Yes! I was waiting for this one too! Let me contribute; I can already hear Francine 59's earth-moving equipment rumbling in the distance...
I must begin by mentioning that there were at least three incarnations of Danceteria, not to mention the unbelievable Danceteria Hamptons.
The first manifestation was on 37th Street, just east of Eighth Avenue in the summer of 1980, where the busboys included myself, David Wojnarowicz, Jesse Hultberg and Keith Haring, and among the bartenders were Max Blagg and Alexa Hunter. Kathy Underhill and Zoe Leonard worked coatcheck, and Haoui was at the door along with Aleph Ashline and David Russell. The club featured New York's very first video lounge, created by Pat and Emily of Advanced Television (remember, music videos were very rare back then!) The New York Times did a big spread on the concept of video in nightclubs, with pictures showing the club's boozy patrons passed out on the lounge's sofas. The next day, Rudolf called a meeting of the entire staff and angrily directed us to wake up and remove anyone from the lounge who even looked like they might close their eyes. Needless to say, that alone kept us very busy each night.
The most incredible thing was that Danceteria advertised blatantly that a full bar was open until 8 AM, with ads in the Voice and Times. New York State liquor law has, since the end of Prohibition, stipulated that bars must stop serving at 4 AM, but back then, with a plethora of after-hours clubs going full-tilt in Manhattan, who knew? The club even instituted a system where you had to buy a ticket from a booth (Peter McGough was one of the ticket-sellers, by the way) in order to get your drink, so no money would actually pass over the bar, but to no avail.
After being in operation for only a few months, Danceteria was raided one night and a large number of its employees spent the rest of the day in Central Booking (though Jim Fouratt and Rudolf were not among them.)
The club tried re-opening without liquor (or customers) for a few weeks and then closed for a few months. To open again, a little further downtown...
Hope this jogs some memories!
[This message was edited by hatches on 04-01-01 at 12:56 PM.]