Even the security girls, once the rush was over. Daniels death was the final sad act in a dark life marked by chronic drug abuse and bookended by two tragic drug-related deaths the last one 26 years ago. Peter Gatien. In the novel, Mark Wechsler is rumored to be Giles lover and is cited as a possible accomplice in the slaying. Everything was in a state of disarray, Alig said. He plopped down on the wicker furniture and ordered an iced tea. His Queen West rent is a very modest $3,000 per month, paid largely by friends and family. Deep in my heart I thought that the way the government conducted itself during that trial was offensive. Still, he says, it took away a chunk of Peters life.. Canadian club owner and party promoter (born 1952), "Live and Learn (CEO Interviews): Peter Gatien", "Limelight: Doc tells outlandish tale of Canadian's rise and fall in NYC", "Jen Gatien Dives Into the Limelight (Again)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Gatien&oldid=1142665884, CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Alessandra Gatien, former Adrien Gatien, Sheila Gatien, Gatien and the histories of his clubs are discussed at length in the book, Gatien is a prominent character in two books about, Gatien's daughter, Jen Gatien, produced the documentary. The only word is: Decadent., But maybe it was that decadence that gave the city its aura. . The main dance floor of the Limelight in 1993. Gatien relocated to Toronto, where he opened a 55,000-square-foot (5,100m) entertainment venue, Circa. ( 1952-08-08) August 8, 1952 (age 70) Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. If you wanted to meet someone iwho mattered in Ny back then, Peter was the only man who would probably know him or her. Most clubs a year and a half, two years, and thats it.. Police still dont know how Ruby ingested the drugs although Daniel admitted he had glassine packets of heroin in the apartment, prosecutors said in court. (Riggshand-written confessionafter his arrest did not mention Daniel. In 1999, he pleaded guilty to tax-evasion and paid over a million dollars in back taxes a sum he likens to a rounding error given the amount of dough that was rolling in back then. At times he would book a $1,000-a-night Manhattan hotel suite and spend a weekend freebasing cocaine naked with a group of party girls., It was total selfishness, he said. Im a good shepherd, Mr. Gatien said. Alig and the others didnt come from much but Daniel did. He wasnt like Im gonna shoot everyone! [He shot] just the marquee, and then he kept walking. He is greatest referred to as the previous proprietor of a (Photo by Arnaldo Magnani/Getty Images) Embed PURCHASE A LICENSE Standard editorial rights Custom rights How can I use this image? No one wanted to party. Peter Gatien (born August 14, 1952) is a Canadian club owner and party promoter. After an five-week trial, the jury cleared the Club King in just a few short hours. It is not known whether Ruby was his only child. Coolness could always be found at one of Peter Gatiens mega-clubs. Peter Gatien's income source is mostly from being a successful . Alas, all the stars had since moved on from the Limelight and the club was sputtering. In them, fashion designers found inspiration for their next runway show and record execs found their next big hit. He was so small back then, he mustve been 15 or 16. In HustvedtsWhat I Loved, she writes about the troubled relationship between an artist, Bill Wechsler, and his drug-addict son, Mark, and the sons stepmother, Violet. Nonetheless, his own drug use was starting to spiral. Interview: Notorious Club Owner Peter Gatien Talks About The "Limelight" Documentary & Hip-Hop's Best Party Ever. the guy seems to be living his life quietly in toronto like anyone else. I had subpoenaed him, McMahon said. Not one stops to shake Gatien's hand. Few people know the evolution of NYC nightlife better than Peter Gatien, the one-time nightclub impresario who at his '90s peak ran four Manhattan mega-clubs: Club USA, a Blade Runner-meets . When police raided the Limelight in the fall of 1995, his empire was living on borrowed time. The Washington Post logo. Photo by Steve Eichner) New York City after dark in the '90s was an ecstatic fever dream fueled by club kids' outrageous fantasies, and as house photographer for Peter Gatien's four iconic . A meeting was arranged at which Daniel told DA investigators that hed heard Alig and Freeze plotting to stick up Angel for his stash the day before his death.But, Owen writes, the DA decided the junkie Daniel was an unreliable witness.. If theres any truth to the old William Blake line about the road of excess leading to the palace of wisdom, then Peter Gatien may be the wisest cat in New York. Turns out she was the daughter of the infamous club impresario who had been deported to his hometown of Canada four years prior. In 2003, Gatien lived alone in a $1,200 one-bedroom apartment on King West, waiting a year before his wife and son would make the trip from NYChis wife, Alessandra, wanted their son to complete sixth grade before they moved. His wife and daughter are the classiest people you will ever meet It is a devastating sin that the system chewed him out this way. Owner Naiome Ram at Jue Lan STEPHEN YANG. The Limelight - Stunning Photos From 1990s Favorite NYC Nightclub - New York City, NY - New York City after dark in the '90s was an ecstatic time captured by photographer Steve Eichner. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. So, how much is Peter Gatien worth at the age of 69 years of age. Was it looser than it should have been? Mr. Gatien said. [9] By 2009, he was no longer involved with Circa and has been out of the nightclub business since that time. This is a celebrity in NYC that has done so much to shape music and a generation. Squeaky-clean isn't exactly the image that comes to mind when you think of Peter Gatien. People didnt even have cellphones. Seriously, at a 45 deg angle up the side of a gothic church! His story may get the Hollywood treatment too, with a script already in the works by Nicholas Pileggi best known for writing Goodfellas and Amazon Studios set to produce. At the time of Rubys death, he was living with his partner, Zuzan Smith, 25, who told police that Ruby was alert and awake when she left to go to work that day. Opens Sept. 23 at AMC Yonge-Dundas. Peter Gatien (born August 14, 1952) is a Canadian club owner and party promoter. Thanks for contacting us. I was a shepherd of talent. In October 1995, the club was raided by NYPD, but they were only able to make three small arrests of marijuana dealers because Gatien had been tipped off. Things were compounded by the fact that Gatien himself had developed an epic drug habit, sometimes renting out suites at the Four Seasons for days-long benders. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 8 August. Gatien was born in Cornwall, Ontario, the third of five brothers. The club also served as a location for Hal Ashby's film The Slugger's Wife (1985), . Tom Comis, who worked in the detective bureau at the 122 Precinct in Staten Island, were assigned to the case when the box containing Melendezs armless and legless torso washed up on the shores of Staten Island. You really had to go out to find out what was happening.. The club was located next to a 24-hour Kroger grocery store, which became known, affectionately, as "Disco Kroger." The Limelight was featured in The Slugger's Wife starring Rebecca De Mornay. It all dovetailed with the rave music coming over from London at the time. The Tunnel, a former warehouse where Biggie Smalls and Busta Rhymes once barked out raps to frenzied throngs, is converting to offices and luxury retail, blending seamlessly with the gleaming Hudson Yards to the north. Daniel and Alig, who became known as the Club Kid Killer, had been lovers for a time before the Melendez murder, according to one of Aligs former Club Kid friends, James St. James. edit: In a club in downtown New York City on a Monday night in December, Michael Alig is celebrating. A documentary on former New York City club owner Peter Gatien. They were going after Gatien as if he were Al Capone., (Gatien was acquitted of drug-racketeering and conspiracy charges in 1998 but was deported to Canada in 2003 after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges.). Times change. In the more than 30 years he lived in America, he had never bothered to obtain citizenship. Her entourage was always a nightmare She was trouble.. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. The owner of three of Manhattans largest nightclubs was accused yesterday of turning two of them the Limelight and the Tunnel into virtual drug supermarkets, The New York Times reported on May 16, 1996, peddling the drug known as Ecstasy to a clientele made up largely of college students and teen-agers., Mr. Gatien does not deny the Ecstasy use in his clubs; the drug was everywhere in the 90s nightlife, he said. Alig would serve 17 years in lock-up and, once he got out in 2017, began throwing parties in New York. Just hours after he got bailed out of Rikers April 20 after being charged in the death of his baby daughter, Daniel Auster, the long-troubled son of novelist Paul Auster, was found unconscious on a subway platform in Brooklyn. Why the US is so concerned about what people do to have fun is beyond me. The prosecutors willingness to fish out of the gutter any old scoundrel willing to sing in tune ultimately backfired. Drugs and drug paraphernalia were found on him, they said. Indeed, the killer club kid gets about as much ink in Gatiens book as the disco panther from Georgia. Sex, Drugs, and the Glory Days of NYC Nightlife: Peter Gatien Looks Back 01 April 2020 by Shawn McCreesh Rolling Stone If there's any truth to the old William Blake line about the road of excess leading to the palace of wisdom, then Peter Gatien may be the wisest cat in New York. In 2003, he was deported to his native Canada, under the Department of Homeland Security immigration laws which order the removal of any alien (non-citizen) convicted of a felony. No, Seigel says. Under the guise of improving New York City's "quality of life," the club scene was targetedand Peter Gatien's empire became a major focus of the administration. I valued customers more for what they could contribute to a party than whether they bought six bottles or whatever. Reconnoitering todays dreadful scene, he says: God, you go to a place like 1Oak the Meatpacking District club favored by Instathots and their investment-banker boyfriends and you get a table, its costing you a thousand dollars. Peter Gatien's income source is mostly from being a successful . Peter Gatien Video Interview On 'Limelight,' Michael Alig, Angel Melendez | For full video, go to: http://bit.ly/2ESEvdMWhat did you think of the video? Love, Pamela Audiobook: Listen to Pamela Anderson Read Her Bestselling New Memoir for Free, I never liked talking about it, he says now. He is best known as the former owner of several prominent New York City nightclubs, including Club USA, The Limelight, Palladium, and Tunnel. He was obsessed with the serial killer character in the book American Psycho.'. Ive been approached by Vegas, he said. Whatever else you may say about Mr. Gatien, who is 68, he never aimed small.