AVONDALE – A red and white sign for Podlasie Club has hung above Avondale’s Central Park Avenue for decades, promising entertainment.

Podlasie Club, 2918 N. Central Park Ave., was one of the most popular Polish nightclubs in the area in the 80s and 90s, filled with working-class Poles dancing the night away to live music. But in recent years, the club has quietened and emptied as the neighborhood gentrified.

Then something unexpected happened: the owners of Podlasie teamed up with a group of young creatives to organize dance parties last summer. The Podlasie Club has once again become one of Chicago’s hottest dance clubs, with young people in their 20s and 30s lining up to dance in the former Polish bar. The club was alive, but for a young generation.

“We had nobody, we were closing at 8-9pm. Then all of a sudden we had 120 people until 3am. It was hard for me to understand that this could actually happen,” said co-owner Violetta Konopka, who runs the club with her brother, Vitek Pluta.

Now, instead of closing the bar, the owners are investing in its future as a nightlife hotspot. The bar’s first major renovation in decades began last month and is expected to last until spring.

Credit: Mina Bloom/Block Club Chicago

From “extremely dead” to the hottest place in town

Konopka and Pluta’s mother, Danuta Pluta, opened Podlasie Club in 1986 after emigrating from Poland.

At the time, the bar looked like a Polish wedding, with disco lights and tables covered in pink tablecloths near the dance floor, the owners said. Doll couples, including “women wearing their best dresses and full make-up”, filled the club every weekend to see polka bands and other acts aimed at the Polish community, or to grab a drink, said Vitek Pluta.

“They were people who worked hard all week, then that Saturday they went out and had a really good time,” he said.

Business dwindled as more Poles left the area for the suburbs, decimating the clientele. The once bustling dance club has turned into an empty dive bar.

The family stopped hosting live shows around five years ago to focus on running the bar, the owners said. Konopka said they considered shutting everything down at that time, but they held on to keep their mother’s legacy alive.

“When my mother came from Poland in the 80s, she was able to buy this place four years after arriving in the United States… That’s why we want to keep it. She worked hard for it. Why not keep it in the family? said Konopka.

Credit: Mina Bloom/Block Club Chicago

The revival began when Justine Tobiasz decided to celebrate her birthday at the Avondale bar in January 2020, when the hangout was quiet and empty. Tobiasz, a 34-year-old media archivist and visual artist, had hung out in Podlasie a few times and wanted her friends to experience her charm.

Konopka said she remembered getting a phone call from Tobiasz one sleepy Friday night.

Tobiasz “asked if we were open, what time we would be open. And I said, ‘Well, I’m not sure, I only have two clients.’ And she said, ‘Is it possible if you can stay open? Because today is my birthday and I want to come with some of my friends,” Konopka said.

Tobiasz and 20 of his friends – the largest number of Podlasie Club customers in a long time – closed the bar that night, feeling like they had discovered a secret gem. In their excitement, they asked Konopka to revive the old dance floor out back. It had not been used in recent years.

“It had that house party feeling. It was very comfortable,” Tobiasz said.

Tobiasz and his friends kept in touch with Konopka and asked if they could organize a dance party at the bar. Over time, they came up with the idea of ​​organizing a series of monthly events, called the Podlasie Pleasure Club.

Konopka came on board, hoping it might help revive the “extremely dead” company. But just as the collaboration was coming together, the pandemic forced the Podlasie Club to close. Suddenly it was no longer clear that the bar would survive, let alone throw a dance party.

The owners were lucky because their family owns the building, which means they didn’t have a mortgage, but they still struggled to keep the lights on and pay their bartender during the extended shutdown, they said.

Things remained quiet for about a year as the owners fought to save the family business.

“The idea that we were even going to have a successful party was a major storyline,” said Ali Najdi, one of the event series’ founders. “I was optimistic, but I didn’t expect Pleasure Club to explode like it did – and I don’t think anyone else was.”

Last July, the Podlasie Pleasure Club team finally held their first dance party, with the group members creating flyers, sprucing up the space and spreading the word. It was a resounding success. A DJ set by Najdi and Leja Hazer drew around 120 people, double what the owners expected. It was so crowded that some revelers had to jump behind the bar to help the owners serve drinks, the owners said.

“It was a running joke between all of us that no one would come. It’ll just be the five of us. But that’s not what happened,” Tobiasz said. safe enough to go out again…. It was a full house, there was a line down the block, which was so crazy for all of us.

Credit: Courtesy of Aaron Rolle

This party put Podlasie back on the map. Other DJs and party planners approached Konopka to sign up for the club’s schedule, even though he had no social media presence or website. Soon the Podlasie Club was booked up every weekend, with hundreds of people walking in and out of the bar just like in the 80s and 90s – but this time it was a younger crowd.

As the Podlasie Pleasure Club team continued to throw parties, the organizers helped the owners navigate sudden success. Party organizers wanted the revival to be a collaboration, not a takeover, they said.

While they were drawn to the nightclub for its “unintentionally cool” vibe, they wanted to help bring a deeply rooted family business back into the community.

“For me, it was about making sure we respected the place,” Tobiasz said. “It wasn’t just a place [was] empty and forgotten. There is definitely a community there. It has a long tradition and a long history.

Credit: Courtesy of Sophia Savin

After several months of celebrations, the Podlasie Club closed its doors again in December amid a new wave of COVID-19 cases. The owners have taken advantage of the closure to renovate the club, which is inside a century-old building that hadn’t seen any improvements since their mother bought it in the mid-1980s.

The renovation is hard work: Podlasie will have new walls, ceilings and bathrooms and a bigger dance floor when the project is finished. But the owners also keep many of the club’s original details, like the old bar, mirrors and Polish beer signs.

It’s important the bar continues to have a strong Polish identity when it reopens, hopefully in May, they said.

“Of course the walls are going to be different, of course the ceilings are going to be different. You have to follow the right path of construction and renovation. But the little pieces, the bar, it won’t change much. That’s what which made the place come alive,” said Vitek Pluta.

“It was the best thing that ever happened”

The Podlasie Club not only remains open, but it fills a void in Chicago nightlife.

After popular dive bar Danny’s closed in 2020, there aren’t many bars on the northwest side that regularly host dance parties for younger audiences, said Najdi, a fixture in the local music scene who recently worked for the Numero Group label.

Still, Podlasie Club is not “Danny’s 2.0”, said Najdi; he sees it as a cross between Danny’s and Smart Bar. Either way, “there is definitely a need for this space in Chicago,” he said.

“I have a lot of gratitude for Vitek and Violetta, for being open-minded and for letting a group of kids come in and be creative and experiment and have fun outside of the bureaucracy of being a dancer or a DJ in Chicago and the limitations that come with that,” Najdi said.

Gratitude is mutual. The owners said their associates and patrons have been nothing but kind and supportive during this transformation, and they plan to keep the dance parties going.

“I love these kids. I call them my kids,” Konopka said.

Having mainly served older Poles before the revamp, Konopka said she was unsure about turning Podlasie into a hip dance club.

“I was skeptical because we never deal with younger audiences. It was always the old Poles. We didn’t know what could happen,” she said. “But it’s the best thing that has arrived.”

Credit: Courtesy of Aaron Rolle

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After a quarter of a century, Belle’s Basix, an iconic Cedar Rapids bar and one of the few LGBTQ nightlife venues in eastern Iowa, may soon close for good.

“Unless someone buys the business, the bar will be closed for good on February 1,” owner Andrew Harrison wrote in a Facebook post late Sunday night. “If someone decides to buy the business, it will continue as they see fit [sic]. I am in talks with some people and I would like to talk to others about buying this 25 year old company. It will be cheap, I can tell you that.

Harrison, also known as Pretty Belle, has been the sole owner of Belle’s Basix for a decade. Harrison is a retired drag queen and founder of the Belle Drag family, which includes the Queen of Iowa City and RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Frisbee Jenkins, aka Sasha Belle.

Drag is in Basix’s DNA, and the company is perhaps best known for their weekly drag performances on Fridays and Saturdays. Harrison said their scheduled shows will continue as scheduled until February 1.

But Basix has always been more than a place of entertainment. Staff and regulars have worked to make the northeast Cedar Rapids business a sanctuary for LGBTQ people in Iowa and anyone looking for a sense of community.

“We call ourselves a gay bar, but we’re a bar for everyone,” Harrison told KCRG in April 2020. “… We’ve always accepted everyone as long as they recognize this is our safe space. “

Keeping clients safe became a more intimidating prospect after the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016, in which an anti-LGBTQ terrorist killed 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, Florida. Basix organized a vigil following the tragedy.

“I have to protect my clients, but I can’t stop an AK-47,” Harrison said.

Belle’s Basix has been the target of pantyhose, BB gun pellets and insults shouted by homophobes in cars. Staff are trained to watch for suspicious customers and have a panic button behind the bar in case of an emergency.

Recognize the importance of government While protecting LGBTQ people, Basix frequently held viewing parties for major political events. During the 2016 election season, Harrison said as many as 70 people filled the bar to watch the debates. Basix hosted the Cedar Rapids Watch Party and First LGBTQ Presidential Forum after-party in September 2019, featuring 10 Democratic candidates.

You meet the best people in #cedarrapids – @QueerEye to choke @RoadshowPBS for the Emmy again this year. But it was fun talking to @Karamo at #beautifulbasix pic.twitter.com/wNJV0PNNbt

– Nicholas D. Lowry (@NichoLowry) September 21, 2019

Basix has also carried on a quiet Thanksgiving tradition throughout its history: select friends and family members were invited to the bar to cook and eat a feast, chat, and maybe play a few euchre games.

“This is really the day that I love to sit down and see how we ‘misfits’ can come together and eat, drink and be OURSELVES… gay, str8, whatever !!!” Harrison job to the Belle’s Basix Facebook page in 2019.

Despite financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic, Harrison donated 60 packs of beer from the bar to healthcare workers in the area. And following the derecho on August 10, 2020, Basix was among the local organizations and businesses that helped deliver supplies and meals to Cedar Rapidians in need. The bar has also worked with Linn County Public Health to offer nighttime HIV testing, allowing patrons to know their status and be back on the dance floor in a minute.

As Cedar Rapids’ only LGBTQ bar in a state with less than a dozen LGBTQ bars in total, Belle’s Basix is ​​an Iowa institution. But the years have taken their toll on Harrison, especially in recent years. While welcoming potential buyers, he urged the public not to attempt fundraising to save Basix in its current form.

“I’m done,” Harrison wrote in Sunday’s Facebook post.

I have been in a toxic relationship with the bar for 24 and a half years. I love him, but I need to let go. The gay community seems to have let go so I must do the same. I should have let go years ago, but I wanted to keep a safe space for LGBTQA people at Cedar Rapids. It is apparently no longer needed. I HOPE and PRAY that with the current political climate, we as a community can be safe without a safe space. we will see.

Within 20 hours of the announcement, 100 Basix fans had offered words of grief, love and encouragement to Harrison in the comments section.

“This place has changed my life and I will always be grateful,” wrote one. “I learned who I was here and met the love of my life here. You have done an incredible job and I cannot thank you enough.

Thoughts? Tips? A nice photo of a dog? Share them with LV »[email protected]

A hidden urban oasis, La Otra is the newest upscale bar and lounge with ample choice for spending the night

La Otra, Miami’s upscale bar and lounge, has moved from its old Brickell location to a new indoor / outdoor space in the booming Wynwood neighborhood. Tucked away behind a black iron gate, La Otra sits through a back entrance at the end of NE 24 Street, off N Miami Ave. Known for its oversized disco balls, great music and energetic atmosphere, the popular venue is ready to welcome back locals and international guests.

“What is so unique about La Otra is the variety of experiences you can have here,” says Marcelo Medina, partner of La Otra. “One day you can come to La Otra, have a few drinks on the deck and be home by midnight, another night you could be on the dance floor until the early hours of the morning. The opportunities are endless.

“Eventually our location in Brickell gained in popularity to the point of becoming too large for the space,” adds Jason odio, partner of La Otra. “During the pandemic, we took the time to research and seek new homes for our customers. With Wynwood continuing to transform into a global destination, we figured La Otra would be home to the neighborhood. We are delighted to be back.

Through the black iron gate at the end of NE 24 street is the entrance to La Otra. Once inside, guests find themselves on an outdoor porch with a tropical garden that creates an intimate atmosphere, La Otra’s iconic disco balls, and lush plants hanging from the ceiling. Plush and matching chesterfield sofas surround the outdoor area. A 360-degree indoor / outdoor central bar anchors the space and offers wide access to guests. The outdoor space gives guests a front row seat to admire Miami’s iconic skyline, Wynwood’s famous graffiti walls, and every now and then a passing train.

The interior of La Otra is an urban oasis with great greenery, custom green velvet sofas, and disco balls that surround the bar and dance floor. The walls are adorned with subtle tropical-themed wallpapers, stucco, and Art Deco-style architecture that send guests back to the heyday of Miami.

Partners Jason and Marcelo each bring important pieces to the masterpiece that is La Otra. Their goal was not only to create an amazing living room, but to provide a gathering place for the Latin community. At La Otra, you’re just as likely to meet old friends as you are to make new ones. The sense of community they established in Brickell is now reflected in the new location in Wynwood.

The drink program at La Otra offers a wide selection of choices with a particular emphasis on scotch, tequila and mezcal. Specialty cocktails have playful names such as “Lucia” which is a cocktail of tequila, lime, and grapefruit soda; and the “Marina” which is a blend of Sacrvm Mezcal, panela syrup, grapefruit juice, pineapple juice and prosecco.

La Otra is located at 55 NE 24th St, Miami, FL 33137 and is open Thursday through Saturday from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. and Sunday from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. For more information, visit www.laotramiami.com, call (305) 908-9368 or check them out on Instagram at @laotramiami.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The former Magnolia club space in Cleveland’s Flats district has morphed into Goodnight John Boy, a 70s-themed disco bar and restaurant.

The space, located at 1167 Front Ave., celebrates its grand opening this weekend.

The bar will host a VIP party from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, May 21 and will then open to the public. On Saturday May 22, the VIP evening is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., with the bar open to the public afterwards.

The space is distinctly different from the nightclub atmosphere of Magnolia. Rather, co-owner Bobby Rutter aimed to update the bar in a “70s basement vibe.”

“We emptied the whole place, knocked down walls. We did a complete makeover, ”said Rutter. “It has disco-inspired technology – a light-up dance floor, other fun animated lights.”

(This includes a disco ball, of course.)

And what would a disco bar be without disco music? Rutter said Goodnight John Boy will feature local DJs from the 70s and 80s, as well as modern artists influenced by the era, like Bruno Mars and Dua Lipa.

The space will focus on its bar, but it will have two items on its food menu: pizza and chicken fingers. The ingredients were imported from Kesté Pizzeria in New York.

“It’s a simple, fun and retro menu,” said Rutter. “It’s two items – order when you want, we serve all night.”

Normal Goodnight John Boy hours will begin next week for Memorial Day weekend: 4:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m. Friday and noon – 2:00 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays. For now, the club will limit occupancy and enforce social distancing on the dance floor, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Rutter is hopeful that, as coronavirus vaccination rates are on the rise in Ohio, the restrictions will be lifted. He’s already seen a change in customer habits and how many people are heading to Cleveland’s nightlife.

“With the number of people vaccinated, it’s a better eviction. The 50+ crowd is now coming out and comfortable. These are positive indicators, ”said Rutter. “In the last couple of weeks things have been moving in the right direction… I think it’s more fun going out now than it was six or seven months ago.

Goodnight John Boy isn’t the only property Rutter is hosting this weekend; he’s also opening the FWD Day + Night Club for the first time since July, to begin preparing his staff for Memorial Day weekend and early June shows in space. FWD, which often hosts touring DJs and musicians, will host Kaskade for a show on June 2. Rutter said the show was about to sell out.

“It’s good to get back to it. FWD is strictly in the entertainment business, and that industry has been hit the hardest without any shows, ”said Rutter. “Now that the venues are starting to reopen, the demand for this level of entertainment is very high. “

You can find more information about FWD at fwdnightclub.com and Goodnight John Boy at goodnightcle.com.

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BURBANK >> After Sal Ferraro opened the Dimples restaurant and bar opposite the Warner Bros. building. in 1982 he was looking for a way to distinguish the place from the sports disco bar he owned down the street.

Then, shortly after opening the bar on West Olive Avenue, he discovered the home karaoke machine at a celebrity party.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

“Back then you had to read (the lyrics to the song) in a book,” said Ferraro, 84. “At first it was a bit slow. After the CD came out with the bouncing ball and the words, it all blew up… and everyone had it.

Now the iconic Dimples, billed as “America’s first karaoke bar” and known for its clutter of Hollywood memorabilia, is preparing to close its doors to make way for the Talaria Project in Burbank. The $ 165 million mixed-use project, which was approved by city council in October, will feature four levels of luxury apartments atop a 43,000-square-foot Whole Foods market.

• VIDEO: The karaoke scene at Burbank’s Dimples

• PICTURES: A karaoke night at Dimples in Burbank

“It’s devastating,” said Dimples manager Kim Snow, a 12-year-old employee, as he took a break from his bartending job. “We’re all really overwhelmed that it’s happening so soon. We knew this project was underway. It was just a matter of time. “

Last weekend, Dimples was filled with old friends as well as new ones who were eager to experience the place made famous across the country by a popular reality TV episode “Bar Rescue” which aired in 2013. Since the As news of its impending closure spread, the venue was crowded most weekend nights, with patrons occasionally having to wait outside so as not to exceed the venue’s 150-person capacity, Snow said.

“We are doubling our normal Holy Fridays and Holy Saturdays,” she said. “We have opened on Sundays for the past two weeks because we have been so busy.”

The kitsch bar, which has a wall of stained glass windows stained with the emblems of nearby movie studios, was due to have its last hurray this Saturday night, but Ferraro has worked with the owner and is hoping to secure a one-month extension, Snow said , adding that the actual closing date will be posted on the bar soon Facebook page.

Friday’s stage lineup included a few professional singers, two young girls and tipsy adults humming into the microphone in front of a life-size cutout of Vanna White. Accessories including bunny ears, wigs and glittering top hats were available to some of the most daring artists. In popular Dimples tradition, singers are given a photo and DVD of their first performance.

The dimples should be declared a “historic monument,” argued Dennis G. Miller, 66, of Van Nuys, who sang “Splish Splash” with a friend. Miller even took a request to designate it as a historic city resource and said he hoped the developer would consider changing the plans. Ferraro has long claimed that Dimples was the country’s premier karaoke bar – although its veracity could not be independently verified – and many customers have clung to that claim.

“It has to be preserved,” said Miller, a handyman with long gray hair. “It’s like finding dinosaur bones. … Any other karaoke venue can be shaved, but not the first one.

Julie Griffin, a professional singer from Valley Village, said she comes to Dimples for camaraderie and to let off steam.

“We’re all equal here,” Griffin said, sipping vodka tonic and talking to a young man. “We all look pretty bad. It is a special place and I am really sad to see it disappear.

Sitting on a bar stool by the kitchen, Ferraro proudly showed off billboards covered in photos of celebrities who have performed over the years, including Britney Spears, Jay Leno and Katy Perry. Actor Dennis Haskins, who starred as Belding in “Saved By the Bell,” is still a regular.

Back in the days when Dimples was the only karaoke bar, business was at its peak, Ferraro said. But things have calmed down except on Fridays and Saturdays, as karaoke bar after karaoke bar have sprung up around her. The bar’s appearance on “Bar Rescue,” which gave it a new look and significant publicity, resulted in a much-needed increase in sales, but they also made a few changes that put Ferraro in the wrong direction.

“They did me 50% good, 50% bad,” he said. “They took out my dance floor, removed my sign, rearranged a few booths. I did not like. They (also) bought new rugs, new bar stools, a sound system and a cash register. They spent a lot of money.

They also emptied his memories, including cameras and old photos, which he quickly returned to the bar. When they filmed the show two years ago, he was in debt of around $ 250,000. He has since sold some properties, including a house in Lake Tahoe, and is now out of debt, he said.

Ferraro is confident he will find another location and is currently working on runways to vacant restaurants and bars in Hollywood, North Hollywood and Burbank. Besides Dimples, there are around 40 households, several other commercial tenants and a church on the site that will also be moved by the Talaria project, which is the first large mixed commercial / residential project in Burbank, according to real estate group Cusumano, the developer. of the project.

“The dimples will live. It’s an institution, ”Ferraro said. “Where are you going to go in a bar and buy a DVD, a picture of yourself… and be on the Internet all over the world? There is no place, no place like that.

In his early days, Albert Zuniga remembers going to Dimples to have the girls dance to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and big bands to impress the ladies with his moves during their weekly swing dance lessons. Now the retired TV producer and film editor goes to the kibitz with clients and has a martini every now and then.

“This is my living room,” said Zuniga, who is one of the many clients valuable enough to have a little nameplate nailed to the bar. “I don’t miss karaoke as much as all of my friends, the girls (who work there) that I have seen come and go, the bartenders, Sal, and a lot of people he knows who were regulars who have all left. now.”

Burbank City Councilor Emily Gabel-Luddy said she was sad to see this “regional icon” shut down and is hoping Ferraro can find a location nearby.

But the Talaria project, which will provide around 240 luxury apartments ranging from 821 square feet to almost 3,000 square feet, will offer many who work in the city’s bustling media district a chance to live there, a- she declared.

“Nickelodeon brought 600 jobs across the hill to Burbank,” said Gabel-Luddy, one of four in five board members who voted in favor of the project. “The Cartoon Network has grown. More and more people are working on Cartoon Network and the average age is 27. I think this is all very positive.

But that’s no solace for John Oliver, a 68-year-old music royalty accountant who works across the street and comes to the bar every night after work for drinks, chatting with friends. and have the chance to sing Sinatra or BB King. . Oliver was “adopted” 11 years ago by the ladies who work at the bar, he said, and they take care of him like no one else does.

“It’s very sad,” said Oliver, who is not married and also has a nameplate on the bar. “It seems a family is breaking up. That is exactly what I feel.