Limelight

It peaked in popularity around 1994, as the clubkid epicenter, with Michael Alig's notorious Disco 2000 parties, and drug availability (Ecstacy, Special K). It was closed in 1996 after a series of raids brought on by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. This led to federal racketeering charges and a state suit for $1.3 million in back taxes. This was compounded by the fact that Alig was arrested for the murder of a club regular, Angel Melendez, who was reputedly a drug dealer. Due to Alig's guilty plea in the case, the government was deprived of a key witness against Gatien. As a result, Gatien was acquitted on the racketeering charges in February 1998.

Gatien attempted to re-open the Limelight. Due to his financial problems, he lost the lease on the land, but the new owner was willing to lease it to him. There was another problem -- the club could not get a liquor license because convicted criminals (from the tax evasion charges) cannot obtain a liquor license. It was reopened after a complete renovation. It has two large dance floors, a stage, and many bars. It has not bounced back to the same status it once had.

Update: The Limelight has reopened as Estate. The crowd isn't as good as it used to be, but then again, the entire club scene in NYC has changed the past few years.

There is one large room with a balcony on three sides with a VIP room up top. There is a stage, with a sparkling sculpture of two angels acting as a disco ball. Directly opposite the stage is the DJ booth, attached to the balcony.

On the third level, there is a room with furniture designed by H.R. Giger. There is a guy dressed up like Ramirez from Highlander who turns you away if you're not important enough.

There is a monthly Tresor Records night.

Cover is usually $30, but go to http://www.clubplanet.com to get on a guestlist.

There is a room where they usually play hip-hop. It was extremely crowded the few times I've been inside.

The bathrooms can be found if you face the stage and go up one of the staircases on your left. Follow the hallways until you find them. There's a chillout room with lots of fish right near the bathrooms.

By 1837, limelight lanterns were streamlined enough that they made their way into the theatre. English theaters at that time were being lit with coal gas (an exciting technological improvement over the candles and lanterns). Limelight brought the brilliance of the noon day sun into the theatre, where it could be dimmed or colored to soften it as needed. One downside (apart from the tricky business of controlling the flow of hydrogen and oxygen) was that light operators would have to replace the cylinders of lime over the course of the play. Electric lights eventually replaced the limelights. The phrase "to be in the limelight," refers to the attention one would receive as a follow spot directs this bright light on you.

Limelight also found its way onboard ships and in lighthouses, for communication; into construction, so that in the Civil War, for example, the the Union Navy could see Fort Sumter as they pounded it into rubble.

Source: Dr. John H. Lienhard, Engines of Our Ingenuity

Lime"light`, n. (Theat.)

That part of the stage upon which the limelight as cast, usually where the most important action is progressing or where the leading player or players are placed and upon which the attention of the spectators is therefore concentrated. Hence, consspicuous position before the public; as, politicians who are never happy except in the limelight.

© Webster 1913