80s-Themed Bar Culture Club Comeback in Midtown

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN — Dust off those shoulder pads and dig those scrunchies out of the drawer: Culture Club is staging a comeback.

The ’80s-themed dance club and its famed Pac-Man logo are plotting a return, this time setting their sights on a 15,000 square-foot warehouse space in Midtown’s Garment Center.

The original Culture Club on Varick Street closed its doors in 2007 after eight years of nostalgia, bachelorette parties and girls’ nights out. But unlike most shunted nightclubs that fade from memory, owners said the club’s website was still averaging more than 5,000 monthly visitors more than a year later.

Now they’re hoping for a follow-up hit at 20 W. 39th St. between Fifth and Sixth avenues, the former home of Club Speed, which has been vacant for three years.

Owner Robert Watman, who also lives in the neighborhood, said the club offers party-goers a unique blend of “good, clean fun.”

“It’s a safe, easy place, non-threatening,” said Watman, who also owns the ’70s-themed Polly Esther’s and the ’90s-themed Nerveana.

According to plans obtained by DNAinfo, the new club features four floors, three bars and a rooftop for smoking, and would host regular club nights, ’80s and ’90s-themed parties and corporate events.

In addition, Watman has joined forces with fashion designer and Garment Center advocate Nanette Lepore and plans to showcase young designers’ work and hold special Fashion Week events in the space.