Columbus 72, the last nightclub with a cabaret license on the Upper West Side, closed on Thursday, former owner Marc Glazer told us.
The space has operated as a club under various names for decades, according to the New York Post, and even served as the setting of a Madonna video years ago when it was called the Star Club. Rafe Evans, who is marketing the space, says it could be a good spot for a sports bar. The nightclub is on Columbus Avenue between 71st and 72nd.
In recent years, we’ve heard from several readers about the rowdy atmosphere outside the club, particularly when clubgoers got out. Said one: “When patrons leave the club, I am woken up at 3AM. Traffic is crazy, with taxis beeping, police cars, screaming in the street. I have seen them urinating in doorways, screaming at each other.”
A man was stabbed there last year. An employee at a nearby boutique also once told us that a club patron had smashed a hole in the store’s window.
It’s illegal in NYC to allow dancing in a bar without a cabaret license. That means that the only place you can dance now is in your bedroom with your cat.
File photo via Google Streetview.
The 80s are ovah!
Back in the late 80’s early 90’s it was club called Baja Club. It was better managed and it attracted a local crowd.
Those were the Pre-Rudy days, before the Cabaret License became an issue.
Absolutely agree with AC – Uncle Rudy got rid of all of the decent clubs, especially when he got in heat with Peter Gaiten (LimeLight).
Now we have to ultra snoddy kids that can’t control their drinking screwing it up for the others and the ultra rich whimpering at the sound of someone passing gas
Yup, Baja club back in the 80s….
went a bunch of times when the UWS had nightlife.
That and Crane Club, Ruelles, Lucys, Cafe Central, China Club…
Don’t recall any true out of controlness – just fun times buy the dreaded evil quality of life destroyers known as collegiates and yuppies, which I guess I was one of.
of course we didn’t shoot each other or wake up the neighbors on exit. but, hated non the less by the self entitled crowd.
speaking of the past, this weekend, now that I sit home on saturday night I watched on Netflix, The Panic in Needle Park .
wow , Sherman Sq. 71st and bway – wow. yes a movie, but how awful our area was. You super lefties really want to go back to that ? that was the golden days? No wonder you could not leave your valuables alone for a second – an army of drug addicts, pimps and prostitutes controlling the area . Yes even among the older Lincoln Towers crowd walking between them.
Give me the present over that any day. Would like to see more eating and drinking establishments but the community board squashes entrepreneurs dreams and limited pocketbooks, so banks and Sleepys it is
PS: in the movie, Panic in Needle Park – they hang out in a coffee shop on 71st and bway – real dingy – i think it was Webers discount store for a long time after that , now a bank, i think – but…..
in the background you see the awesome old building that was demolished for the bland Nevada Towers – it was a grand old dowager that looks huge in movie taking up the whole block , but i counted 7 stories. Sad that we lost that one. I think it was called Nevada Flats…………?
anyway , while didn’t they have brooms and water hoses in the early 70s? the streets were filthy. and not just talking about the addicts.
Illegal to dance = politics of envy.
You need a permit to walk around downtown
You need a license to dance – Warren Zevon
“That means that the only place you can dance now is in your bedroom with your cat.”
Yeah, if you had a bedroom and a cat. Most likely you’ll be dancing with your hipster roommate or that European tourist that you rented out your couch via Airbnb
Amen! It’s about time!
Which Madonna video was it?
I only remember the great live big band music and great dancing. It was fun once.
I’m so glad they’re gone. There are a lot of people in the immediate neighborhood who got no sleep on the weekend due to this unruly impolite drunken mob.
Put the nightclubs back in areas where they’re not disturbing anyone. Maybe impossible these days considering the densety of accommodation in Manhattan.
In the 80’s and 90’s there were some terrific places to go and dance all night! The most memorable for me was Paradise Garage. The last one I went to was The Tunnell. Great music, fun people. I dont think we left in droves, drunk and yelling at each other. What happened?
When it turned into hip hop venue..it turned into hell on earth. modern american culture.
interesting it was hiphop now.. I did not know that.
If it was yuppies/colleigates like back in the day, the lefties would be screaming about the closer. Now there is just silence.
Yup. Let’s just say the club brought a little “color” to the plain & pasty lower-UWS. I guess that’s why it’s closing is met with silence from the liberal hypocrites in the ‘hood.
The real reason was that the club violated it’s noise laws and turned on the music so it shook the foundations of the apartment buildings. Till 3am. Literally shook the walls.