Rich's
2401
San Jacinto
Special
Bonus....
Rich's,
a Short History
by Gary Archer
March 1983: When I heard about this unique club opening
downtown Houston, I went to investigate
and upon seeing the exterior of the building the excitement was overwhelming.
There was a flurry
of construction activity from the gutted interior of the building...the
enormous opening floor to 24' ceiling,
the welding, scraping of metal, pouring of concrete. It was a visual
symphony. At the same time, the
ability to just walk in (no hard hats, vests, steel toed shoes...no
OSHA) was unbelievable....like a dream
really. I wanted to be a part of the magic! I asked to speak with the
person in charge, and met Dan,
who pointed to Ken, who asked me what I wanted...."I want to work
here." He said "okay, in what
capacity?" "Anything, but who's doing the lighting?"
That's what started a very long relationship
that took a lot of conditioning.
You
see, they had a small and cute idea of a concept for the lighting on
the club and it was short sighted
considering
the size and statue of the building. The architecture of the building
was pure 1980's high tech,
a
blank canvas for drama. That's where I feel I came in, like something
guided me down there...I've never
been able to explain it. The grey walls and stark environment was perfect
for theater which was my education.
My roommate at the time, Keith Belli, was a Scenic Designer at the Alley,
so I talked him into 'acquiring' (for just
that one night) some lighting fixtures from the Alley for a demo.
He and I schlepped them down to the club one night and rigged them up
into the ceiling with color
and patterns and basically SOLD the ideas to Ken, who was completely
on board. Dan, a little
more reserved, but still interested. Honestly, I don't think they knew
what they had yet, and too
many investors for those kinds of details. Kerry Jaggers was the Designer
of the State of the Art sound
system...it WAS pretty incredible, and he also conceptualized The light
show...but not really the Club lighting,
which was basically pin spots focused on the stainless steel of the
long bars and the oversized flower
arrangements at each end. VERY theatrical. That was the concept of the
new era...out of the darkness and
black box of the late 70's Disco and into the fresh new environment
of the 80's in your face. Think what
Numbers#'s still is and think about that compared to those pictures.
On Opening Night there was a line around the block as they say...I wouldn't
be exaggerating if I said it
stretched to McGowen. The excitement of this new Downtown Club with
glass windows that you could look
in AND out of instead of lurking in darkness, fresh paint of vivid red...in
your face RED and shiny grey walls with
color, patterns, etc. Beautiful! Now add a pounding EAW sound system
with dual bass cabinets buried under the
diamond plate stage. It was too much and then to top it off, a massive
video screen that lowered down to show
MTV music, even videos that blended together with the ongoing mix like
never before.
Donna Summer...BAD GIRLS...bigger than life!! People went WILD....and
there weren't cell phones of course,
so everything was word of mouth. INSTANT success! It wasn't long before
the Fire Marshall showed
up and we all got to practice how to conduct a fire drill to prove that
in 1:45 seconds from "GO"
the entire building could be emptied out onto the streets of Mclhenny
and San Jacinto so he
could count the heads back into the building to reach the stated 300
person capacity listed on the
Certificate of Occupancy....this happened on multiple occasions, because
that was kind of a thing
back then, Fire Marshall visits.
The original Rich's Styx Corporation included the primary persons Ken
McIntyre, Dan Cain, and Bart Johnson.
Those three all came from Austin and had been involved there with The
Boathouse. They had up to 24 Investors
originally, most of whom I did not know. I remember there was Bill Bostleman,
who lived in Ft. Worth and had a
flower shop...I think it was called "On The Square" Bill was
a happy soul. At that time "importing" tropical flowers
from Hawaii was a big deal and that was his role in the as the Club
Florist.
[Rich's closed in July 1986 after its three-year
lease expired, and renewal negotiations were not successful.]
The ownership of Rich's the second time around June 1988 and onward
was Ken
McIntyre, Bart Johnson, myself
(Gary Archer), Harry Goldberg, Nathan
Powers, Nathan's lover Keith (don't remember his last name). There
were
some others in the mix. Ken was primary and again THE face of the Club.
Steve Higginbotham was manager. Nathan
passed away 1st, on January 24, 1994 (age 36). Ken passed on February
18, 1997 (age 39)
In the late 80s and early 90s David
Hemmer was Promotional Director for the club and brought his own
flavor to the
atmosphere. He died on June 9, 1995 (age 37).
The club Mecca was open in that location from
September 1986 through December 1987, with original Rich's owner
Dan Cain and manager Harry Goldberg and DJ Jon Mott. During the original
three-year term Dan had a falling out with
the others and had left.
I
asked Gary about changes in the club over time....
Changes in Club over time.... It's fascinating to look back on the collection
of TWIT ads and see the historical
transition. When Rich's opened in 83' the ad's were clean and well focused
on a simple item. The art blocking,
Deco styling, a swimming fish because of the super large aquarium upstairs...what
club would devote a single
opportunity to push one thing. The illusion and mystery was such a driving
force. There wasn't anything else!!
The Art of Danny
Campbell is incomparable. Look further and you realize that more
information had to be fed to
the captive audience. The "Theme Party" was a huge difference
when suddenly you no longer had a black box
environment to work with as a base. Rich's was in an interesting position
trying to cater to multiple crowds and
often was criticized for having too preppy a crowd. I notice from ad
to ad the message is drastically different.
Music: Still driven by the Disco Era and ushering in the new sights
and sounds of an MTV Generation. That
was where the New Wave themes came in. Nu Tunes Tuesday's and then countered
with Wooden Nickel
Wednesday's when the other crowds needed some personalization. I can
remember us trying SO many things
to cater to different crowds since we had such a unique environment
and located off the beaten path. When you
look at past Gay Bar names, addresses...look at site maps if available,
it's interesting how many places to go back
then. SO many choices, opportunities!! As Miguel Brown sang...."So
Many Men, So Little Time"... Performers at
Rich's during my time there...check this out. Cyndi Lauper, Boy George,
Bette Midler, Taylor Dayne, Grace Jones...
twice! Pia Zadora, Sylvester, Divine, I could go on....
Organizations: The Garden Party! The Grey Party! The Tea Dances! Nelly
Ribbons Party (during the Pride Parade),
The White Party! Then there was the original Foam Party....THAT was
a challenge to figure out how to contain!
Trash Disco, my personal favorite! Afterhours was very special time
as the customer base would change from
a commercial crowd and sound to a more sophisticated taste where the
DJ's (JD Arnold, Jon Mott) would have
more flexibility to explore. About 3:00am to 4:30am was the Sweetest!
And,
on to the Future
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