The Limelight



The Limelight is the name of a string of different nightclubs that were owned and operated by Peter Gatien: one in Miami, one in Atlanta, one in New York, and one in London.

Two were located in old churches: the one in New York and the one in London:


 * The first Limelight was opened in Miami in the 70's. When it burned to the ground in the late 70's, Peter Gatien turned to Atlanta for his next incarnation of Limelight.


 * The next Limelight was opened in Atlanta, Georgia in February 1980. It was housed in a strip mall in the former home of the Harlequin Dinner Theatre.  In 1983, Gatien moved to New York to open another Limelight club and his brother Maurice was given the reins of the Atlanta club. Maurice reportedly had less talent for the nightclub world than Peter. "Peter was the brains behind the operation," says house photographer and publicist Guy D'Alema. "Maurice ...didn't want to spend a dime and didn't have a creative bone in his body."  The club was located next to a 24-hour Kroger's grocery store, which became known, affectionately, as "Disco Kroger."


 * The Limelight, London, was located in a Welsh Presbyterian church that dates back to 1754 on Shaftesbury Avenue, just off Cambridge Circus. The club was owned by Peter Stringfellow and was popular in the 1980s. The club's decline in popularity led to its closure and takeover in 2003 by Australian pub chain 'The Walkabout' who have converted it into a sports bar.


 * The Limelight in New York, which was owned by Peter Gatien and designed by Ari Bahat, opened in November 1983. It was located in a former church on Sixth Avenue in an area once known as The Ladies' Mile, Manhattan, located east of Chelsea, and was a prominent place to hear techno, goth and industrial music and to obtain recreational drugs.  It hit the news in 1996 when club and party promoter Michael Alig was arrested and later convicted for the killing and dismemberment of Angel Melendez, a Limelight-based drug dealer. The 2003 film Party Monster starring Macaulay Culkin and Seth Green was based on this event. The Limelight was closed by the police, but subsequently reopened several times during the 1990s.  In September 2003, it was reopened under the name of "Avalon".

While Gatien's Limelight is no longer at the center of NY nightlife, many of the cadre of club kids continue to be quite active. Richie Rich, Kenny Kenny, Rik Parker, Amanda Lepore, Sofia Lamar, and many others from the Limelight, TWILO, and Tunnel era can be found hosting and promoting the top parties in Manhattan.

See also: The Slimelight

External references and links

 * Frank Owen, 2003 Clubland: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0312287666 (UK title Clubland Confidential, Ebury Press)
 * Review of Frank Owen's, Clubland Confidential in the UK Guardian
 * Article from "Creative Loafing", a local independent Atlanta newspaper, about famous nightclubs that were in Atlanta at different points in time.