TRACKS NIGHTCLUB

Title

TRACKS NIGHTCLUB

Subject

TRACKS NIGHTCLUB

Description

TRACKS NIGHTCLUB IN ARTHUR CAPPER COMMUNITY

According to the Washington Blade: Denver-based businessman Marty Chernoff, founder and owner of Tracks, has been credited with bringing to D.C. a gay nightclub that offered features that no other nightclub offered in the area, gay or straight, from the time it opened in 1984 through at least a decade or longer, Little and others working on the reunion say.

Little and Ed Bailey, who worked as a Tracks DJ and later as its director of promotions, pointed to some of the features of Tracks that set it apart from other clubs. Located in a sprawling warehouse building at 1111 First St., S.E., the club’s main room or hall included the region’s largest dance floor at the time.

Chernoff, who had been operating a Tracks nightclub in Denver, installed in the D.C. club the same state-of-the-art theatrical lighting and sound system he had been using in the Denver club. Chernoff also built in the D.C. club a separate video room with its own dance floor and sound system.

According to Bailey, the video screens were among the largest of any of the existing clubs in the area at a time when video screens were just starting to be installed in clubs in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.

And unlike most other clubs at the time, Chernoff had a large outdoor space as part of the Tracks property in which he installed a volleyball court with beach sand. He also built an 18-inch-deep pool surrounded by a large deck with chairs and an outdoor bar and grill, where hot dogs and hamburgers, among other food items, were served.

The outdoor space also featured yet another dance floor and sound system that became popular in the warm months.

Source

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/04/25/glory-days-tracks-gay-nightlife-staple-of-80s-90s-remembered-fondly/

Files

tracks nite club.jpg
Tracks_insert_1_c_Washington_Blade.jpg
tracks-dc-writeup.jpg

Collection

Citation

“TRACKS NIGHTCLUB,” Arthur Capper, accessed March 28, 2024, https://arthurcapper.omeka.net/items/show/60.