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Always wanted to hop into a DeLorean and set the control panel for 1985? Here's your chance! Culture Club, that totally awesome downtown night spot that was a velcro for fans of the big-haired decade and many a bachelorette before shuttering in 2007, reopens September 30 at 20 West 39th Street. (Go here to get $10 off opening-weekend admission.)
Like the decade it celebrates, this Club is over-the-top. It's a place "to relive the era when everything was just a little bit bigger, louder and brighter,” says owner Robert Waltman, who's partnered in this Garment District reboot with onetime teen idol and opening-night performer Debbie Gibson. Featuring three floors—each with its own bar and deejay—and a pending, smoker-friendly rooftop, the new location, like its former home on Varick Street, promises to be awash in nostalgia. Think wall-sized pictures of Tina Turner, Tom Cruise and Michael Jackson, a giant Rubik's Cube in lieu of a disco ball, Pac-man seats and—Great Scott!—a copy of the Back to the Future time machine.
If you were too young to walk like an Egyptian at the likes of Manhattan mega-clubs Limelight and the Palladium, here's your opportunity to dress like Madonna or Miami Vice's Crockett and Tubbs, sip a Top Gun-inspired cocktail (a.k.a an energy drink and vodka) and experience a more innocent time when Two-and-a-Half Men's Jon Cryer was simply known as "Ducky" and Charlie Sheen was considered cool.
In celebration of Culture Club's epic return to New York nightlife, NiteTables brings you five places you can go to relive the extravagance of the 80s, spandex optional.
The Canal Room (285 West Broadway)
This sleek Tribeca fixture plays host to some of the best tribute bands in town, including resident live band the Rubix Kubes, who hit the stage every Saturday night in full-blown 80s pop-inspired ensembles (and hair!) to resemble the decade's biggest pop stars. With surprise appearances by Tiffany and her former rival, the aforementioned Gibson, the Kubes electrify the all-ages crowd with a best-of setlist (think Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield", Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf", and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'") The band, which was flown to LA to play Miley Cyrus' birthday bash, also features the odd celeb sighting, such as Kelly Ripa rocking a crimped 'do.
The Joshua Tree (513 Third Ave. )
Immediately after work, this Irish-owned pub named for the seminal 1987 U2 album is your average sports bar with a pretty extensive beer selection (23 on tap alone). After 10 p.m., though, the place spontaneously morphs into one of the city's longest-running 80s parties, a nightly rave where young professionals drink, sing and dance their way back to their college years. Things get especially raucous during "We Love the 80s" Fridays, when 12 plasma screens sync up with DJ Steve's pop-tastic selections, showing vintage music videos from the days when the "M" in MTV stood for music. Feel free to make requests and join in the sing-alongs to cheesy favorites such as "Party All the Time" (by Eddie Murphy!) and "Total Eclipse of the Heart"—everybody else does!
The Triumph Room (311 W. 57th St.)
This subterranean hideaway sits in the ruins of what was once a legendary recording studios in Manhattan, so it's fitting that the walls are dotted with signed copies of seminal albums, like 1987's Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction. Behind the relaxed velvet ropes of this Hell's Kitchen hotspot, a rather distinguished crowd of thirty-something professionals spend Friday night dancing to the sounds of 80s pop and hip hop. Triumph's dance floor swells late at night under whirling colored lights, while their curtained, candlelit booths also make the venue perfect for private events.
The Pyramid Club (101 Avenue A)
Whether your style is retro (hello, Jordache) or modern-day hipster (painted-on jeans, rocker tee), anything goes at The Pyramid Club. Some come to this Lower East Side mainstay for its industrial-inspired lower level, but the main floor is pure 80s heaven during Thursday party "The Metro," when you'll dance alongside resident go-go dancers to the second-British-invasion sounds of The Cure, Depeche Mode and The Smiths. For popper fare, check out Obsession Fridays and Temptation Saturdays, where new wave artists like Boy George, Blondie, and Michael Jackson reign supreme. The prices will take you back in time too: Drinks range from $3 to $10, and cover changes are never more than six bucks.
1 Republik (613 Second Ave.)
Swing by this laid-back lounge on Thursday evenings to enjoy popular sounds from the decade that shook you all night long—at 1Republik, you can do so until 3 a.m. Got to get up early? Then check out happy hour, when a pre-nightclub, young professional clientele hits the hookah, outdoor beer garden and the back room for some air hockey. Girls who just wanna have fun will love that every night is ladies night, with women sipping $8 martinis. Guys, meanwhile, can congregate over beer pong with $12 Bud Lite pitchers.
—Alana Cowan
