City Nightclub - 2nd location - NW - Part 1

13 NW 13th [2nd location for The City Night Club]

Years: February 1987-1997  

  • Per conversation with Lanny Swerdlow in October 2021, “We moved to an old theatre space (Sumus Theatre) before that was the Jim Fisher Ford building. Joran and Arlene Schnitzer owned the building and after negotiating a lease, moved in and took the lit dance floor which was at The Metropolis and that had been in storage, and installed it.”

  • Per a Willamette Week article entitled In The City The Story of Portland's Original all-ages gay nightclub. August 26, 2014, https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-22975-in-the-city.html The first iteration of the City opened in 1983, in the carcass of an old motel on Southwest Morrison Street. "It wasn't fancy, by any means," Schaefer says. "It was just sort of thrown together." Still, kids came out in droves, dancing to the Pet Shop Boys and Dead or Alive and more specialized selections, like singles recorded by the drag star Divine. "I used to sit in the club in the corner by myself," says Alex Broderson, who ended up becoming the City's in-house DJ. "I'd listen to the music and go home. I did that for three or four months." It wasn't the only entertainment option in town for the under-21 crowd. But for Portland's outcasts, the club was less a nightspot than a second home—and in some cases, their only home. "Lanny treated everyone like they were his own kids," Schaefer says. "Sometimes, if we didn't have a place to go, or it got bad enough, he'd let some kids stay in the club overnight.

    In the early '90s, the City moved to a warehouse on Northwest 13th Avenue, put in a light-up dance floor and began drawing crowds of up to 2,000 on the weekends. [The City NightClub moved in 1986 to the NW location] As the club's popularity exploded, Swerdlow seemed to take delight in prodding the conservative establishment. He recorded commercials boasting that the club has been "violating traditional family values since 1983." He sold shirts declaring, "I Had Sex in the Restroom at the City Nightclub." Another ad played off Mayor Bud Clark's famous "Expose Yourself to Art" poster, which, given the underage clientele, had particularly transgressive connotations. But Swerdlow refused to pretend he was running a Bible camp.

    "You go to any nightclub, it's infused with sex. And the club was very sexual," he says. "There's nothing wrong with that, and I didn't apologize for that. It didn't make people comfortable."

    But out of the fog of adolescent hormones, a true art scene developed. Every Saturday at midnight, the music would stop for live stage shows—slapdash vignettes that ranged from bizarre art pieces to beauty pageants to detailed, lip-synched re-creations of famous Madonna performances. "I literally had never heard the term 'drag queen' or saw one, to my recollection, before entering the City Nightclub," says Cook, who credits one particular show, involving "four black queens" in white gowns doing a routine to songs from the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, for changing the direction of his life. The club's impact reverberated beyond just the gay community: John Darnielle, of acclaimed band the Mountain Goats, frequented the City when he briefly lived in Portland as a teenager and says that, in some ways, his career as indie rock's poet-laureate was shaped by his experiences there. "The City taught me that it was OK to be who I am," he says. "There isn't any more important gift you can give to an artist, or to a person.

    When it was open, the City led a tenuous existence. "We were in fear of losing the club constantly for a good five or six years when I was going," Schaefer says. Police were a constant presence. In 1996, the city attempted to use its Drug House Ordinance to shutter the club, prompting a 400-person march to City Hall and a short MTV documentary. Eventually, Swerdlow, who'd been battling the cops for 20 years, grew too exhausted to go on. "Trying to fight it was going to cost a fortune, which I didn't have," Swerdlow says. "It was cheaper just to close down and reopen." But his new club in the North Park Blocks, called the Rage, wasn't open long before an after-hours incident involving a DJ, a 16-year-old, and a video camera led to a raid of both the club and his houseboat. Though he was never charged with a crime, Swerdlow had had enough. He sold the club (which continues as Escape, even using the same dance floor) and moved to Palm Springs, where he is a leading figure in California's pot legalization movement.”

  • MTV did a documentary: YouTube: https://youtu.be/BKV2yUAdMQQ Per YouTube channel - This is a documentary on the famous all-age gay nightclub that was located in the city of Portland Oregon. It closed in December of 1996 due to pressures from law enforcement and allegations of underage drug use. The club was famous for its eccentric patrons like performers Danny Diess, Lady O, and a number of female impersonators from all over the country. Lanny Swerdlow was the owner for over 14 years until its closure in 1996. The interviews were conducted by Patrick Hill for the then documentary show on MTV.

  • There is a television ad shared on YouTube: https://youtu.be/56Coim9pkwQ

  • Gregory Franklin posted a video on YouTube https://youtu.be/gwY3SRMoT9k

  • News Channel 8 reported on the possible closure of The City Night Club posted on YouTube entitled Portland Channel 8 news report on The City Nightclub November 1996: https://youtu.be/bjYG5ITikqo

  • Per the listing, “this is a short news clip on the possible closure of the city nightclub. Lanny Swerdlow talks about the ongoing allegations and how if finding a new owner will please city officials he is willing to do it. in this clip are Nathan Collins, Jason Miller, bob, Stan Ashford, Allison Bausch and others.”

  • Per the Oregonian (see article in The Rage 5-1-88) Although controversy again swirls around Swerdlow, whose previous club, The City Nightclub, was shut down because of drug activity,

  • Cited in City Week newspaper Feb 14, 1986 page 5 ‘Soft Drinks, Snacks, Dancing. All Ages. 224-2489 624 NW 13th.”

  • Listed in Orange folder FALL 1983 and revised in 1987– Answering Service – possibly like the resource directory developed by the Counseling Center for Sexual Minorities Referral and Resources Book and what has been used with their revised April 1, 1980, edition. This place was cited under Men’s Bars with written notes: Straights, mixed, M&F, drugs

  • listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1990 (No Alcohol) (AH) (YC) (D-Dancing) (MW) note address changed to 13 NW 13th

  • listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1991(No Alcohol) (AH) (YC) (D-Dancing) (MW) note address 13 NW 13th

  • listed in Damron Address Book/Address Guide 1992 (No Alcohol) (AH) (YC) (D-Dancing) (MW) note address changed to 13 NW 13th

  • http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv10913A flyer alleging police harassment of a Portland gay nightclub, including a 1992 memo from Police Chief Tom Potter to club owner Lanny Swerdlow

  • The nightclub was mentioned in an Oregonian article: “In comparison, other popular underage nightclubs had far fewer police complaints. The Depot in downtown Portland has none; and the Quest, formerly the Confetti Club, had four, three of them drug-related.” TEMPEST CENTERS ON `THE CITY' February 28, 1993 | Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) Author/Byline: ERIC L. WEE - of the Oregonian Staff  See Below.

  • listed in Damron Road Atlas 1994 Under Bars

  • listed in Damron Address Book 1995 Under Bars

  • listed in Fodor’s Gay Guide to the Pacific Northwest 1997 Under Prime Suspects (Bars and Clubs) Crowd: 80/20 M/F, young 18 and older permitted, flashy, some stand-and-model. “One of the more recent, and much welcomed, additions to Portland nightlife is only open Friday and Saturday, but always draws a huge and varied crowd for dancing, drag shows, and the Fag equivalent of American bandstand (which is usually Friday).  This large, impressive space in the heart of things gay has helped alleviate some of the tension in the neighborhood over the increasingly hetero crowds at Panorama.”

  • Check out a college paper written by Kelsie Collins - click here to read.