocoanut Grove opened in the equally famous Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1921.
The Grove's architecture had a definite Moorish-influence – the palm trees that dotted the room were said to have come from the Rudolph Valentino film classic The Sheik and even had stuffed monkeys perched in them! The ceiling was painted a midnight blue and stars dotted the Grove's "sky."
The club is where legends like Bing Crosby and Barbra Streisand had their start, and Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and many others came to perform. Gene Kelly, Diana Ross, Judy Garland, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole and Julie Andrews all played the Grove. The Grove was also they location for the the first ever Oscars and Golden Globe Awards.
Despite efforts to save the property over the years (along with the rest of the Ambassador Hotel), it was deemed unsalvageable and has since been demolished and replaced by a public school.
4. The Heaven & Hell nightclubs of La Belle Époque
Theme clubs first came into existence in Montmartre during La Belle Époque. Check out this trippy trio of watering holes once in the area:
• Goth before goth meant anything, The Cabaret du Néant ("The Cabaret of Nothingness") patrons were treated to the jovial atmosphere of death – they drank on coffins and were served cocktails (named after diseases) by monks and funeral attendees. As they moved from room to room, they were treated to an illusion to make revelers look as if they melted away into skeletons.
• Perhaps after "dying," a club patron would make his/her way to the Cabaret de l'Enfer ("The Cabaret of the Inferno"), which was a Hell-influenced club in Montmartre in which patrons could witness a snake transform into a devil. They also enjoyed being heckled by "Satan," and were warned repeatedly of the scalding temperature.
• Right next-door to the Cabaret de l'Enfer was the Cabaret du Ciel ("The Cabaret of the Sky"), which was "heavenly" by comparison. Upon entry, patrons were greeted by Dante and Father Time. St. Peter served as emcee to the night's divine entertainment, as beautiful "angels" flirted with patrons.
5. CBGB: The punk club that's been listed in the National Register Of Historic Places
At about the same time Studio 54 was gathering steam uptown, another club made its mark on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Founded 1973 by Hilly Kristal at 315 Bowery, CBGB became known worldwide as a famed venue of punk rock and new wave bands including the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith Group, Blondie, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, and Talking Heads as well as countless others.
The name CBGB & OMFUG stands for "Country Bluegrass Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers." The club initially catered to country, bluegrass, and blues music (along with poetry readings), but within a few years punk became its mainstay.
Over the years as the neighborhood changed, the club fought to stay open, but was eventually forced out due to rising rents and gentrification. In 2006, the doors to CBGB finally closed. Today, the clubs lives on in market ventures such as the CBGB Music and Film Festival, CBGB radio (on the iheartradio app) and countless t-shirts.
The club's building even made it to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 as part of the Bowery Historic District. Of its nomination it is said, "CBGB was founded in 1973 on the Bowery, in a former nineteenth-century saloon on the first floor of the Palace Lodging House. The legendary music venue fostered new genres of American music, including punk and art rock, that defined the culture of downtown Manhattan in the 1970s, and that still resonate today. In this role as cultural incubator, CBGB served the same function as the theaters and concert halls of the Bowery's storied past. The former club, now occupied by a retail business, remains a pilgrimage site for legions of music fans.”
