It Is Now A WHAT???

The Limelight. This club was housed in a former Episcopal church in Chelsea. A big part of the New York City club scene in '80s and '90s is now most definitely closed forever.

Lori never actually set foot inside the place, but Maria went a few times in the early 90s, and it truly had to be seen and experienced to be believed. Techno, goth, industrial, trannies, club kids, - all were accommodated dancing on the the floors and the altar.

Not a place for the faint of heart! No one had any need to actively seek out drugs like Ecstasy, Special K, heroin, etc etc because things were so bizarrely handled out in the open. If those walls could talk! The 2003 release of Party Monster starring Macaulay Culkin and Seth Green was based on the murder of Angel Melendez by party promoter Michael Alig. It seemed like the cops busted this place on a regular basis in the 90s, and the venue was in a constant state of closing and reopening. The club took its last breath was taken in 2007.

And now? Yet another completely implausible transformation......

It is a mall. A mall. A freakin' high-end mall. Blasphemy!

The doors opened this month as The Limelight Marketplace. Is nothing sacred??? You can now by gelato and children's books and little soaps on the same spot where acid-laden club-goers partied until the dawn's early light. It is kind of like walking into some sort of warp zone when you go inside and remember how things used to look. Very different clientele now!
This would be facing the altar/stage.
Is this an improvement? Maybe. It just seems like yet another NYC institution, whether it be deemed a positive or a negative one, has gone the way of the mainstream and the tourists. Don't want NYC to lose all its character. Or its characters!