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Buckhead Nightlife: My View
Above: Limelight was known for its decadent displays, including the admission of a live panther on its opening night in 1980. It welcomed guests like Andy Warhol (above right) and unlikely dance partners Russ McGraw (a gay activist) and Anita Bryant (an anti-gay activist) pictured below right. Photos: Guy D’Alema
Tom Glavine Raises a Glass to Evenings in Buckhead Ask legendary Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom
Golden Years:
Limelight and More Buckhead’s nightlife scene came into its own—and made a name for itself on a global scale—in the ’80s. Leading the charge was Limelight, a mega-sized nightclub opened in 1980 that was billed as the largest entertainment complex in the world, owing to its massive square footage and overall splendor. (Binders on Piedmont sits on the main floor of Limelight’s former location.) Besides boasting more than 100,000 watts of audio power and thousands of lights that moved with the audience, the space had, among other things: a glass dance floor with two sand sharks swimming beneath ( James Bond villain style); a snow machine, a confetti machine and a fog machine; a movie theater that aired old black-and-white flicks; and a green room for celebs. Everyone from Rod Stewart and Ann-Margret to Herschel Walker, Andy Warhol, Burt Reynolds, Kirstie Alley, Anita Bryant and Eartha Kitt stopped by to check out the “Studio 54 of the South.” “It was a visual paradise,” says
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the club’s house paparazzo, Guy D’Alema, who wrote the 2012released book: Limelight … in a sixtieth of a second. “It was the club of the ’80s; it was the Sodom and Gomorrah of the nightclub scene. It had no competition. When Limelight came on the scene, it shut everybody down. That was the place to be; it was the place to go. Anybody who was anybody entertainment-wise wanted to come to the club just to see it.” D’Alema started shooting at the club in its early days (it closed in 1987), noting that the typical wait time to get in on weekends was four hours, and even then, you couldn’t be sure you’d make it through the door. “There will never be another Limelight, mainly because that generation [the free-love, post-Vietnam generation] doesn’t exist anymore in the nightclub scene,” he muses. “That was a unique set of people in a unique time in American history.” In the ’80s, Buckhead dominated the nightlife scene not just with Limelight, but with other attractions as well. Down the street, low-key watering holes like Five Paces Inn and Churchill’s attracted a laid-back crowd (and still do), while surrounding clubs like Confetti’s (a Top 40 dance club north of Buckhead on Roswell Road) kept the music bumping.
Glavine where he used to go out in Buckhead, and he’ll quickly rattle off names. “I used to hang out at Raccoon Lodge quite a little bit. They had that great outdoor patio, which was always fun. I did Tongue & Groove a little bit and Metropolitan Bistro once in a while. Bell Bottoms was fun with the ‘80s music,” Glavine, 47, says. Back in the ‘90s, when Glavine was throwing gamewinning pitches left-handed (he racked up 305 wins in his career), Glavine and his teammates enjoyed making the rounds in Buckhead. “There was a place to be on any given night. Buckhead was such a cool, fun place to be. Everything was within walking distance,” he says. Though it’s been years since he hung up his No. 47 Braves jersey (that number is now retired), baseball is still very much a part of Glavine’s life: He’s a broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves and is predicted to be on the 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Based in Alpharetta now, Glavine still makes his way down to Buckhead occasionally for a date night with his wife. They’ll head to The St. Regis Bar or Chops Lobster Bar, where Glavine will order a steak and, on occasion, a glass of cabernet sauvignon (he and his wife like Silver Oak and Altamura) or a vodka cranberry. “And, I’ve never thought about it,” he muses, “but I actually drink right-handed.”