St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page F001

Gabriel B. Tait Post-Dispatch CC KK YY MM PPAAGGEE FF0011PPDD11AAEE11112200 SUNDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2005 SECTIONF A 11 2 3 4 5 6 Post-Dispatch 20 70 MILE MILE 21st St. 20th St. 19th St. 18th St.

17th St. 15th St. 14th St. 13th St. 11th St.

16th St. Delmar Lucas Washington St. Charles Locust Olive Pine Market Chestnut City Hall Savvis Center Civil Courts Building Union Station Hyatt Regency Drury Inn City Museum 5 2 1 PEPPER LOUNGE PEPPER LOUNGE 2005 Locust Street 2005 Locust Street NECTAR 2001 Locust Street Nectar, St. newest home to the hip, is self-described as the lounge mixing attention to service and detail, premier drinks, and cool ambience. 2 BRUNO BRUNO 1909 Locust Street 1909 Locust Street TOXIC TOXIC 326 S.

21st St. 326 S. 21st St. TAP ROOM TAP ROOM 2100 Locust Street 2100 Locust Street PLUSH PLUSH 1820 Market Street 1820 Market Street PEPPER LOUNGE 2005 Locust Street 1909 Locust Street TOXIC 326 S. 21st St.

TAP ROOM 2100 Locust Street PLUSH 1820 Market Street LOFT DISTRICT 4 6 64 40 THE GROVE CENTRAL WEST END Washington University Medical Center 1 1 5 ATOMIC COWBOY 4140 Manchester Avenue This one-time Maplewood establishment has relocated to the up-and-coming area. It's retro furniture and cool DJs help give it must- experience status. 3 FREDDIE FREDDIE 4112 Manchester 4112 Manchester Avenue Avenue NOVAK NOVAK 4121 Manchester 4121 Manchester Avenue Avenue THE SPOT THE SPOT 4146 Manchester 4146 Manchester Avenue Avenue AMP 4199 Manchester Avenue The cozy AMP (Alternative Music Pub) envisions itself as a big umbrella under which folks of various races, sexuality and ages can enjoy everything from Depeche Mode to the Killers. ATTITUDES ATTITUDES 4100 Manchester 4100 Manchester Avenue Avenue 4112 Manchester Avenue 4121 Manchester Avenue THE SPOT 4146 Manchester Avenue ATTITUDES 4100 Manchester Avenue THE GROVE 20TH STREET CORRIDOR St. Louis 55 44 64 170 70 40 MO.

5 MILES 20 3 By Kevin C. Johnson POST-DISPATCH POP MUSIC CRITIC Dance music lovers used to pour into George specialty record shop, On the Grid, after weekends of sweating it out nightclubbing on Washington Avenue to pick up the latest dance hits. But not happening much anymore. St. dance club scene is in a state of enough to leave head spinning like a disco ball.

The latest and biggest casualty was the closing of Velvet, Washington most popular attraction. Velvet went out with a bang Halloween weekend to make room for a new retail shop. Rue 13, the Formula and a few other nightclubs are still on or around Washington. But now that the main dance draw is gone, club heads are scrambling to St. next dance club district.

Dance music DJ Rob Lemon of Velocity Promote Group says, paved the path for the dance music community to get bigger than what it was, and now someone is going to have to step up to the plate and pick up the There are two contenders. Some point to a section of Forest Park East, referred to as the area on Manchester Avenue mostly between Sarah Street and Boyle Avenue, and extending past Boyle as far down as Tower Grove Avenue. The strip has new hotspot Atomic Cowboy, along with Amp and a number of gay-oriented clubs such as Attitudes, and the Spot. area is already known as one of the other big places to dance, and in an area the city has sanctioned for late-night says Jim Kellogg, co-owner of Atomic Cowboy. a really attractive atmosphere here, and historically, the alternative bars have been popular for years.

And, the known for having a bit of an Kellogg is on track to open a 7,500 square-foot nightclub at Manchester and Kentucky Avenue that he says will be next Then the Street as called, featuring the hip new Nectar, along with the Pepper Lounge, the Tap Room, (formerly Panama Red) and more. Nectar was the scene of 31st birthday party earlier this month, and it the time there. The area also includes the 2020 Lofts, with more lofts to come. hottest clubs are there now. Five years ago it was Washington Avenue.

Now there, because of the diversity of these says Amit Dhawan, who worked as a consultant for Nectar, as well as for Pepper upcoming revamp. Both the 20th Street corridor and the Grove have potential but with a long way to go before becoming as popular as Washington Avenue. Velvet promoter Doug Hall is skeptical about the prospects. think an area right now. scary.

no strong, designated club community anymore anywhere in says Hall, who promises the Velvet crew will return next year with a new venture but not on Washington Avenue. question is where the new club district is going to be. We will see a lot of attempts, but going to be a real loss, a says Hall. BACKSTORY Washington Avenue a new scene in once-trendy club district In the beginning was 1227, Washington nightclub. It opened in 1989 and kicked off the revitalization as a trendy club district.

The early days saw the arrival of Sanctuary, the Other World, the Mill and Fall Out. The ever-changing area would see countless other clubs come and go: Lo, Galaxy, Stardust, Babylon, Fuel, Kaos, the Boom Boom Room, the Green Room and the Indigo Room, Tempest, Cheetah, Monkey Bar, Polly Kobalt, Deep Six, Twist, Cabool and the newly departed Velvet. not just the clubs that are gone. Visionaries like Tom Gray and Scott Gilmartin (Velvet, Rue 13, Sanctuary) and Blake Brokaw (Tangerine, Lo, Chocolate Bar) are missing. need daring owners and entrepreneurs willing to take a chance and do a variety of Velvet promoter Doug Hall says.

Washington Avenue has evolved from a dance destination to something more varied, with restaurants, retail and loft living. Places such as Lucas Park Grille, Copia, Ventana Lofts, Philip Slein Gallery, Wasabi Sushi Bar and Macro Sun International outnumber the late-night haunts. Among the reasons: Club owners afford rising rents. Businesses more compatible with the Center are more attractive to city developers. Loft dwellers complain of noise.

Dance clubs are on the downswing in favor of lounges and more intimate settings. People going out to dance like they used to. On the Baker believes that dance clubs are being shoved off Washington Avenue. owners of these buildings there are rather ungrateful people. The dance clubs are what brought people down there in the first place, and now increasing their rents three times because more interested in people buying lofts.

But the reason people came down there was because of the excitement the clubs But Big Idea Andrew Mullins, who promoted Washington club district for years, says that the night-club undergoing a predictable change. lease rates go up, nightclubs that run two or three nights a week live off of the lease rates. Restaurants and lounges can do business during the week. So in the end, clubs ace themselves out. the natural evolution of how things work in a developmental BY KEVIN C.

JOHNSON dance but where? With the Washington Avenue nightclub district giving way to retail, 2 emerging areas show potential to be The Hot Spot of St. Louis. of Street and on F4 To the beat of a dancers the cage on a Saturday night. From left: Paul Tilson of Granite City, Christin Tinker of High Ridge and Jimmy Walsh of Oakville. Behind Tinker is Lindsay Schaedler of High Ridge, Jeremy Foster of Arnold and Ashton Halliwell of Oakville.

Photos by Katherine Bish for the Post-Dispatch ATTITUDES Theresa Parker of Ferguson mixes a cocktail. DREAMS Stacey Hayes of Mount Vernon, plays a game of pool with friends. A vodka and Red Bull is a popular libation for nightclubbers. NECTAR MINIMAL ART SYMPHONY SNEAK PREVIEW St. Louis Symphony Orchestra music director David Robertson and the musicians offer a view into the connections between two Impressionist Claudes: Debussy and Monet at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on Wednesday night.

The concert was a preview of what perform on Friday night in New York City, one of two concerts the orchestra will give at Carnegie Hall. Post-Dispatch classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller reports. Please see F4. The most obscure art movement of the is featured in two local exhibits. F3 END follow Howard Stern? KPNT-FM 105.7 (The Point) chooses a new morning man.

F2 DISASTER ON TV Gail Pennington says Mother Nature is a hard act for television to follow. F5.