I did a post a while ago about the Clubs in Jo'burg, growing up in the late 70's and 80's it was the thing to do
on the week-ends, especially on Friday nights. As I mentioned in a previous post, I probably went to my first "adult" disco when I was 13 years old, and the only reason we go in, was because we were with members of the "La Rochelle United" gang, and no one would turn them away! I even remember it was a Wednesday night, how the hell I got out of the house that night I have no idea, but I am sure my friend Charlene gave them some kind of story.
It was Charlene, myself and her Spanish friend, if I remember correctly i think her name was Jaunita, she didn't speak English very well and spoke very fast all I remember was "Hey Pa" and pronounced P-u as in umbrella. We walked from my house in Linmeyer to La Rochelle and then go into someone's car and went to a nighclub called "Tramps" at the "Diplomat Hotel" on the corner of Klein & Bree Streets. They used to give out free passes in the Tonight section of the Star to get in for free during the week.
They used to run "Teenage Disco's" on a Saturday afternoon at which no alcohol was sold to anyone under 18, we used to frequent "Plumb Crazy" which if I remember correctly was off the corner of Loveday and Jeppe street, it was one of the nicer disco's and they played good music. My mom would not allow us to go to disco's so we told her were going ice-skating at the Carlton, she would drop us off (never asked why we didn't have thick socks with us), we would go into the toilets at the Carlton, paste on the make-up and then run all the way from Commissioner street down to Jeppe, and after the disco run all the way back. I think eventually we just caught the bus into town on our own and told her we were going to movies at the Kine Center.
Besides "Plumb Crazy", "Club Chicago" also had a teen disco on a Saturday, that was were our friend Marius got badly beaten up by some of the La Rochelle united gang, because they fancied Charlene and he was dancing with her, no wonder he turned Gay (forgive me Marius).
Later when we were old enough to go to Disco's legitimately we must have gone to everyone in Jo'burg, Hilbrow, Sandton, Randburg and Pretoria. Here are a few that I remember:-
"Just for Kicks" - A bit of a scummy joint somewhere near to the City Hall in Jo'burg, I remember walking from the Carlton Center in the middle of the night to meet friends there, this was probably round 1982, Crime was starting to pick up and either way a young girl should not be walking in the city at night on her own, so I carried a toy gun in my pocket just in case. I'll never forget the embarrassment when I was searched going into the disco. Luckily they didn't make me hand it in :)
.jpg)
"Ace of Clubs" - A really classy disco, and Thursday nights was ladies night, drinks half price and a Male stripper.
"Q's Supper Club" - Pink Patent leather I think the seats were.
"Xanadu" - A dance floor straight out of Saturday night Fever, very cool.
"Caesars Palace" in Braamfontein - Classy Place
"Raffles Night Club" in the Rand International Hotel in Bree Street, also a very classy place sister to Raffles at Sun City in those days.
There were so many clubs in Hilbrow, "Chelsea Underground", "Bela Napoli" and my mind has gone blank ... will have to come back to this.
In Hyde Park Shopping Center there was "Sasha's Singles Club" a really nice intimate classy place, it later moved to the Hyde Park hotel and changed names a few time, eventually became quite a rough place.
"Jacqueline's" in Pretoria, now that was a nice place, although the guys weren't as hot as Jo'burg guys!
"The Black Orchid" in Sandton - the girls were quite stuck up there
I'll have to continue this post when I can remember the names of the other places we frequented, let me know if you can think of any!
It was Charlene, myself and her Spanish friend, if I remember correctly i think her name was Jaunita, she didn't speak English very well and spoke very fast all I remember was "Hey Pa" and pronounced P-u as in umbrella. We walked from my house in Linmeyer to La Rochelle and then go into someone's car and went to a nighclub called "Tramps" at the "Diplomat Hotel" on the corner of Klein & Bree Streets. They used to give out free passes in the Tonight section of the Star to get in for free during the week.
They used to run "Teenage Disco's" on a Saturday afternoon at which no alcohol was sold to anyone under 18, we used to frequent "Plumb Crazy" which if I remember correctly was off the corner of Loveday and Jeppe street, it was one of the nicer disco's and they played good music. My mom would not allow us to go to disco's so we told her were going ice-skating at the Carlton, she would drop us off (never asked why we didn't have thick socks with us), we would go into the toilets at the Carlton, paste on the make-up and then run all the way from Commissioner street down to Jeppe, and after the disco run all the way back. I think eventually we just caught the bus into town on our own and told her we were going to movies at the Kine Center.
Besides "Plumb Crazy", "Club Chicago" also had a teen disco on a Saturday, that was were our friend Marius got badly beaten up by some of the La Rochelle united gang, because they fancied Charlene and he was dancing with her, no wonder he turned Gay (forgive me Marius).
Later when we were old enough to go to Disco's legitimately we must have gone to everyone in Jo'burg, Hilbrow, Sandton, Randburg and Pretoria. Here are a few that I remember:-
"Just for Kicks" - A bit of a scummy joint somewhere near to the City Hall in Jo'burg, I remember walking from the Carlton Center in the middle of the night to meet friends there, this was probably round 1982, Crime was starting to pick up and either way a young girl should not be walking in the city at night on her own, so I carried a toy gun in my pocket just in case. I'll never forget the embarrassment when I was searched going into the disco. Luckily they didn't make me hand it in :)
"Q's Supper Club" - Pink Patent leather I think the seats were.
"Xanadu" - A dance floor straight out of Saturday night Fever, very cool.
"Caesars Palace" in Braamfontein - Classy Place
"Raffles Night Club" in the Rand International Hotel in Bree Street, also a very classy place sister to Raffles at Sun City in those days.
There were so many clubs in Hilbrow, "Chelsea Underground", "Bela Napoli" and my mind has gone blank ... will have to come back to this.
In Hyde Park Shopping Center there was "Sasha's Singles Club" a really nice intimate classy place, it later moved to the Hyde Park hotel and changed names a few time, eventually became quite a rough place.
"Jacqueline's" in Pretoria, now that was a nice place, although the guys weren't as hot as Jo'burg guys!
"The Black Orchid" in Sandton - the girls were quite stuck up there
I'll have to continue this post when I can remember the names of the other places we frequented, let me know if you can think of any!
