Skoochies, City Beat and The Monastery
Seattle, WA - A little flashback here. I’m wondering how many people remember the early and mid 80’s clubs in Seattle that was Skoochies, City Beat and The Monastery. I’m also interested how many of those people ended up being in the arts as a profession.
I was talking to a theater director a couple days ago. He’s one of those people I feel a connection to and don’t quite know why. He’s very well read with a Master’s Degree in Theater and a Bachelor’s from Cornish. He was in the early Seattle Grunge scene playing in concerts with Alice in Chains before they got signed. And off the cuff I mentioned “Do you ever remember a club called The Monastery” - his eyes lit up and he said “SKOOCHIES!”.
These clubs are a difficult thing to describe if you weren’t there. They weren’t just clubs, they were entire sub-cultures. Every once in a while I overhear someone put down local Goths and I kind of smile (and usually remain silent.) I was what you might call a “Goth” in the early 80’s (we called it “Bat Cavers”) - did the all black outfits, ratted out the hair, wore makeup, danced all night til 4 am and carried all the intellectual faux we could muster. As an adult I don’t regret any of it, in fact it was a very formative time and I shudder to think that I would have ever missed it.
Our favorite bands were The Cure, OMD (Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark). Bauhaus, The Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Prince, The Eurhytmics, etc….
THE MONASTERY - AMP RACK
THE MONASTERY - DJ BOOTH
THE MONASTERY - DANCE FLOOR
Maybe it’s a Seattle thing, maybe it’s an art thing, maybe it’s a Washington thing, maybe it’s just because I was raised outside Seattle. There’s a bond up here like I have never felt anywhere else. I’ve lived in Miami, Los Angeles, spent 20 years in Southern California and I can tell you - THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE THE ARTS AND EXPRESSION IN SEATTLE AND SKAGIT COUNTY. It is so rich you can taste it.
These clubs were a place for expression, for those of us that felt pigeon-holed everywhere else. Especially at The Monastery, it was a place to take things right to the edge. I recognized back then that this was a thing “for a time”, few things last forever. It is unfortunate I had many friends from that time that didn’t recognize this and they didn’t get out in time, and they are no longer with us. At the time many adults viewed us as having the “hubris of youth”. Now having a 20 year retrospect I don’t see it that way. It was a place for us to carve our identity, and some of us needed a little edgier carving than most desire.
Skoochies, City Beat and The Monastery all closed down. I know specifically The Monastery was a thorn in Seattle’s side for many years and finally got closed down after many attempts. But for us that were underage and wanted to experience life on the edge, it was a great place.
The innocence of the under 21 crowd in those clubs was evident, and there was a dark side to the older crowd that infiltrated some of those clubs, especially The Monastery. I don’t think those clubs would ever get off the ground in this day and age. For those that didn’t have a strong sense of self I’m sure there are countless horror stories and emotional scars.
I cannot tell you how many times in producing music or in the studio I pull from the sensations created in those clubs. Especially for dance tracks and avante garde scores, it takes me only a moment to remember The Monastery experience. For that I am very thankful because it is so unique. And I don’t regret any of. I’m also thankful I got out of the scene before it devoured me. For those that didn’t, I remember you and my heart goes out to you.
THE MONASTERY AND SEATTLE ART CULTURE
BY CHARLES MUDEDE
Cultural conservatives rely upon the singular example of the Monastery to bolster the argument that all-ages clubs necessarily result in perversion and debauchery. George Freeman ran the Monastery under the constitutionally protected cloak of the separation of church and state. The Monastery wasn’t a club but a religious sanctuary, free from the financial and legal restraints of the city government. It was an after-hours, all-night anomaly, defined and clothed in religious speak; one could only gain entrance to the place by becoming a member of Freeman’s church, paying tithes. There was a “baptismal” pool, and Freeman gave nightly sermons.
Although it raised the ire of parents who were alarmed at the pan-sexual nature of the clientele and the drug use within, the city finally clamped down on the club due to the panic over bathhouses and the spread of AIDS. Those same conservatives, however, ignore the fact that the Monastery was but one of a few clubs that were open and intended for all-ages shows. The one I remember best was a place in Pioneer Square called the Metropolis, because I frequented a reggae night they had there.
The larger problem, though, isn’t the obvious fact that idle youth who have nowhere to go resort to drugs and crime, but rather that American pop culture and the larger politic is almost wholly dependent on rampant youth for its life and vigor. Rock, punk, new wave, and hiphop are entirely youth entities. Without that deviant input, what we’ll end up is staid and fossilized–hence the Experience Music Project’s wholly fossilized youth culture.
To the current Goths and champions of counter-culture - I am too old to be part of your experience now, but I remember it well. Don’t let us old farts tell you how to dress or express yourself, and remember who you are through the experience so you can make it out in good form. I can tell you there is no reward for an early death (and no drama worth retelling) but there are great rewards for coming out the other side strong and bold. Be safe, realize it’s for a time and get out if you see things starting to crumble around you. If it gets REAL bad, please email me.
What made me get out? The innocent playfulness of the scene changed drastically when I turned 21. It was not playtime anymore. Every couple weeks you’d hear about someone you were acquainted with that had died, the late night intellectualism slowly revealed itself as drug induced repetitive blabbering, and most of all was seeing those who were older not accomplishing much. When I stripped away my rebelliousness from my visual presentation and focused it on ideas and art, I found life to be much more full for me.
Part of your Rite of Passage is when you realize you have been given gifts and they should not be focused inward, but outward in service. And of course, only an old fart would say something like that……
So give a shout out if you remember The Monastery, Skoochies or City Beat - and I’d be very interested to know what profession you are in now. You can post anonymously on this thread.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 30th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I went to skoochies every weekend. i was also a ‘bat caver’.
i currently live in los angeles and i am an artist. i did get out alive.
i ended up living in the monastery as a “loft” for a year in 1995. talk about a strange experience.
-stacey
July 17th, 2007 at 12:06 am
I remember those clubs well. I ended up in the arts, first as an illustrator and now as a computer program creating tools that artist use. The Monastery had a reputation larger than life.
August 13th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
I grew up in Snohomish County and Skoochies and the Monastery were both havens for me. I ended up the arts as well - graphic design and music.
Nice post, btw.
October 3rd, 2007 at 3:05 pm
wasn’t that place owned by some gay black guy?? When I was growing up I heard that was a bad place..
November 22nd, 2007 at 3:00 pm
I remember The Monastery and City Beat. I was a bit too young for The Monastery but I did love the trip from Bremerton to Seattle to go to City Beat. I was only 16 and you always had to know someone to get in, which I did. My favorite memory? Roxy stripping down to his pantyhose during “Knock on Wood”. And how about all that MDA….
December 7th, 2007 at 8:38 am
I was one of those Kirkland Preppie girls who went to Skoochies alot. Never went to the monastery. (Being a Kirkland preppie girl and all… the monastery seemed to be a bit of a scary place. In retrospect, it’s a choice I regret. I wish I had experienced it.) I don’t recall “City Beat”, but we also went to “Encore” in Renton and there was also a club on the other side of the Seattle center that I recall being in an old church that had several stories (aka more than one dance floor)… maybe that was “Club Omni”. Anyhow, lots of memories. Does anyone also recall the dances at the Exhibition hall that were alternately sponsored by K-Plus FM and C-89? Those were pretty fun, too.
Oh, and no… I’m not in the arts. I was a full time nanny from 1988-2002, became a stay at home mom for 5 years and just recently went back to work part time at the YMCA in their drop off childcare area.
December 7th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
I went to Encore and Omni too. Omni was a little later, didn’t it have a circular walkway, like in a grain silo or something like that on multiple floors? I think Encore was a little more into hip hop, think that was the first place I heard Sir Mix-a-lot.
I went to one of the Exhibition hall dances, think I had relocated to California by that time and was visiting. It wasn’t quite the same. The Monastery era was coming to a close….
Fun times!
December 13th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Monastery… wow.. found it when I was about 16, would drive from Olympia to pay $6 to hang out all night. we would sneek in fifths of Jack and drink up stairs in the little rooms that had curtians you could close. Watch movies in the airplane seats and use the coed bathrooms. I remember “nice people dress nice” written on one of the mirrors down stairs. The dance floor and light show was so dead or alive…. the place was a dream or nightmare how ever you look at it. We are the children of the universe, you could read that before the sprinkler in the parking lot came on. One friend of mine was doing coke on the take we were sitting at, the bouncer came over and said HEY, please do that in the locker…. wow. . . how crazy… after it closed down, i went back and found a door unlocked, I just hung out inside all night with a couple of friends. It was crazy to walk around the place all deserted and dead.. I wish I had some video of it in action….
December 18th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Ric - groupie, deacon, doorman, better half of Ric and Bob …
A growing experience few were lucky to have.
Myself and ‘Speedy Ron’ nabbed the cornerstone immediately prior to demolition.
ABSOLUTELY no regrets!
P.S. MFA/Color Theory
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Yes,
I used to work at Skoochie’s back in the early 80’s and was friends with some of the DJ’s. I also found myself at City Beat and Club Broadway. After playing in bands around the Grunge scene during the 90’s, I have been DJ’ing for about 10 years and I still play 80’s music when there is a need for it. It brings back memories as you can imagine. I just happened to be passing by when they tore down the Monastery and somewhere, I have a photo of that! Long live the dance, M.
January 4th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I remember Sckoochies - what a great place. What an influence. K-JET was my first taste of ‘New Wave’, with Skoochies and KYYX firming things up. I wish I hadn’t started drinking the ‘Old English’ 40’s every night - the drunken stupor lead to the fights. I was always drunk, dancing and then on the fringes of the fights.
We stayed away from the Monestary for the most part - although I really loved the bat cave thing, not being a ‘bat caver’ as Stacey correctly calls it in my opinion, I was more interested in the preppie girls. : )
I love the arts, and music, but am not involved professionally. Live in Chicago with my family - preppie wife and 5 kids.
Someone needs to hold a reunion. How about you?
Great post.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Skoochies was SO much fun! And yes, I remember the forty ouncers too, that was always a fun score for the start of the evening. I was a preppie from Bellevue, and sometimes tried to be Bat Cave, which kind of looked like William Shatner trying to be a bat caver. But it was fun.
The DJ’s at these places were the coolest. The mysterious Wizards of Oz. Great to hear from you guys! A reunion would be too funny.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Milo and I organized a Monastery “White Party” in memory of the club after it got closed down by the PANDAS. It would be really fun to do that again. Everyone dresses in white. Imagine the freaks coming out of the woodwork? When I’m DJ’ing sometimes I’ll throw on “So Many Men” “Rocket to Your Heart” or “Native Love” by Divine, just to see if anyone remembers. Those were the days my friends.. Cheers, Mackenzie.
January 11th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Yes, I remember Skoochies well! I used to go to the one in Portland and it was my home away from home! I was a “bat caver” as well…used to love dancing in front of the mirrors and smoking my clove cigarettes. Ah, the memories! Those were fun times!
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Oh how I miss those fun days! I didnt know if anybody really remembered those great places. I thought I was the only one who remembered and missed them. It was a place to be yourself and relax and have fun. I was a goth, bat-caver. I was pretty much the only one who looked like that in Bothell. How fun that was to freak out the neighborhood! I made so many great friends and really wish I knew where they all were. Skoochies, City Beat, and dont forget Club Broadway! Those were the days! I would love a reunion! I so remember Roxy doing Knock On Wood too and dont forget the fun antics of Boy Mike! I wonder what ever happened to him!
I got older, got married and am a stay at home mom. But I still love my 80’s music, nothing better than that!
January 24th, 2008 at 3:53 am
Hey Sue. Yeah Roxy was a trip. I forgot about Boy Mike! He was very obnoxious, but always made a mark.
Club Broadway rings a bell. But nothing like Skoochies, City Beat and Monastery.
If there was a reunion none of us would recognize each other.
I’ve gone a couple times to see a Northwest 80’s cover band called the Retros and it’s fun to see all us old fogies try to be 80’s again. Well….actually it’s a bit sad.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Oh lord, I don’t know what possessed me to google The Monastery today - but what a trip down memory lane. I was one of those kids who got kicked out of the house in high school. I lived with a bunch of other kids in a really shitty apartment on Capitol Hill, but still managed to get through high school and graduate. They were the best of times and the worst, of course. I too had friends who died. However, it was a truly transformative time in my life. My friends and I LIVED for the monastery. We went to Skoochies too, but not as much. I remember doing acid or MDA and sitting in the airplane seats watching Romancing the Stone and Clockwork Orange. Yikes! Anybody remember Bambi or Jason Wells? Wonder what’s become of them. Anyway, thanks for the forum to reminisce. Oh yes, I moved to San Francisco where I earned a BA in English Lit., got married, had two kids, got divorced and am now studying textile design. Music and the arts remain a big part of my life.
January 28th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I am still great friends with Jason Wells. He is married with a son. Him and his wife own a business and are doing really well. They live out in the Mountlake Terrace area.
I do wonder what ever happened to Bambi too! I forgot all about him. The stories that went around about him!
Do you remember Jeff Morgan and Billy Burke? They hung out with Jason? They make movies now and are now actors and doing pretty good I guess.
March 28th, 2008 at 12:37 am
I remember getting the best part of my DJ education at the Monastery! I was friends with Dana Andrews and used to hang out in the booth all the time. Few people know that originally the place was called Sanctuary and it was owned by George Freeman. We have yet to have a sound system in any club that matched that one. Sigh…good times. Oh and I am still spinning, after 32 years.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Ah, good times. I remember going to Skoochies for the first time in my parachute pants looking for a roller skating rink. Instead I found someone dancing on a speaker to Madonna’s Everybody. The rest was history, clove cigarettes, 40oz, dancing on the center front stage when Janet Jackson came on at Club Broadway.
I also remember the dj at Skoochies breaking the song “19″ 12″ because people were singing “we don’t need the water, let the mf, burn…etc.” He was pissed and was saying, “This isn’t Encore!” He was a great dj, asian guy with a limp, great mixes…
May 1st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Like Miriam, I don’t know why I googled City Beat, but I credit that time of my life with shaping who I am. I doubt I would recognize anyone now, and am sure they wouldn’t recognize me. I’ve gone from Big black hair, white face and black eyes, cheeks and lips to Long brown hair, chubby and a working housewife. But you know, I have an incredible relationship with my son, because I understand that it takes all kind of experiences to make you who you are. City Beat brings up the strongest feeling in me remembering, Roxie, Chad, MDA Dave, Becca, Rick Card, Tina, Romeo and so many others!! Dancing all night, peaking to Din Da Da and Ball of Confusion. And the goofiness of standing around at the end of every night, holding hands to “That’s What Friends are For” Oh Lord.
If anyone recognizes me, I would love to hear about it. I lived with Paris and Libby.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:41 pm
OMG, you lived with Paris? I thought he was so awesome - do you know what he’s up to now? I got to know him just before I relocated down to Los Angeles around 1987. At the time he seemed to me the ultimate artist.
I agree that remembering the “characters” at those places bring up strong memories. We were all characters then. Good times.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I moved to Los Angeles with him in about 87. We were roommates until about 97, then I moved back to Washington, got married etc. He’s doing Wardrobe or “Stylist” for some shows like Top Design and such. I really haven’t been in touch, but his sister says he’s doing great!
He was awesome, crazy and yes, he was the ultimate artist. But our art just took us in different directions.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:21 am
GREAT article!! I picked up an old friend for a night out in Seattle this weekend. When I asked her where I could pick her up, she replied, “across the street from some German looking building”. When I arrived I looked at her in disbelief: “That’s the Monastery!” She knew it. Call it a brain fart. We were BIG into Skoochies, dabbled a little into the Monastery but really, really loved Skoochies. Bartles & James Peach Coolers, cloves, DJ Donovan…those were the best of times. We still have our collection of Skoochies tickets and artifacts. And the music. If anyone has Malcolm McLaren “Madame Butterfly”, Flying Pickets “Only You” or Fiction Factory “Feels Like Heaven”…..my old discs are wearing thin and I can’t find these songs anywhere. Shout out to Pat Linke, Tod Hart, Dave Adelot. GREAT TIMES!!!
May 20th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Wow! I remember Big Mike, Roxy, Skye, Gypsy. How about Edwin and Marcus, the drag queens? I also remember Jeff Morgan and saw him in Scrubs recently. How about Stian, Todd & Dirk. Billy, who thought he was Prince. MDA Dave, who turned out to be heroin Dave. Peter Griggs. Romeo. I don’t think most of these people had last names! I was only 14-15 years old at the time and now I have a son that age (he doesn’t know about The Monastery). I remember Jason Wells taking a big group of people out for dinner at Denny’s and then after we’d eaten, he said he had no money. I snuck out with Caren Morgan. Askland and Morgan - I would love to see photos of you two b/c am sure our paths crossed. I pulled myself out of the scene and moved to NY, started modeling, and traveled the world until 22. Now, I have a Master’s Degree in Midwifery and live in HK with my two kids, cat, two dogs and my amazing Art Director husband.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Aimee, you’re in HK as in Hong Kong? If so, I’m in Macau right across the water from you. Check out the front page “home” of the blog.
Did I really sneak out of Denny’s with you? I feel so ashamed…
May 20th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Hi Askland. No, I snuck out of Denny’s with Caren Morgan - we had no money. I looked at your photos and am trying to remember Conrad, Conrad and it’s not sinking in. But then, lucidity didn’t take precedent at that time of my life and neither did last names. So, you are in Cirque! That’s great! We’re thinking about taking a trip to Macau to take the kids to The Venetian. If so, we have to reminisce. How long will you be there?
May 20th, 2008 at 9:00 am
You probably know Marc Nichols? http://www.thereallybig.com/marks.htm and Garrett Bennett?
May 20th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Mmmm….don’t know them, but I bet all my Seattle theater friends do. Will check it out.
Back in the Monastery days I looked like this:
http://www.conradaskland.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/ca-1985a.jpg
I’ll be in Macau til at least the end of 2010, probably a lot longer. Official grand opening is August 29, 2008 but we start running preview shows end of July 2008. I can probably get your family tickets for the preview shows - don’t know about any age limits or if there are any. Probably not.
Will be fun! You can use my Contact link to send an email.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:28 am
This is too funny reading these posts. I used to be the bouncer at the front door at Skoochies from 84-86. Used to hang around a girl named Cory Helm from Ballard and I drove a white lowrider with a louvered hood. I loved the music at these clubs. I remember one night after Skoochies closed that Cory and her friends wanted to check out the Monastery at like 3-4am. We got there and they were freaked out to go in. I said we’re here…..we’re going in. What a fun night like many nights at Skoochies until the sun came up !
May 21st, 2008 at 7:03 am
Are you and Morgan talking about the Paris who lived near Broadway and had long curlyish dark brownish hair? One whom you might call and say, “Can I get an album from you”?
May 21st, 2008 at 7:23 am
Paris looked like the leading man from a pirate swashbuckling movie - yes, long locks. I still remember him teaching me to play “Cardinal Puff”.
June 1st, 2008 at 7:25 pm
hey just wanted to jump in and echo these feelings about Skoochies (Seattle) and City Beat, and Club Broadway, too. I was a semi-bat caver high school through college and still now, at 42, at-heart. My memories are of State Farm and Love and Pride and Go!(Skoochies) and Oh l’amour and I’m so Beautiful and Cities in Dust (City Beat). These were all wonderful and semi-wholesome (not counting the MDA) places to “grow up” and I wouldn’t have had it any other way! I probably wouldn’t have fit in anywhere else, and this is still the music that I’m most fond of (the whole reason I found this site was that I was creating City Beat, Skoochies and Vogue playlists!) For you Seattleites who are no longer here, you’ll be glad to know that the 90s Musicwerks is still around in the form of Mercury (moved from Monorail to Cap Hill), but sad to know that the Vogue as we knew it is all but gone. They moved from 1st in Belltown up to the Hill, on 11th East, but that was short-lived. They’ve tried resurrecting it on 12th, but not regularly as far as I know. City Beat was the Timberline (gay 2-step club) but now is owned by Cornish. Whoever knows what’s happening at the old Skoochies.
thanks to all the djs who made our coming-of-age years so sweet and memorable.
June 1st, 2008 at 7:30 pm
ok wait - just thought of a couple more great ones for that Skoochies mix: A to Z (ABC) and Kiss Me (Stephen Duffy). My name is Eden, and I want you, to kiss … my … snatchhhhhhhhhh!
June 1st, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Does anyone know where I can find a recording of STATE FARM? Haven’t found one on the internet.
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I found one the other day, under Yaz, on iTunes.
June 6th, 2008 at 10:02 am
It’s funny how much this time period shaped people and how quickly just names and songs can take you back. I’m hesitant but here is a link to a photo from my MySpace page. http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=313241376&albumID=733148&imageID=4681839. It’s long. but there it is. And Conrad, I do remember you now. I did know you. And damn you, I never became a Cardinal Puff. It was beyond me.
June 6th, 2008 at 10:27 am
oops…that didn’t work. Go to myspace and click on photos.
http://www.myspace.com/andreadragonfly
June 15th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Morgan,
Did you grow up with Chris Yearian, Isha and Chad from Pt. Townsend?
June 17th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Nooo…Wendy, Karen, Jonelle, Paris, Libby, all from Sequim.
June 19th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I worked the door at City Beat in 1986, and remember all those names. Paris was gorgeous, as the name would suggest. I was in Idaho when the Monastary was open or I would have been there too.. Skootchies was for wanna-be’s. God, I miss the MDA. And the FUN. The best time of my life, without a doubt. I moved on to help George Freeman open up Club Vortex, then dj’d at Neighbors and DJ’s Nightlife. Remember morning madness? I’m going to name some names; Boy Mike (obnoxious, but who could forget) Roxy, Matthew, Bobby, Annette, David Ginsberg, Sean Poole, Neal Baumeister, Jono, Alias, Karen, Sammy Baade, Scotty MacRoberts, Pony, Sky, ( I lived with Pony during that period) German Ron (with the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen) Lee Hartell, Dana Andrews, Peter Sanford, I still have some of Peter and Dana’s record collections) Kelly Pierce, Alan Mulkey, Rory Sherman, Bobby Hennis, Della, Kandice (Candy then) Peter Griggs, Donna, Karen, Charlie Hill, Jerry Johnson. If I had a time machine I’d go back to 1983 and do it all over again.