Hurrah was a
nightclub located at 36 West 62nd Street[1] in
New York City from 1976 until early 1981. Hurrah was the first large dance club in NYC to feature
punk,
new wave and industrial music. The in-house DJs at Hurrah were Sara Salir, Bill Bahlman, Bart Dorsey and Anita Sarko. Under the management of Henry Schissler,[2] and later
Jim Fouratt,[3] it became known as the first "rock disco"[4] in New York, and pioneered the use of
music videos in nightclubs, placing
video monitors around the club,[5] over a year before the launch of
MTV. The club was owned by Arthur Weinstein (who also created The World and the afterhours clubs The Jefferson and The Continental[6]) and his partners, who opened the club in November 1976, months before
Studio 54.[7]
With Ruth Polsky[8] as booking agent, Hurrah became known as a place for new wave, punk and
post-punk bands to play, featuring many of the British bands' first American performances.[9]
On April 16, 1978, the
Tom Eyen comedy play The Neon Woman, starring
Divine, opened at Hurrah.[10] It ran for 84 performances, closing on July 15, 1978.[11]
The club became notorious for an incident in December 1978, where during a
Skafish gig,
Sid Vicious got into a fight with Todd Smith (brother of
Patti Smith), resulting in the incarceration of Vicious for two months in
Rikers Island.[12]David Bowie was filmed in the club for his
music video for the song
"Fashion" in 1980.[13]
Famed New York club doorman
Haoui Montaug worked as the doorman for Hurrah.[14]
References
^Post, H.: "New Wave After Dark: The Big Clubs,
New York, Pg. 55, Nov. 3, 1980.
^New York Rock: From the Rise of The Velvet Underground to the Fall of CBGB by Steven Blush
^Shapiro, P.: Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco, page 256.
Faber & Faber, October 2006.