Closed for 40 Years, A Nightclub That Was a Mecca for LGBTQ Energy Is Suddenly
Trending – Thanks to Soft Cell, Madonna, and a Streaming DJ in a New Jersey Basement

Danceteria, a globally renowned nightspot in Manhattan that opened in 1979, lost its lease at 30 W. 21st Street and went out of business in 1986.

“Danceteria was a utopia,” Sonic Youth co-founder Kim Gordon told V Magazine in 2022. “There were five floors within the structure, and each one had a different feel to it, a different vibe.”

Housed in a former factory built in 1907, Danceteria was described by the media as a “supermarket of style” and a “punk version of Disneyland”. It was a boisterous yet safe space where “gays, straights, artists, junkies, goths, skinheads, lost uptowners, sexy Jersey chicks, curious guidos from the outer boroughs, pinheads, Studio 54 leftovers, weirdos from outer space, drag queens, S&M freaks, hookers, performers of all sorts, East Villagers galore, not to mention musicians of all kinds, got together,” said one of the club’s founders, Rudolf Piper.

Launched in late 2022, Danceteria REWIND – created by veteran spinner Rafe Gomez in his basement studio – features an eclectic journey across the sounds that filled the ears and moved the hips of Danceteria’s patrons. His weekly two-hour show, which has been featured in Forbes, Billboard, Startups Magazine, and NPR, is introducing the club’s infinite musical buffet to a Gen Z and millennial audience that comprises over 60,000 global followers.

Click HERE to read about Danceteria Rewind.