Catacombs (Iconic Philadelphia Gay Nightclub/70's and 80's)

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Catacombs — Philadelphia Gay After-Hours Tee

Down the stairs and into another world.

Catacombs opened in the fall of 1978 beneath Second Story, the glamorous nightclub at 12th and Walnut Streets in Center City Philadelphia. While Second Story became known as Philadelphia’s answer to Studio 54, Catacombs was something darker, later, gayer—and much more about the music. Kiwix Server

Created by brothers Barry and Wayne Geftman, Catacombs was a gay after-hours club that generally got going around midnight on Saturday and could keep dancing until Sunday morning—or even noon. It was a “juice bar,” meaning no alcohol was served. You went there to dance. Kiwix Server

And Catacombs took its sound seriously. Its powerful system surrounded the low-ceilinged basement with music, helping the club earn a reputation far beyond Philadelphia. DJs including David Todd and Billy Kennedy played underground disco, soul, electronic dance records, and the harder-edged sounds that were beginning to point toward house music. Wikipedia

The club also became a meeting place for DJs, producers, remixers, musicians, artists, and serious record people from Philadelphia and New York. Its musical influence became associated with the sound known as “Philly Classics,” connecting the city’s already enormous disco and soul legacy with what dance music was becoming in the 1980s. Wikipedia

Catacombs closed in December 1986, ending an eight-year run underground at 12th and Walnut. Like so many queer spaces from the period, there isn’t much left to announce that thousands of people once disappeared down those stairs on Saturday night and emerged again Sunday morning.