This Week In Dallas Music History: The Starck Club Opens, And, Dammit, We Like What We're Seeing.

The Starck Club embodied the myths of club debauchery in 1980s Dallas. The fact that a 1986 raid on the club propelled it to national notoriety as an ecstasy hub probably helps.The club closed its doors in the Summer of 1989. I guess the eccentric European architecture from the guy...

By Shahryar Rizvi

March 8, 2010

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18855504",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17105533",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105532",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105535",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

The Starck Club embodied the myths of club debauchery in 1980s Dallas. The fact that a 1986 raid on the club propelled it to national notoriety as an ecstasy hub probably helps.

The club closed its doors in the Summer of 1989. I guess the eccentric European architecture from the guy that put his name on the club couldn't hold the hype.

This week in 1984, John Branch reviewed the then-newly-opened Starck Club for the cover of Observer's March 8-21 edition (turns out we only came out every other week back then, go figure). His take? The club was still dusty with plaster, and the acoustics were a bit off.

But Branch still managed to take interest in the voyeuristic restroom stalls made of glass bricks and the wide stairway to the dance floor--y'know, for those epic movie entrances we all dream of doing.

A few other venues have kicked off and closed down in the Starck's plce at the address, including, Metro5, Area 51 and a short-lived Starck reboot during the Rave years. The most recent venue at the address? Rembrandt's Dutch Pub, which closed down a few months ago .

Since closing, two dueling documentaries have been made on the legendary venue: Warriors of the Discotheque and the still-upcoming Starck the Documentary.

After the jump, some scans to jog your memory...

KEEP THE OBSERVER FREE... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.