“We Started a Nightclub”: The Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It

by Brian Butterick, Susan Martin, and Kestutis Nakas

20 February 2024—Unlike the mega-clubs of the era, like Area or Palladium, the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge was a dive. Located at 101 Avenue A, the Pyramid offered a mixture of cultures: from groundbreaking, irreverent theater and experimental music to “anti-drag” that challenged the norms of gender binaries and stereotypes. It began in 1981, when the East Village was considered a dangerous no-man’s-land. Rents were cheap, AIDS was still unknown, and a new generation of creators broke the mold and went on to make art in an atmosphere of unbridled celebration.

Some Serious Business and Damiani Books are pleased to announce the publication of “We Started a Nightclub”: The Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It. A narrative and oral history comprising more than 75 interviews with performers and bar boys, doormen and DJs, it covers the early years of the Pyramid from the time of its founding in 1981 through its rise, near demise, and rebirth. Excerpts of more than 50 Pyramid press releases in the club’s signature satirical tone document the hundreds of acts who performed there.

Theme nights and bar dancers, fixtures of the downtown avant-garde, punks and kids escaping their pasts all added to the club’s popularity. The genius behind the club was 23-year-old Bobby Bradley, an impresario who established a collaborative atmosphere that “felt like one giant YES!,” says Ann Magnuson.

At the Pyramid, Ann, John Jesurun, and John Kelly rubbed elbows with They Might Be Giants, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and 3 Teens Kill 4, who shared a stage with performers like Ethyl Eichelberger, John Sex, Tabboo!, Hapi Phace, and Lady Bunny. By offering a home to obscure, genre-defying and unpolished acts, the Pyramid played a crucial role in shaping the city’s underground cultural scene for decades to come.

The oral history is introduced and contextualized with narrative commentary by the authors. The book also features many previously unpublished photos by Lynn M. Grabowski—who captured the performers and spirit of those early days—as well as other photographers, snapshots from the personal collections of performers, and flyers and ephemera from the Brian Butterick Collection of the Howl! Arts Archive.

By 1985, Bobby and his team had produced thousands of original performances and ushered in a time of intense creativity in the East Village. Sadly, addiction, AIDS, and other perils of human existence brought Bobby (and so many others) down; the story of his downfall also marks a remarkable rebirth underway by 1986, and with Brian Butterick and Sister Dimension at the helm, the club flourished. There followed many innovative incarnations, and finally in 2021, the Pyramid closed permanently.

Though the venue was no longer the hotspot of its early years, its closure prompted an outpouring of reminiscence and mourning for a bygone era, amid a broad renewed interest in the art and culture of 1980s New York. “We Started a Nightclub” is an insider’s look at the cultural history of the East Village in the early 1980s. The project, which began in 2006, represents the only in-depth exploration of the Pyramid’s origins.

For further information contact: Susan Martin, Some Serious Business, 310 975 9970, susan@someseriousbusiness.org