Season 1 · Episode 4
Club King · the Limelight, the Tunnel, Club USA & the Palladium
Released 20 Sep 2021 · 58:57 as a podcast
Every name, club, book, song, night and look from the interview - 161 references and 396 mentions in this episode. James calls him the Club King. Peter tells of a jeans store and a hotel bar in Cornwall, Ontario, where a young Rush was his first booking, then Rum Bottoms in South Florida with Village People and the Trammps, sharks under a glass dance floor in Atlanta and Andy Warhol hosting his openings. Then the Limelight in an old church - Whitney Houston singing, Fred Rothbell-Mista's library, Michael Alig's Disco 2000 - Club USA's giant slide in Times Square, the Tunnel's Sunday hip-hop nights and the Palladium. And, as Peter tells it, Giuliani's campaign against him: a federal trial he says ended in an acquittal in three and a half hours, and the deportation that landed him in Toronto. Wow!
Long wispy grey hair, dark sunglasses with a thin metal bar and blue-tinted lenses, a plain black T-shirt
A pale room with a wood-and-ribbed-steel wall panel behind him
Glass, water
The Atlanta club's pool under the dance floor; a dancer once jumped off a speaker and went through the glass, Peter says - the sharks had just been taken out
Peter's home from his early twenties until his deportation; he has an apartment there again
Ran Disco 2000 at the Limelight. Peter says he made Michael make the night pay and that Michael loved getting the last word; he feels Michael later turned on him after everything he did for him
Heard as “Michael”
Peter's New York flagship in a deconsecrated church on Sixth Avenue and 20th Street; he says he paid the asking price on the spot and put about three million dollars into it
Heard as “Limelight / limelight”
Abandoned for two years when Peter took it over; he leased extra space and made it three or four times bigger - with Kenny Scharf's room, a skate half-pipe and the club kids' bathroom
Heard as “Tunnel / tunnel”
The guest: the Club King - owner of the Limelight, the Tunnel, Club USA and the Palladium (plus clubs in Florida, Atlanta, London and Chicago), author of the memoir The Club King. Links to his Night Fever episode
Heard as “Gayson / Gayton / Peter / Peter Gatesian”
Peter's Times Square club in an old theatre, with rooms by Mugler and Gaultier and a giant slide
Heard as “USA”
Peter calls them young people who loved going out somewhere safe - harmless, 'nickel-time' kids, not drug dealers, as his investigator told him
Heard as “Club kid / Cub Kids / club kid / club kids”
Peter's small mill hometown, where he opened a jeans store and then a hotel club
Heard as “Cornwall”
Where Peter took over Rum Bottoms
Peter's daughter, who made the 2011 documentary about him and, he says, talked him into his first ayahuasca ceremony. She ran the guest list at his clubs
Heard as “Jen Geishen / Jennifer / my daughter / your daughter”
Where Peter lives now - only because, he says, the deportation flight landed there
Hosted the opening night of Peter's Atlanta club and came to the Limelight's opening; Peter says Andy opened his London and Chicago clubs too and calls him shy, smart as a whip and kind
Heard as “Warhol”
Host; says he has known Peter for about 35 years and did the door with Peter's daughter Jen at the Limelight and the Tunnel
Heard as “James”
Peter was a Catholic schoolboy and altar boy; he squared the Limelight church with the Church's own deconsecration rite
Heard as “Catholic”
Ran the Limelight's library VIP room - by the end of the night, Peter says, he had art dealers, Wall Street guys and rockers sharing couches; James calls him a snappy old-school queen who treated a prince and a busboy the same
Heard as “Fred”
Michael Alig's Wednesday at the Limelight - the first night drew twice the crowd but less money, Peter says, so he told Michael it had to pay
Heard as “Disco 2000 / disco two thousand / this was two thousand / with 2000”
One of Peter's four clubs
Heard as “Palladium / Play Day / palladium”
Peter says Angel wasn't even allowed in his clubs and that he never got drugs from him
Heard as “Angel”
A local captain told Peter he could torture him any night he was in a bad mood; Peter says he followed the department's orders
Heard as “police department / pre-support / precept”
Co-host; asks whether Peter ever went out clubbing himself - he says he stayed away so other clubs wouldn't inspire him
Heard as “Barbado / Randy”
Peter's first ever booking, at his Cornwall club - long before they sold out Madison Square Garden
Heard as “Rush / rush”
Peter says it made 1985-89 very hard for anything exciting in New York nightlife
Heard as “AIDS”
The Atlanta club's pool under the dance floor; a dancer once jumped off a speaker and went through the glass, Peter says - the sharks had just been taken out
FashionGlass, water
Heard as “shark / sharks”
Peter read about it for years; when he finally went, he says, the sound and lights disappointed him next to his Atlanta club
Heard as “54”
Ran eight or nine years; Peter says nobody was paid to perform, but playing it gave artists bragging rights
Heard as “Sunday night / Sunday nights / hip hop nights / hip-hop nights”
Closures under nuisance-abatement rules and undercover buys, as Peter tells it - judges reopened the clubs months later each time
Heard as “nuisance abatement / squeaky people / squeegee / terror campaign”
Peter says he was acquitted in three and a half hours
Heard as “acquitted / federal trial”
Co-host; asks the Catholic altar boy how he felt about turning a church into a club, and how it was dealing with Giuliani
Heard as “Fenton”
Peter booked them the Easter week Macho Man broke
Heard as “Village People / village people”
Peter's first art director came out of the Pyramid
Heard as “Pyramid”
Kids paid to come dressed up and get the crowd going in Atlanta, James reads in Peter's book; Peter doesn't remember it
FashionFabulous outfits
Heard as “Exciters / call them excited / exciters”
Three protesters with placards - and a customer carried in on a big crucifix in a loincloth, as Peter remembers
Heard as “Don't Dance on My Religion / opening night we literally / there opening night”
Peter opened a club there in the late 80s
From the second floor down to the dance floor; busboys charged people two dollars at the top a couple of times, Peter says
FashionSlide
Heard as “slide”
Peter's lawyer (heard as 'Ben Robin'), who, Peter says, put a narcotics captain on the stand to show even Madison Square Garden has drug arrests
Heard as “Ben / Ben Robin”
Peter calls it the killer: after a month locked up, he was flown to Toronto
Heard as “deportation”
James remembers him handing out flyers when he first hit the scene
Heard as “Combs / Puffy”
Peter says his daughter pushed him into it; he has done it about eight times and calls it like watching a movie of your life
Heard as “ayahuasca”
Where Peter's ayahuasca ceremonies take place
Heard as “Upstate New York / upstate New York”
What Peter's jeans store sold when no one else in town did: bell-bottoms, tie-dye, sandals - 4-dollar jeans sold for 8
FashionBell-bottoms, tie-dye, sandals
Heard as “bell bottom / bell bottoms”
His first venue, a hotel he bought for its liquor licence; his first act was a young Rush
Heard as “bought a hotel / hotel or tavern”
Rush would later sell it out; at Peter's trial, he says, a narcotics captain admitted drug arrests there on concert nights
Peter never read it - until a business-opportunity ad led him to Rum Bottoms
Heard as “New York Times”
Performed at Peter's Florida club, along with Sister Sledge and Gloria Gaynor
Peter was shown the Dallas theatre where Oswald was caught when he looked at club spaces in Texas
Heard as “Oswald”
The 70s club look Peter wanted to move past
FashionMirrors, chrome, neon
Heard as “Chrome neon / mirrors, chrome”
The Limelight's street - empty at night back then, which suited a club
Heard as “20th”
A customer in a loincloth carried in on a six-to-eight-foot crucifix on opening night
FashionLoincloth
Heard as “crucifix / loincloth”
The party where Whitney Houston sang, after a 40-minute delay
Heard as “Jackson family / blockbuster tour”
The Limelight's VIP room, run by Fred Rothbell-Mista - where everybody ended up every night, James says
Heard as “library”
Its business guys mixed with downtown in the Limelight library
Ran the gay nights at the Limelight and the Sunday Bump night at Club USA
Heard as “Mark Berkeley”
Peter's shorthand for the hardcore Chelsea gay-night crowd
Heard as “Tom O'Friel”
The guy in the Armani suit thinks the sequins guy is a jackass - and vice versa - which, Peter says, is what makes a club work
FashionArmani suits
Brought Peter to the Times Square theatre that became Club USA - he was partners with the building's owners
Heard as “Schrager”
Marc Berkley's Sunday gay night at Club USA - 2,500 to 3,500 sweaty people, as Peter remembers
Heard as “Bump”
Peter spent 10-12,000 dollars on props for it; RuPaul was part of it
Heard as “game show”
Part of the Tunnel game show; Peter is pleased to have read that she met her husband on the Limelight dance floor
Heard as “Rupa”
Peter calls the mayor a megalomaniac who ran out of squeegee men and came after him: nuisance-abatement closings, undercover buys, a federal trial and, in the end, deportation, as Peter tells it
Heard as “Giuliani / Rudolf Giuliani”
Came after Peter with the FBI in the mid-90s, as James puts it
Heard as “D E A / DEA”
Michael Alig's mother (heard as 'Elsie'); Peter says she came to him asking for help with Michael
Heard as “Elsie”
Promoted at the Tunnel, James says; Peter recently saw a photo of his first album release party
Heard as “Jay Z / Jay-Z”
Fenton and Randy's video for Club USA: a spoof of perfect-people advertising, with public-access personalities as tour guides
Heard as “dancing pig / the video that we had”
Fenton and Randy's company
Peter's memoir: My Rise, Reign, and Fall in New York Nightlife - published, he says, the week COVID hit
Heard as “Club King”
The 2011 documentary about Peter, made by his daughter Jen
Heard as “documentary”
Peter recommends a good ayahuasca circle there to James
Heard as “LA”
Where James lives
Put out the hockey-accident story about Peter's eye, James says (name as heard)
Heard as “John Harmon”
Where Peter first met big-time club owners and felt like a pretender
Heard as “disco convention”
The first place Peter ran to in New York - worse than in the movies, in a better way
Heard as “Forty Second Street”
42nd Street looked like the movies - 'Cowboy', as Peter puts it
Heard as “like Cowboy”
Peter remembers meeting the owner of the club where Travolta's disco film was shot
Heard as “Jocko Volta”
Its owner was at the disco convention where Peter felt like a pretender
Heard as “Two Thousand One Space”
Implied: the Travolta film shot at 2001 Odyssey
Heard as “the movie was shot”
The South Florida club Peter found in a New York Times ad and bought out of Chapter 11; Village People, the Trammps, Grace Jones, Sister Sledge and Gloria Gaynor played there
The crowd of 1,500 at the gay awards dinner the night Peter took over Rum Bottoms
FashionFishnets, chaps, leather dresses
Heard as “fishnet”
His film Cruising was the only glimpse of leather-and-fishnet gay nightlife Peter had before Florida
Peter booked Village People right before it came out
Heard as “Macho Man”
One of their hits that week, as Peter remembers
Heard as “San Francisco”
Every fourth song on the radio, Peter says
Heard as “Disco Inferno”
Came down to perform at Peter's Florida club
Played Peter's Florida club
What Peter saw on getting off the plane - and why he left
FashionCowboy boots, cowboy hats, powder-blue pants
Heard as “cowboy boots”
The Dallas theatre where Oswald was caught - Peter was shown it as a club space
Heard as “the theater that Oswald”
Its artists were the cool people of the early 80s, Peter says
Home of the Pyramid
Peter's Atlanta club in an old dinner theatre - with sharks swimming under a glass dance floor
Heard as “Club in Atlanta”
On ropes with a few Christmas lights - Peter was disappointed
FashionChristmas lights
Heard as “moon in the spoon”
Where the art scene was getting really high-profile in the early 80s, Peter says
One of the places Peter looked at before the Limelight church
Heard as “Beacon”
Its Sixth Avenue buildings were long empty when the Limelight opened, Peter says
Heard as “bed bathrooms beyond”
Out with Andy and his entourage all over town, as Peter remembers
Heard as “Cornelius guests”
James says her first public performance was at the Limelight; Peter remembers Clive Davis telling everyone she was the greatest thing they'd ever see
Heard as “Whitney”
Talked Whitney Houston up to Peter the night she sang at the Limelight
Part of the downtown crowd in the Limelight library, as Peter remembers
Heard as “Stephen Sabins”
Part of the downtown crowd in the Limelight library, as Peter remembers
Heard as “Mustos”
The art dealer Peter remembers among the Limelight library regulars
Heard as “Crispo”
James remembers meeting her up in the Limelight library when she was a child
Heard as “Barrymore”
A Limelight night that ran nine or ten years - to its crowd, Peter says, Disco 2000 didn't exist
The Limelight's Tuesday
Heard as “Industrial Night”
Peter's recipe for a good crowd: the sequins guy and the Armani-suit guy think each other jackasses - and entertain each other
FashionSequins, Armani suits
Heard as “Sequence guy”
Helped with the concept for Club USA
Heard as “Eric Good”
Worked on Club USA with Peter and Eric Goode
Where Club USA opened in an old theatre
Owner of the Club USA building, as Peter tells it
Owned by the same group as the Club USA building, Peter says
Heard as “Paramount”
Owned by the same group as the Club USA building, Peter says
Heard as “Royalton”
Designed a room at Club USA
Heard as “Muglaire”
His room was at the far end of the Tunnel
Heard as “Kenny Charf”
RuPaul's husband - they met on the Limelight dance floor (named only as 'her husband')
Heard as “her husband”
One of the Wall Street names Fenton remembers Giuliani prosecuting
Heard as “Ivan Boski”
One of the Wall Street names Fenton remembers Giuliani prosecuting
Heard as “Milken”
Giuliani even went after the artists selling work around the Met, Peter says
Heard as “around the Met”
Peter calls it Giuliani's newsletter back then
James asks whether it set off the federal case; Peter calls it a public-relations disaster for the club kids
Heard as “stuff with Angel”
Its one-night parties reminded Peter of the Limelight, the Tunnel and USA
Fenton asks how Peter felt; Peter calls Michael a time bomb and says he was sad
Heard as “Michael passing”
Peter loved him to death - one of the people, he says, who are not programmed to get old
Peter recently saw a photo of it
Heard as “First album release party”
Interviewed for Peter's book: he printed his own passes for the Tunnel, and says it meant everything to the neighbourhood
Heard as “Who Who Kid”
Hosting a Broadway Cares benefit at the Palladium on one of Peter's four-club nights
Heard as “Nathan Lang”
Peter felt like the plate-spinner on Ed Sullivan's show, running between his four clubs
Nathan Lane hosted it on one of the nights Peter spun between his four clubs
Heard as “Broadway Cares”
Its plate-spinner was how Peter felt on his four-club nights
Heard as “Sullivan's show”
A pale room with a wood-and-ribbed-steel wall panel behind him
FashionLong wispy grey hair, dark sunglasses with a thin metal bar and blue-tinted lenses, a plain black T-shirt
His home library of packed bookshelves
FashionA grey-and-black floral silk shirt with matching scarf, black rectangular glasses
A wood-panelled trailer
FashionA pale-blue shirt, black glasses and a neon-green wristband
A grey curtain behind him
FashionA navy-and-orange striped T-shirt and clear-framed glasses
The big number counts mentions in this episode. The gold number counts the same name across all episodes on the site. Timestamps mark the first mention. Spot something wrong? Tell me! Dive into the Network →