The Paradise Garage crashed onto New York’s nightlife scene like a tidal wave. When it opened in 1977, the dance club, housed in a former parking garage on 84 Varick Street, offered a counterpoint to its glitzier uptown cousin, Studio 54, where the rich and fabulous went to be seen. The Garage, which did not sell alcohol and wasn’t open to the general public, was strictly about the music. For a decade, until the club’s closing in 1987, it was a utopia for New York’s increasingly liberated black and Latino L.G.B.T. communities, who went there to dance until sunrise (and often beyond) to the cutting-edge sounds of disco, soul, funk, R&B, new wave and an emerging genre that would eventually be known as house music.
The man credited with pioneering that sound and shepherding the Garage’s dedication to music was Larry Levan, whose devotion to making people dance gave birth to the figure of the modern D.J. Before the arrival of Levan, who died in 1992, a D.J. was just a functional cog in the club’s apparatus, not the main attraction. Levan’s Saturday sets — which came to be known as “Saturday Mass” — were all-night marathons that ran the gamut of his eclectic tastes. If his audience wasn’t feeling a particular song, Levan, who was a master at working the crowd, would play it again and again until they eventually did. This Sunday, as part of an initiative to rename King Street, on Manhattan’s West Side, Larry Levan Way, the Red Bull Music Academy is throwing the Larry Levan Street Party, where Levan’s backup D.J.s Joey Llanos, Dave Depino and Francois K — all dance music legends in their own right — will be spinning and mixing the records that made Levan an icon. Here, some of those who worked with Levan, and several who partied with him, recall their most memorable moments from the Garage.
Joey Llanos, D.J.
“One of my most memorable experiences at the Garage was a night that Grace Jones performed. The street was mobbed with a line from our door, all the way down to Varick Street, and no traffic was able to move on King Street. She arrived late with Dolph Lundgren in tow, who I think she was dating at the time. He was a professional kickboxer back then, not the action star we know him as today. Mike Brody, the owner, called me into his office and asked me if I would carry Grace Jones from her dressing room to the stage on my shoulders, through hundreds of people. I was honored to accept. What he neglected to tell me was that she planned to whip me like a horse when we got to the stage. I found this out at the last minute, so I sent word back to my boss that if she whips me, I will throw her off my shoulders. Luckily, they got word to her in time, and she changed her surprise entrance. I’m sure our crowd would have loved it, but not me.”
Peter W. Correa, Chief Financial Officer, Intermedia Group
“It was June 23, 1984, the night before Pride Day. Anyone who knew Larry could attest to him being rather high-strung. On that night however, he was a bit higher than normal. In fact, I would describe his mood as being extremely emotional. This was a night where I could not get near his booth. Larry had a habit of playing a song over and over if he wanted you to ‘feel him,’ and the song of the night was Colonel Abrams’s ‘Music Is the Answer.’ Each time he played it, he threw the sound more intensely, dropping a huge bass that shook the room. I remember fighting my way toward the front of the dance floor near the stage. Larry was playing the Jackson 5’s ‘Hum Along and Dance,’ and despite feeling like sardines packed in a tin can, the crowd was in such a great mood, feeling the pride of being in the best atmosphere. We all just swayed together and smiled.”
Justin Strauss, D.J. and producer
“One of the most amazing things about going to hear Larry Levan play at the Paradise Garage was his fearlessness as a D.J. to play new records and productions he was working on. I remember one night when he came from the studio after working on the now iconic and groundbreaking Gwen Guthrie remixes. He played ‘Padlock’ and it cleared the dance floor. Larry had such an intense connection to the crowd, the dancers would sometimes just look up at the D.J. booth, and yell up to him and let him know if they weren’t feeling something he was playing. But Larry just played it again. And again. He played something maybe five or six times in a row, until the dance floor was packed and it became a Garage anthem. That was of the magic of Larry Levan.”
Francois K, D.J.
“One night at the Garage, whoever the lighting guy was decided to take a very long break, so I started doing the lights while Larry was spinning. As would usually be the case, we would really vibe off of each other, and it got to the point where it felt as if words were not even necessary, we just exchanged emotions quasi-telepathically. There was no need for anything else. The moment was indescribably perfect. And there were so many of those we shared.”
Pierre Francillon, artist and curator
“Larry, being the storyteller he was, would often poke fun at me through his selections. One night, I was hanging out with Keith Haring and his partner Juan Dubose at their space, prior to going out. We decided to trip on MDMA, my first time doing it. When we got to the Garage, I told Larry how I was feeling. He told me he would enhance my experience through sound. At some point, he played ‘Take Me Home’ by Cher. Larry often embellished the music with his mixing. In the song, Cher sings ‘It would be ecstasy!’ The whole room exploded into a roar and cheers. The magic was that everyone who cheered were also tripping on E. By poking fun at me, Larry connected with everyone. His ability to connect through music was special. We were so spoiled by him.”
Frankie Cruz, D.J.
“From the moment you stood at the ramp, Larry’s music would already be calling for you. My first time at the Garage was like no other. I always heard about it, but hearsay never prepared me for the experience I was about to have. As I walked in, I heard music that I immediately recognized from my own crates. Yet unlike my setup at home and other places I’ve been to, the sound I heard that night couldn’t be described. It was a sound so powerful, yet so clean. The lows thumped so hard against my chest that it felt like a hole was being punched through me. I was overwhelmed, amazed and scared all at the same time. I couldn’t stop dancing.”
David Depino, D.J.
“Only two people have ever made me starstruck at the Garage, and that was Patti LaBelle and Boy George. When Boy George walked in, I was tripping over my tongue, tripping over my feet — I didn’t know what to do or what to say, I was so excited. I brought him up to the booth to introduce him to Larry, who was a big fan of Michael Jackson. He had Michael Jackson posters on the wall and a little M.J. doll with the one glove sitting on the record console. Boy George looked at me, put his hand over his mouth, and whispered in my ear, ‘Somebody in here is a big Michael fan.’ I started to laugh because it was so real. He wasn’t acting like a star or a celebrity. He was just George.
“I also remember dancing in the D.J. booth with Patti while Larry was playing, ‘Messing With My Mind,’ and Patti started to do the bump with me. Only in the Garage can you dance with a singer of Patti’s calibre and just be two people dancing to a great song. The Garage brought everyone down to an equal level. Everybody came there to dance and have fun, not like Studio 54. They went there to be the celebrity they were. The Garage was about having fun.”
Teri Felton, employee of the New York City Department of Education
“The first night I attended was with a dear friend who brought me. There was not a big crowd outside, just a few people congregating. He told me, ‘Teri, just wait right here.’ I waited maybe three minutes, and when he came back, he took some water and wet the back of my hand, then pressed the back of his hand to the back of mine. I asked what he was doing, and he said, ‘Shhh, don’t worry about it. Just act like you’ve been inside already.’ And that’s what I did. I went over the threshold, up the ramp, and suddenly I heard this music, this bass, just pumping, pumping, pumping. I said to Bill, ‘What is this?’ ‘You’ll see,’ he assured me. So we get up to the booth, and all I had to do was put my hand under that black light, and sure enough, whatever mark they gave people so folks could go in and out of the club, was on my hand. I was there. And when I walked through the door and saw the space, I was amazed.”
Joey Sheridan, owner of Natural Food Market and Cafe, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
“I was walking down the ramp to exit for the last time at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, September, 27, 1987, after being there almost all weekend. I turned back to look at the cashier’s booth, and I remembered the first time I walked up to that counter in 1983 at a New Order concert, and thought about how put off I was by how friendly the cashier and the entire staff were. I had never experienced that in a New York club before, and did not yet have the capacity to appreciate it. Now, four years later, I stared at the counter and thought of that day and how much a building had changed my entire perspective of how we should all treat each other. It was bittersweet, but I had a feeling anything was possible in that moment, but no clue on how to move forward. As I walked out, a friend was leaning against a car outside and asked, ‘Where do we go from here?’ I answered, ‘I don’t know. Andy Warhol died and the Garage closed in the same year — what’s left?’ Within weeks, I moved from the city for two years, as my entire identity had been shaken.”
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
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Track Listing
1. Keep In Touch (Body To Body) (Capella Intro) - The Shades Of Love
2. Can't Play Around - Lace
3. Free Love (Larry Levan Edit) - Jean Carn
4. Heavy Vibes - Montana Orchestra
5. Hip Hop Be Bop - Man Parrish
6. Key West - Kasso
7. Lost In Music (Nile Rodgers 1984 Remix)- Sister Sledge
8. Mesopotamia - The B52's
9. Once In A Lifetime - The Talking Heads
10. Dancer - Gino Soccio
11. Is It All Over My Face (MAW Remix) - Loose Joints
12. I Like You - Phyllis Nelson
13. Get On Up and Do It Again - Suzy Q
14. Don't Fight The Feeling - Roy Ayers
15. Cavern - Liquid Liquid
16. Always There - Side Affect
17. Law of The Land - The Temptations
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