NYC NOW - The DJ Bringing NYC's Legendary Danceteria Nightclub Back to Life

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

Before Madonna was Madonna, she was working coat check. Before the Beastie Boys were the Beastie Boys, they were janitors. They worked at Danceteria, a five-story downtown Manhattan nightclub that became the unlikely launchpad for some of pop culture's biggest names in the 1980s. DJ Rafe Gomez runs Danceteria Rewind on Twitch every Thursday night, reconstructing the club's legendary playlists for nearly 60,000 followers worldwide. He joins us to talk about what made Danceteria unlike anything before or since, and why Manhattan nightlife has never quite recaptured that magic. Photo: Steve Eichner/Archive Photos via Getty Images -Got any questions, comments or story ideas? Send us a message at [e-mail]

At Dancateria, the mindset was, if you get what we're doing here, and if you embrace it, come on in. Nightlife in the 80s was unmatched in New York City. On today's episode, we traveled back in time to a nightclub called Dance Ateria. The downtown club was influential in shaping 80s pop culture. That was NYC then. This is NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre. Before we get to that, here's what's happening in our region.

A New York City Councilmember wants the state to better regulate the illegal tow truck industry in New York City following a WNYC investigation. Staten Island Council member Frank Morano has introduced a resolution calling on the state DMV to fix a loophole. Someone can get official tow truck plates without proving their license to operate in New York City. That's bonkers. There should be verification before issuing or renewing those plates. and that's where we need to stay to step in. A DMV spokesperson says oversight of the city's towing industry is the city government's responsibility.

WNYC's investigation identified more than 700 unlicensed tow trucks that operated on city streets last year. Home flipping is pushing up housing prices and pushing more and more black residents out of New York City. A new report by the Pratt Center for Community Development says 10,000 homes were bought and quickly resold in the five boroughs between 2021 and 2025. The highest rates of home flipping were in neighborhoods with significant black populations. In Jamaica, Queens alone, 30% of homes sold were flips.

State lawmakers looking to curb the practice are considering raising transfer taxes. The state Realtors Association says doing so would only curtail investment in aging properties. The researchers say investors often target vulnerable buyers with low-ball, offers, then reap outsized profits in the resale. Whoever said Knicks and Six was right. The New York Knicks are moving on to round two of the NBA playoffs. The Knicks crushed the Atlanta Hawks Thursday night, 140 to 89, ending Atlanta season. New York broke several NBA records with the win.

Their 47-point halftime lead was the biggest in playoff history. The Knicks will face the winner of a series between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia, 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. That deciding game is happening Saturday night. A downtown Manhattan nightclub became an unlikely launchpad for some of pop culture's biggest names in the 80s. After a quick break, we revisit Dance Ateria. Stick around for the conversation.

Welcome back. Hop into my time machine and picture this. It's the 80s in New York. It's the 80s in New York City and you're headed out for a night on the town. You got an invite to a place you've never been. It's a five-story nightclub in downtown Manhattan called Dancateria. L.L. Cool J is working the elevator. Madonna is on coachee and John Michelle Bosquiat is actually DJ.

It's lit. Or as they say in the 80s, it's groovy. Dan Citeria played a pivotal role in pop culture during this time. It was famous for its vibe, introducing iconic art, fashion, and music, all in one place. All the things we love about New York City. The nightclub closed in 1986 due to an extreme rent increase, but one guy is replicating the vibes danceateria presented musically. DJ Rave Gomez is the host and spinna behind Dance Ateria Rewind on Twitch. Welcome to the show.

JP, thank you for having me. So nice to have you here. Thank you. Before we jump into all of this, how did you discover Dancateria? I lived in northern New Jersey, and I went on a field trip with my high school to the Museum of Natural History. Nice. And at lunchtime, there's all of the newsstands outside, and I saw something, and I was kind of familiar with the village voice, this newspaper that listed New York News, New York events, and it was like the size of the yellow pages. Oh, wow.

Yeah, it was huge. So I spent my 50 cents and I bought one night. I was reading it on the bus ride back and the event listings for what was happening in this city probably 75 pages. Whoa. It was, what are these clubs? Who are these bands? So I became very aware of the fact that my little world in New Jersey was not even touching all of the possibilities that were right here. Right.

And I saw the dentistry is. I think I had a full page ad. And it had a fun vibe to it because they were very much embracing visually kits and nostalgia, like a suburban 50s nostalgia. And I thought, I've got to go to this place. Okay. But I was 16 years old. Oh, so you couldn't get in.

There's absolutely no way I could have gotten in. But I was aware in Times Square there was a place called Playland. And it was a video arcade and they also sold fake IDs. Oh, I know what you did. I went in, I took my $5, I got my fake ID, and it looked so fake, you know. But I made time to be able to go to this incredibly fascinating place, Dancateria. And the guys at the door looked at the ID, and they looked at me, and they looked at the ID and looked at me and went, all right, come on it. And where was Danciteria actually located?

The one that I went to was at 30 West 21st Street. And the story about West 21st Street at that time was you could lay down in the middle of the street at 6 o'clock and have a solid night's sleep and no cars would go by. Oh, dead. It was dead. Yeah. That area of New York, there was no retail. There was no residential development. There was nothing.

The city was bankrupt. The only thing that existed in that area were former warehouses and former factories. So when Dan Citeria was looking for a space to open, There were all of these landlords that were saying, come on in? Yeah. Sure, absolutely. And you could make as much noise as you want

because there were no neighbors there to complain. Tell me what dance interior was like inside. Well, there was the basement, which I never made my way to. That was where the staff hung out. And it was also very poorly lit and had a goth vibe. So these made-up goth kids were down there. I don't know. Maybe that's where they slept in catacombs.

And then the first floor was the live bands. Second floor was DJing. And then there were some, I can't specifically remember what, but there's something called Congo Bill, which is a club within a club. Okay. Yeah, like it was part of Denthtuary, but a separate club within the five-floor space.

And then there was the rooftop where there were, you had to be super, super chic. Super chic and super important. But you made your way up there. I'm super bozo, the clown. But they took pity on me and, you know, The special kid they brought up there. Tell me what the vibe was like there.

I mean, the top, the introduction, was no dramatization, right? Like all of these now celebs actually worked and build their careers at Dancetaria. It was, okay, there were no such things as influencers, but they were influencers there before influencers were influencing. It was five floors. And the thing about getting a guy like me in, it wasn't like Studio 54 where you had to have money and be fabulous and be a somebody. Yeah.

At Dancateria, the mindset was, if you get what we're doing here and if you embrace it, come on in. And also they knew that people like me who were escaping suburbia, we were going to pay full price for drinks, full price for admission. We were going to subsidize this place. We had no problem with that. Yeah. We will open our wallets to be part of this amazing magic. You said, if you get it, come in. What is the it?

Being open-minded to hearing music you've never heard before. seeing people who are coming from lifestyles and are dressing in ways you haven't even even seen. And if you are thirsty for that, you will just soak in what we have. And I did. And it was hard for me to go back home because I was how am I existing

in this wasteland of post-disco goofdom? That's what was going on there. It was just the clubs and the people that were still clinging to the magic of John Travolta and Tony Minero years after the first. fact, and I went, my God, you people, move on. What do you remember about that first time you went to dance atyria? The music was what struck me the most, but the visuals, there was art everywhere.

There was a floor with video art where there were combinations of different visuals and films and short snippets and, again, this embrace of kitchen nostalgia all smashed together and people were digging it and I was digging it too because I'd never seen anything like this. Yeah. And I managed to, and I don't know why, maybe they took pity on me because I was such a bozo, but they let me up onto the roof where there were all sorts of semi-private parties going on. And on another trip to Dancateria, I saw Madonna perform on the roof, her first song, Everybody. She worked there. Yeah.

She worked not just as coat check, but she operated the manual elevator because this was a former warehouse. So it was one of these kinds of things with the crank. Yeah. And she operated that. But the Beastie Boys were janitors. L.L. was working the front door. Debbie Mazar, the chef and actress, she was in Goodfellas, many other things. She was working with Madonna at Cochek.

Keith Herring was a waiter when he was trying to fund and come to terms and figure out what his direction was going to be. And Jean-Michel Basquia, who, by the way, was going out with Madonna. When they both worked at Dantiteria, he got hired and then fired. as a mural painter because the guy in charge of what he was doing guy named Rudolph Piper, he didn't like what Jean-Michelle did and he wasn't going to pay him.

What can you say about the role and impact that Dancateria played when it comes to pop culture because we're hearing all these names, Keith Herring, Madonna, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, like they weren't popping back then. No. They built their careers in this space.

I think what they probably got out of was the fact that they were able to collaborate with like-minded visionaries. They all influenced each other. When Madonna went on tour for her first tour, she had the Beastie Boys as the opening act. And the little girls who were a little Madonna wannabes were, oh, my God, who are these gross guys? That was a good one. That's a good impersonation. I was practicing that on the way or.

But they all remained friends. They all remained tight. And what I'm doing on my live stream is, look, I'm going to provide and present a theater of the mind. I'm going to take you back to this place. I researched the original DJ playlist of guys like Mark Kamens and Anita Sarko and Bill Balman and Sean Cassette, all of whom DJed there, they all had different styles because you could go from one floor to the next

and you would be able to hear in one night disco, early electro rap, hip-hop and glam, reggae, dub, EDM, industrial, goth, bubblegreens, 60s stuff, punk, Afro beat, funk, James Brown, in one night you could hear all of this. So I set out to take you from you walk in and by the time you leave, I will have increased the beats per minute and seamlessly blended all the music in a way that this is what it tasted like, being in this incredible spot. Man, this is so cool.

I want to reiterate the fact that there was no social media during this time, you know, no group text with friends to discuss the next hang spot. How were people, you mentioned that yellow pages, that thick ad book, but how were people finding out about it? Village voice, but also snipes. There were posters all over the city that were advertising who was going to be appearing at which clubs. And you're going to find this so funny. Invites?

Flyers. Oh, yeah. They would hire kids to put little flyers in all of the clothing stores and all of the restaurants. down in the village in Midtown, and you'd see these cool branded invites, not just from Densiteria, but from everywhere. And that was the social media. Yeah. That was it. And you knew had to get, you had to be in the spot for this particular thing. And it wasn't just folks, you know, across the five boroughs, right? Like, this was world known. Yeah. Yeah. The fact that there were so many things happening in New York, the development of these, this,

this art scene. And the music, rap, it's hard to believe. It was just getting started. It came over from the Bronx. Debbie Harry and Chris Stein were instrumental in bringing this stuff over because they saw it in the Bronx and they brought it to the galleries on the lower east side and eventually it got to Dancetaria. So there's all of this excitement about the art and hip-hop. And all of these celebrities came over here. Durand-Duran the Rolling Stones. They had parties at Dancetaria because it was the nexus of everything going on. And they were, look at this.

What is happening? They had no knowledge. of any of it, and they just dove into it and loved it. Raph, I don't know the last time you've been to a club, but what's the difference between danceateria and clubs today? I will be honest, the only knowledge that I have of what's happening in clubs is from my kids, and they tell me what time it is,

but I'm going to make a generalization, I'm sure I'm going to piss somebody off. At dance atyria, especially, because there are other clubs around town that there was the Paradise Garage that specialized in like a soulful pre-house thing. And the Roxy, which was this hardcore electro and the fun house, which had more of a bridge and tunnel vibe.

And the saint, which was high energy gay post-disco stuff. But what I loved about Dancateria, it brought all those scenes into the one club. Like I started off my show, low beats per minute, reggae. And then I start getting into rap. And then I start getting into other things. And by the time the show was over, I'm up at 151 beats per minute of punk. and that was what excited me. I didn't know what was coming next.

The idea of going up to the DJ and making request to me was so disrespectful because these were tour guides. And if you were in Dancateria, you were saying, I don't know where you're going to take me, but take me. But I trust you.

I trust you. I trust you. And what I have found from seeing different videos and different playlist of what's going on right now in clubs, it seems to me, and I know,

smack me down because I'm probably wrong. But the beats per minute is very uniform. It's in the 120s, 1.30s and maybe a little less. Also, everything's programmed. Everything is programmed drums. So it's not hard to make a transition from one song into the next because it's perfect. It's perfect drum beats. Danceeteria, a lot of the songs included drummers who, let's say, in altered states of consciousness in the studio.

Oh, got you. Oh, gotcha. So the pacing just dips and speeds up and slows down. So what I find when I'm putting the show together is, how do I combine these songs? So it's a mesh and a merge, and the answer is practice. I'm correcting a lot of their mistakes as I'm doing it, speeding them up, slowing them down. So I'd say the answer to your question is the diversity, the unexpectedness. I don't know if I could go to like five different clubs now and I could cover my eyes and I wouldn't know if I'm when one different clubs.

to the next. Whereas back then, it was you know where you were. You knew where you were. Yeah. Based on what you were hearing. Yeah. When you look at New York City's arts and culture scene today, how is creativity that emerged back then still resonating? I don't know how it is, but it's just astounding. It still has appeal and desirability for audiences of all ages. Right now we have at the Brandt Foundation, Keith Herring Show, showing. his works from 80 to 83, which was his formative years. So the interesting about Keith was that he's working in Dantiteria and the music is addressing and forming and shaping his what you see on the canvases. And honestly, not that you say that when I look at his art now and I'm taking in the

vibes of Danceteria, thanks to Dantiteria Rewind. It's moving. His art is moving. And you get that, that this was a music fan. In fact, there was a three-album set that came out in the UK in like 2016 called the Essential Keith Herring, all the music that motivated him to create. Jean-Michel Basquia also very into music. He was in a band called Gray,

which didn't really take off, but I always used his music on the show. And you can hear that this guy was feeling the streets and showing it in his art. And another thing about Danciteria that just occurred to me was, in addition to all that music that I mentioned, there was

a massive Latin influence. You couldn't get away from it. In the record stores, Fania Records was huge with salsa. And what happened was the band Kid Creole and the Coconuts was huge downtown and also overseas. But there was a guy in the band named Cody Mundi. He released a song that did well in the clubs here, but in the UK, it was a top five pop song. It was all Barikwa, salsa infused, boogaloo infused. Nice.

And that launched a salsa craze in London. which then when those records were released, got exported here and played in our clubs, which then influenced us. So bands like modern romance and Funkapolitan and even New Order. New Order, when they first came here, they heard this music in Dantiteria,

this Latin-flavored dance music, and they ended up releasing songs that became huge among the Puerto Rican population. And then the Latin kids were influenced by New Order and Depeche Mode because they saw these amazing outfits and they heard the way that they were using the synthesizer. So it was just everybody's talking to each other.

The cross-pollinization was just nonstop, which is astounding because there was no social media, like you said. Yeah. There was no internet. It was all lived experience and then sharing it when you got back into the studio. I'm wondering what artists are putting out work in 2026 that seem to be carrying on the legacy of Dancateria? JP, I'm going to do you one better.

Okay. Which artists from the Dancateria era are still making an impact. Oh, that's a good one. And I will tell you right now, ESG. Okay, how so? YesG is an all-female band that was released on a little tiny record label called 66 records. We're not 99. I'm not sure.

99 or 66, depends on how you're looking at it. But they had songs that they were like the house band of Dancateria, all-female, family band. and they've played Glastonbury in the UK. They're touring right now across the country and still attracting crowds. And what's even more fantastic, their songs are used in car commercials, in movies, in TV shows,

stuff that was recorded in the early 80s during the Dancateria era. The sonics of it still resonate with what we are doing and where we are. I love that. You look up ESG Moody, and you will be, I have heard this, What was great about them and a lot of these other bands that were coming out of this era, they started out as punks.

But they didn't like the fact that you couldn't really dance to punk. You kind of just jumped up and down. So their idea was, okay, we love punk. We love the DIY thing. We love the energy. Let's make something that will get the floor moving. Let's talk about the issues that we want to talk about, punk topics, but get a groove. Yeah.

And that song Moody by ESG, it's so thick. The bass is so deep. It's like sticking a knife into frozen peanut butter. That's how thick this groove is. Nice. Yeah. So they're still out there and doing it. And they're in their 60s and they're still rocking crowds.

I love that. Yeah. Are there any places that remind you of Dancateria in New York City? Unfortunately, I don't know Manhattan because it's priced out. Yeah. It's like there's no innovative rooms in Manhattan. And that's what happened with Dancateria, right? Exactly.

We talked about it. They had a good six years, but, you know, that rent increase got everybody. Okay. So I'm going to give you a step that's going to make you go, what? Because it's so crazy. Okay. So back then, in the five boroughs, there were approximately 10,000 liquor-serving nightlife establishments in the early 80s during the denseriority. Not enough.

I'm joking. That's a lot. It's true. Bring them on. Because today, across the five boroughs, there are a little less than a thousand. Yikes. Liquor serving nightlife establishments. And by the way, in Manhattan, it's all table service.

It's all, you know, crazy admission. But if you go to the boroughs, that's where things are happening. Ridgewood, Queens, and Brooklyn. That's where you have some rooms where some exciting stuff is going on. Haven't been there. I've read about them. My kids have gone. But they tell me that it's fantastic going out to those places.

So it's gone off of the Manhattan Peninsula. Yeah. Manhattan Island. Well, before we let you go, tell me, bit about Dancateria Rewind. How did that get started? Through Omicron. I was losing my mind, as everybody was. And I was focused with working from home and trying not to die and keeping my apartment clean. That's all I had every single day. But you kept the vibes during the pandemic. I tried. But one night I was walking, it was like

midnight, and I put it up to the universe. I had no solutions. What can I do? to bring me joy. What can I do that can be a hobby? And I couldn't DJ because actually I had been DJing. I DJed in the early 2000s. I had a nationally syndicated radio show. I was a QBC host. I was in clubs. I was doing jazzy, funky stuff. But that was done. That era was done. And I couldn't do it because one, nobody cared who I was anymore. And two, there was no place to play because of COVID. So the universe came back to me and said, DJ something else. Do it online. Find a platform. So I found Twitch. And I realized, again, I had zero cash say as a DJ, but I could recreate something that brought me joy. And that was Dance Ateria. So I took a long time

researching the bands, the tracks, and what was played there. And so now, when you listen to Dance Atterior Rewind, it has almost 60,000 followers around the world. And you can chat with me while I'm DJing. And I could, I know that the listeners of what I'm doing, a lot of the more in their 20s because they're using gaming lingo. Oh, boy. Which I didn't know what it was. Like I put on a track that everybody loves and I see WWW,

eat it, FDW. What is this? So I had to look it up and I mean, oh, they like it. Got it. Okay, that's cool. But yeah, it is this thing that it started to just give me an outlet and bring me joy, but just bring a lot of other people joy

and that's why I do it every week. People make an appointment with me. 8 to 10 Thursday nights, Twitch.com, forward slash Dancateria Rewind to spend this time, take this trip with me. And they love the way they feel when they do it. I love the fact that all these years and a few decades later that Dancateria was still with you. Yeah. Can you talk about its impact on you and how it's helped you in your career now? Yeah. The same way it's making me very happy now doing this live stream,

it made me happy and it gave me an escape when I was living in northern New Jersey. And even though it's only 12 miles away, 14 miles away from Manhattan. It was so far away. And it made me realize there's a big world out there. Yeah. And I need to get involved in this. And that joy and that experience stayed with me so deeply that when it finally occurred to me what to do as far as a DJ route, it had to be this.

Yeah. Because I can talk about it. But if you haven't heard it, then you get it. Then you understand what it's like to go from all of these genres into another. seamlessly beat matched, connected. In fact, the style of DJing that I use is called beat matching, which is something that hasn't really done that much anymore by DJs. So it's not only the music I'm playing,

but also the way I'm playing it, which is representative of what the experience was like back then. That's DJ Rave Gomez. Check him out on Twitch with Dance Ateria Rewind Thursday nights at 8.m. Thanks so much for joining me, DJ Rave. Jay Pee-Ski. Thank you for you for. welcoming the brough on the spot in the place to be NYC Now.

Yeah. Thanks for listening to NYC Now. Have a lovely weekend. And shout out to everyone headed to see The Devil Wears Prada 2 this weekend. I don't have my tickets or my outfit yet, but I hope you do. I'm Jenae Pierre. See you next time.