I don’t want to get too excited, but I’m of the opinion that we’re getting closer to verifying the existence of Downtown. Let’s review, shall we?
In the wake of my post on the early days of White Zombie on the East Village scene, a reader named Greg wrote in saying he’d seen the band play circa 1989, alongside the Lunachicks (above) and an unfortunately-monickered combo named the Bloody Stools at a basement-level venue on Great Jones Street or in the neighboring vicinity. I replied with my recollection of a similar, short-lived venue a block to the south of there, specifically on Bond Street, wherein Killing Joke were slated to play. That show never transpired, however, as the venue went out of business before the scheduled gig. Greg agreed that it sounded like the same place, to wit...
That is the place without a doubt.
I love the Lunachicks and saw them many times back then. This particular gig was the first time I saw them so I remember a lot about the night. Including that stairwell.I am 100% sure that's the place.
At some point a few years ago, I tried to list all the places I had seen the Lunachicks. Who knows why I did that but I did. There was only one place I couldn't remember/find the details on...this Downtown place!
Every once in a while the show pops in my head and I try again to find more info on it. Not only is the place impossible to google, but I've searched through gig histories,old flyer art…nothing.
I tried to find old Voice club listings and even looked through old issues of NY Magazine on Google Books. Just to try to find at least one mention of this club. Nothing!
I don't remember for sure but searching for this club might be how I found your site in the first place!
I am determined to beat Google and find evidence of this place and the shows that happened there. It has to be out there somewhere!
I’d also found that testimonial from the drummer of the Martha’s Vineyard Ferries (where are they today, one wonders) that he was at the same show that Greg attended (or the same line-up, at least). Things started to fall into place.
In the wake of that, a different reader — albeit one named Greg B. — chimed in, saying he’d seen the Cycle Sluts from Hell open for Gang Green at this place circa `87 or `88, and that “the place was empty.” Unfortunately, this unofficial Gang Green gigography doesn’t support that.
The plot thickened.
Once again, I’d found a few vids online of bands playing at a joint called the Bond Street Cafe, but by all accounts, that was on the north side of the street, and not a basement level place.
I searched online for ads of the kind one used to find in the back pages of the Village Voice, but came up empty, and evidently this venue was too small potatoes for it to earn any placement in the listings of New York Magazine (which you can search for in Google Books). I know I have stacks of an old periodical I used to write for in the early 90’s called New York Perspectives that also might feature ads from the place, but taking those down from the front hall closet is a massive, dusty task.
I decided to take another route. As I mentioned in the White Zombie post, in recent years I’ve become online friends with the band’s former guitarist Jay Yuenger. Despite not finding any invocation of the venue or corroboration of a gig with the Lunachicks and Bloody Stools on this White Zombie gigography, I reached out to Jay to see if he remembers anything at all about the place. Gamely, he got back to me with the quickness….
I remember that show, sure. It was one of my first gigs with the band. I couldn't tell you the exact date, but I remember that that venue wasn't there very long, and that I saw a few other shows there, including Celtic Frost, which their directory lists as having happened on March 23, 1989.
Ah-HA! So Celtic Frost played there, too!!! That’s at least something!
Sure enough, true to Jay’s recollection, this gigography DOES cite that show (with Cronos opening!!?!? Where was I? —oh wait, at school). I couldn’t find a poster or a ticket-stub or a flyer for that show, but we’re getting closer.
Incidentally, this would have been right during Celtic Frost’s abortive turn towards all things “glam" (see below) a detour out of their doomy comfort zone by which no one was well served, least of all them.
Then I got excited because I suddenly found a evidence of a bootleg recording by Cronos (then ex of my beloved Venom) recorded in NYC in 1989! COULD THIS BE THAT SAME SHOW at DOWNTOWN? Nope —turns out it was recorded a month earlier at the significantly larger Ritz, which, by then, would have already had moved from East 11th Street to West 54th Street.
Alright, by this point, I’m not really sure what I’m looking for. The existence of the place has been more or less substantially corroborated by several folks, but I feel like I won’t be satisfied until I find some sort of official documentation of it.
The spot in question on Bond Street at Broadway shows very little indication that Downtown ever existed there. The jiu-jitsu place that was there in has morphed into a crossfire gym (see pic from yesterday morning at the top of this post). I walked down the steps to ask a question or two, but there was no one around.
The hunt continues.
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