Back in the days when big clubs were a dime a dozen (Mars, Area, Palladium, Roxy, Limelight, Tunnel, Tracks, Sound Factory etc) I have to confess that Club USA, formerly located in Times Square, was one of my favorite all-time spaces. Though there were certainly other clubs that had superior DJs, what I loved about Club USA was its club-as-adult-amusement park conceptualization. The immense main space with the stage and the giant mural against the far wall, with an arena-like second floor circling above from which clubgoers could gaze down and watch the happenings below, the circular slide from the mezzanine level (always brought out the kid in me) with an attendant to hand you a burlap sack to slide on so you wouldn't burn your bum, the Bladerunner-esque, neon-illuminated bar, the passageway upstairs lined with 25-cent porn video booths, the acoustically superb Thierry Mugler room at the very top, and of course the sumptuous lounge in the basement with that groovy 60s retro carpeting. I remember Mother and Daddy briefly doing a night there in that little performance room in the basement. The crowd I found to be a relatively healthy mixture of downtown denziens, club kids, Euro trash and out-of-town tourists, stars and the usual B&T. It had the feel of a wonderfully realized adult playland. Lee Chappell presided, and I remember one high point was in the main room one night when an army of club kids looking like otherwordly monstrosities in giant platforms and clown makeup marched out on stage while the Euro trash/tourist audience looked on with horror. This "show" culminated with some bargain basement Codi Ravioli imitator transexual flashing her surgically-sculpted vagina and it was the absolute END. One woman in the audience choked on her cocktail and fled the room.
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