The Castle is a nightclub in

Ybor City Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly ...

, Tampa, Florida, United States, associated largely with the

goth subculture Goth is a music-based subculture that began in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s. It was developed by fans of Gothic rock, an offshoot of the post-punk music genre. The name ''Goth'' was derived directly from the genre. Notable post-p ...

. Located in the Ybor City Historic District, the building previously served as the second site of the Cooperative El Primero Progresso (officially the Agrupacion Benefica y Cultural del Centro Obrero), or the Labor Temple, a place for Ybor City's cigar and restaurant workers to engage in union activities and organization. The Castle building was originally constructed in 1930 as a clubhouse for the Knights of the Golden Eagle, and was known as the Cristobal Colon castle. The building is a two-story structure faced with brown brick, featuring a turret. It began its tenure as the second Agrupacion Benefica y Cultural del Centro Obrero building in 1968, when Ybor City's previous Labor Temple building, a nearby white-stuccoed structure built in 1925, was demolished. In 1992, the ground floor of the Castle building was bought by Alan Kahana and reopened as a saloon on Guavaween. Kahana eventually purchased and remodeled the entire building. By the late 1990s, the Castle began catering to the goth subculture, and has since cemented itself as a popular nightclub for goth and

industrial music Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...

. The '' Tampa Bay Times'' has referred to the Castle as "a Tampa institution, every bit a part of Ybor City culture as cigars and trolleys", as well as "Ybor's goth mecca".

History

1930–1980s: As a clubhouse and Labor Temple

The Castle was built in 1930 in the Ybor City Historic District, located in the neighborhood of

in Tampa, Florida. It originally served as a lodge for the Knights of the Golden Eagle, and was known as the Cristobal Colon castle. The clubhouse was constructed in 1930, opening in September of that year at 16th St and 9th Ave. In 1968, the Cigar Makers Union of Tampa and Local 104 AFL-CIO Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders Union purchased the building for $38,000 as a new site for their Labor Temple (officially the Agrupacion Benefica y Cultural del Centro Obrero), a place for the area's cigar and restaurant union workers to organize and engage in union activities. A different building—a two-story, white-stuccoed structure built in 1925 and located at 1614 8th Ave—had served as the Agrupacion Benefica y Cultural del Centro Obrero since 1928. The previous Labor Temple building was sold to Urban Renewal for $48,000 in November 1967 and was demolished in 1968. By 1987, with Ybor City's cigar industry having declined over the previous few decades, Saturday nights at the Agrupacion Benefica y Cultural del Centro Obrero saw the building serve as a venue for

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the ...

and reggae music, though the building still engaged in union-related operations at other times during the week.

1992–present: As the Castle bar and nightclub

In 1992, the downstairs floor of the building was bought by Tampa native Alan Kahana. It opened as a saloon under the Castle name that year on Guavaween, an annual

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

celebration that took place in Ybor City on the last Saturday of October. The building underwent interior redesigns by designer Susan Johnson to more resemble a medieval castle. Though the Castle now hosts DJs, music in the original Castle bar was provided by a jukebox. Following a loss in earnings from the 1993 Guavaween celebration, the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce decided that it would not be hosting the Guavaween event in 1994; the Castle bar was one of two businesses, along with Tracks—a now-defunct gay nightclub—to pledge funding for the event. Upon opening, the Castle operated on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. One night, former Castle manager John Landsman hosted a

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

in the upstairs floor of the building, which was typically used as a space for union workers' birthday and retirement parties. Kahana eventually purchased the entire building and remodeled the upstairs space, which now houses the Main Hall, the Castle's main dance floor. An area on the ground floor that was previously used as offices for a cigar workers' union is now known as "the Dungeon", a dance and party space decorated in skulls and chains. In the saloon area, Kahana installed the "moat bar", which featured a river that courses through the countertop of the bar. According to Tom Gold, a founding resident DJ at the Castle, the flowing water feature was eventually removed due to clubgoers spilling drinks and vomiting into the moat. During the 1990s, the Castle experimented with hosting acid jazz nights,

swing revival The swing revival, also called retro swing and neo-swing, was a renewed interest in swing music, beginning around 1989 and reaching a peak from the early/mid to late 1990s. The music was generally rooted in the big bands of the swing era of the ...

nights, and gay dance nights, as well as live bands and

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

. After learning of a growing goth presence at a

Bennigan's Bennigan's is an Irish pub-themed American casual dining restaurant chain founded in 1976 in Atlanta by restaurateur Norman E. Brinker as one of America's original casual dining concepts. The chain operated under the restaurant division of Pills ...

restaurant in St. Petersburg, where goths had begun renting out the patio area on Tuesday nights to gather and play pre-recorded music, Kahana and Landsman decided to try catering to the goth subculture at the Castle. By 1997, Friday nights at the Castle were considered "an unofficial Goth night". By 2003, the Castle held "retro '80s" nights on Mondays and Thursdays, with goth-themed nights on Fridays and Saturdays. The Castle currently operates on Friday and Saturday nights. The venue regularly hosts themed nights, with themes such as ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' and

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...

, as well as

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...

events and vampire-themed balls. In 2017, Christopher Spata of the '' Tampa Bay Times'' described the Castle as an internationally renowned nightclub, and "one of the premiere dance clubs for goth and industrial music on earth."

In popular culture

The recurring segment "Goth Talk" on the American

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

television series '' Saturday Night Live''—a segment set in the Tampa Bay area—was supposedly inspired in part by the Castle and the surrounding goth subculture in the region, though this is disputed. The Castle has been used as a filming location for a Slim Jim commercial featuring the Canadian professional wrestler Edge; an unused segment for the late-night talk show '' Conan'' that features a Chris Christie impersonator stripping; and the 2012

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

''Parasitic''.

References

External links