'Music and Passion' Yield to Subway

Historic Copacabana awaits transit-expansion wrecking ball
By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 1, 2007 11:57 AM CDT
'Music and Passion' Yield to Subway
A woman walks toward the entrance of the Copacabana club in New York in this Jan. 20, 2007 file photo. The famed nightclub, currently in its third reincarnation on New York City's West 34th Street, has been condemned by the city to make way for an extension of the No. 7 subway line and will close its...   (Associated Press)

After nearly seven decades, three locations, and an unforgettable hit song, the Copacabana nightclub closed its doors early this morning to make way for the extension of a subway line. In its latest incarnation, the onetime hangout of the Rat Pack and the Mickey Mantle-led New York Yankees bowed out to a soundtrack of reggaeton, not Barry Manilow's 1978 single.

The "hottest spot north of Havana" opened on the East Side in 1940 and was driven out of its 34th Street and 11th Avenue digs by the No. 7 subway line. John Juliano, an owner since 1976, hopes to reopen elsewhere, reports the Daily News. He did not add, "Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl." (More John Juliano stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X