nightclub
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
located at 1701 Calhoun Street in
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Lawrence, New Jersey, owned the building several years before it became a legendary rock club. The "City Gardens" moniker was first used strictly as a blues club in early 1978. Before its life as a blues club, it was an
afterhours club An afterhours club (''aka'' after hours club and afterhour club) is a nightclub that is open past the designated curfew closing time for clubs that serve alcohol (which is often an hour long). Such clubs may cease serving alcohol at the designated t ...
called Chocolate City (after the 1975
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their distinctive ...
song of the same name) circa 1976-1978. (Coincidentally, that same band would perform at City Gardens with P-Funk leader George Clinton nearly two decades later.)
Kurtis Blow
Kurtis Walker (born August 9, 1959), professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record/film producer, b-boy, DJ, public speaker and minister. He is the first commercially successful rapper ...
had performed at Chocolate City before his release " The Breaks", which is recognized as the first
rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
song to be certified as a
gold record
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
. The building had also been written up in local newspaper accounts as a Bible warehouse, and also known for many years in the 1960s as a car dealership called US 1 Motors.
90 Cent Dance Night
The popular 90 Cent Dance Night, on Thursdays, began with DJ Randy Now (Randy Ellis) in 1979 featured music not only from the late 70's UK & USA Punk scene but Randy Now incorporating the newest emerging "new wave" music scene along with ska and reggae music; interspersed with an occasional 60's garage rock classic. 90 Cent Dance Nights went to 95 cents in 1983 and was taken over by DJ Carlos (Carlos Santos) in early 1983. DJ Carlos was the main Thursday night and house DJ until late 1994, playing a combination of new wave,
alternative
Alternative or alternate may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki''
* ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film
* ''The Alternative ...
,
industrial rock
Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten ...
and cutting-edge
dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...
for the time period. At the height of its popularity, which started in 1979 and until the mid to late 1990s, the "90 Cent Dance Night" party regularly drew 700-1000 people weekly and often broke over 1,000 customers on the door count during the holiday seasons. By 1992, the admission price was raised 4% and renamed "99 Cent Dance Night". Randy Now tells the story where he remembers Greg Hetson (Bad Religion / The Circle Jerks) visiting him in NJ and Randy bringing Greg to a Thursday Night Dance Party. Randy was the DJ that evening. Greg at first didn't believe 1000 people would come out to hear and dance to a DJ. At the end of the evening, Hetson is quoted as saying "Brilliant idea of having a 90 cent dance night cover charge; someone in Los Angeles like Gary Tovar should get on board."
Aftermath
Randy Now was let go from City Gardens in 1996 and the club closed in 2001. DJ Rich O'Brien was the last regular club DJ employed by City Gardens.
In 2003 photographer Marty Munsch, a long time City Gardens Patron, began documenting the chronological, yearly internal and external demise of the location fully until it is fully a vacant lot. For photo historical reference and publishing at a future date.
In April 2013, Lawrence Campbell of Exodus Entertainment LLC purchased the building with hopes of turning the site into both a community center and a hall for private functions.
In April 2016, the city of Trenton took possession of the property. In August 2019, it was reported that Trenton would be auctioning off 89 city-owned properties in September 2019, in an effort to encourage the development of vacant properties to be used for future homes and businesses. Among the properties listed was the lot City Gardens sits on.
Notable bookings and staff
A Flock of Seagulls
A Flock of Seagulls are an English new wave band formed in Liverpool in 1979. The group, whose best-known line-up comprised Mike Score, Ali Score, Frank Maudsley and Paul Reynolds, hit the peak of their chart success in the early 1980s.
The ...
,
Thompson Twins
Thompson Twins were a British pop band formed in 1977 in Sheffield. Initially a new wave group, they switched to a more mainstream pop sound and achieved considerable popularity during the mid-1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Kin ...
and Sinéad O'Connor all made their American debuts at City Gardens. Danzig performed their first show ever at the venue. The venue also hosted a performance by comedian
Henny Youngman
Henry "Henny" Youngman (16 March 1906 – 24 February 1998) was a British-born American comedian and musician famous for his mastery of the " one-liner", his best known being "Take my wife... please".
In a time when many comedians told ela ...
and speaking engagements by counter-culture personalities
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
's ''
The Daily Show
''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...
'', was a bartender at City Gardens from 1984-1987, before his stand-up comedy career and later television career took off. Stewart never performed at City Gardens, and there is only one known photo that exists of him inside the club. James Murphy, leader of LCD Soundsystem, was an underage bouncer for City Gardens during the hardcore Sunday matinee shows in the 1980s.
Ween
Ween is an American rock band from New Hope, Pennsylvania, formed in 1984 by Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, better known by their respective stage names, Gene and Dean Ween. Generally categorized as an alternative rock band, the band a ...
called City Gardens their home base. Their first "club" show was opening for the Butthole Surfers as teenagers, and one of their early live shows at City Gardens was released on the live album '' The Live Brain Wedgie/WAD''. The Ramones performed at City Gardens 25 times, including one of only two performances by the band to feature drummer
Clem Burke
Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...
's
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his ca ...
was quoted, in the
Tony Fletcher
Tony Fletcher (born 27 April 1964) is a British music journalist best known for his biographies of drummer Keith Moon and the band R.E.M., and also as a show director for the Rock Academy in Woodstock.
''Jamming!''
Born in Yorkshire, England, ...
book ''Remarks'', as saying that sitting in the band's van outside of City Gardens watching children play football was part of the feeling that inspired their song "Perfect Circle".
Over 4,000 bands performed at City Gardens, with Randy "Now" Ellis booking probably 98% of the artists who performed at the club. Tim Hinely notes in a 2004 issue of ''Go Metric!'' "every punk band who ''is'' a punk band played there," naming his favorite performances as
The Descendents
The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a s ...
Agnostic Front
Agnostic Front is an American hardcore punk band from New York City. Founded in 1980, the band is considered an important influence on the New York hardcore scene, as well as a pioneer of the crossover thrash genre.
History First era (1980–1 ...
Mod Fun
Mod Fun are an American power pop/garage punk band from New Jersey. Mod Fun were originally active in the early to mid-1980s, and played an integral part in New York City's burgeoning garage rock revival scene at the time. By mid 1986 they were ...
,
Gwar
Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After th ...
and
Ween
Ween is an American rock band from New Hope, Pennsylvania, formed in 1984 by Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, better known by their respective stage names, Gene and Dean Ween. Generally categorized as an alternative rock band, the band a ...
, among others.
Book and film
In 2014, authors Amy Yates Wuelfing and Steven DiLodovico published a book on the City Gardens scene, ''No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spikes: An Oral History of New Jersey's Legendary City Gardens''. First and second editions, as well as hard cover book copies of the 464 page book, have sold at upwards of $150 on Ebay.
That same year, director Steve Tozzi released his documentary, ''Riot on the Dance Floor'', based on Randy Now and City Gardens. The two-disc DVD of the movie went out-of-print after the initial 1200 copies sold out. On December 15, 2017, a limited run of 100 Blu-Ray copies of the film was released by director Steve Tozzi. This edition included additional footage and interviews not found on the original DVD release.