Entrance to the club in 2009

The Pyramid Club is a nightclub that has been located in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City since 1979, which helped define the East Village scene of the 1980s. The club is located at 101 Avenue A in Manhattan.

In the late 70s and early 80s, when mega-clubs like Studio 54 and The Limelight dominated the nightlife scene, the struggling artists, actors, and musicians who lived in the East Village created their own scene. They began taking over some of the local dives, like the Holiday on St. Mark's Place (which is there to this day). They made clubs where there were none, like Club 57^[1] (in the basement of a church), and 8BC, on a block of abandoned tenements. And they took over The Pyramid, an undistinguished club on a desolate block.

Andy Warhol and Debbie Harry dropped in to do a feature on the club for MTV. Madonna appeared at her first AIDS benefit at the club. Both Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers played their first New York City concerts there.

In 2007, it was proposed that 101 Avenue A, the Pyramid Club's building, be landmarked for preservation. The proposal, described as the first "drag landmark", was not adopted by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.^[2]

Another interesting note: the apartment directly over the club belonged to Nico, the chanteuse from the Velvet Underground, throughout the band's heyday in the 1960s. The club today remains open seven nights a week.

[edit] See also

• Alphabet City, Manhattan
• Lady Bunny
• Lypsinka
• Miss Understood
• Wendy Wild
• Dean Johnson

[edit] References

1. ^ "Club 57". http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_2_38/ai_57475770. 
2. ^ The Villager. "Push to make Pyramid Club city's first 'drag landmark'". http://www.thevillager.com/villager_241/pushtomake.html. 

[edit] External links

Pyramid Club Website