St. Louis…home of the Cardinals, the Arch, Imo’s Pizza, and crime. Ever since being named America’s Most Dangerous City in 2006, it seems as if we’ve been trying to maintain that “championship” title for the past 5 years. Singling in on STL nightlife, several clubs have succumbed to closings because of it.

Pulse, formerly the Spotlight, located on N. Broadway, where two teenagers were killed and eight were wounded, closed Christmas 2010. Club Society, formerly located behind Union Station, was closed after a several incidents surfaced around the club, including a gang-related crime involving the shooting of 3 men. The Label, formerly known as The Black Label, located downtown in the ballpark district, went up in flames after police officer Darryl Hall was shot and killed by a bouncer outside of the club.

A slew of clubs on the eastside have closed and resurfaced due to crimes, including the infamous Club Casino, where a 22 yr old was shot and killed on the parking lot.

Several other nightclubs in North City seem to attract violence, including Spruills, the Royal Palace and the Imperial Palace, where a man was shot and killed on the club’s parking lot.

Lush (aka Karma) that was located on Olive across from the Loft, aside from crime, fell victim to the “promoter takeover” or “urbanization”, as I like to call it. Starting with the “Blackout” nights [literally], the club quickly took a shift to a more urban atmosphere. After a chain of events surrounding patrons and police, the club was closed and reopened as Karma, only to be closed again after a police officer was shot at on the club’s parking lot.

This “urbanization” continued on Washington Ave. when the Sugar Lounge and Lure (now known as Club Amnesia) brought about a world of problems to the posh Washington Ave strip. “Sexy As You Wanna Be” and “Swagged-out Saturdays” [LOL] became the norm, sprinkling a little bit of hood on the urban-forsaken block. But the sprinkle quickly turned into a flood as the street became victim to loud-music-bumping-Monte Carlos and congregating trouble-makers that couldn’t make it into the club.  Ultimately, a 22 yr old was shot after an altercationa across from Sugar.

**Thinks to self: Why can’t we, as a people, do right??**

Remember Home Nightclub at Ameristar Casino?  Probably not because as soon as ‘First Fridays’ introduced one of the BEST clubs that St. Louis nightlife had to offer to the urban community, the damn name unofficially changed to Club Home! Shortly thereafter, the Black community embarrassed itself yet again with the full on brawl inside the casino that officially closed the doors to yet another club. Reports surfaced, reassuring that the nightclub closed due to high costs, but we all know why Home closed.

 

It’s sad that once a nightclub begins to cater to Black patrons, the city ‘coincidentally’ finds reasons to harass the place – but it’s even sadder when we GIVE them reasons to harass us. STL > WAKE UP!

–Philip–

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