Everytime we mention Lewis St to the 40 and over crowd, the first thing that gets mentioned is 36 Lewis and its wild reputation.
"That 36 Lewis was quite the place."
"36 Lewis, you could get anything there!"
"There's a lot of ghosts of good times over at 36 Lewis."
"You could always tell a person was a good time if they hung out at 36 Lewis."
We are too young to remember when this was a happening spot, but it sure sounds like there are some good stories an we'd love to here them. Do you have any tales to tell of this great spot? We'd love to put together a collection of stories from the heyday. Feel free to leave them here in comments or send them in email.
Don't have to be 40 or over necessarily, I'm just a touch over 30 and i remember 36 Lewis St as an afterhours spot, (Vibe) back before afterhours spots were basically outlawed in the city. Maybe it wasn't its heyday, but i spent many a early Sunday morning with the sun rising through the empty Hartford streets with ears ringing trying to remember where my damn car was parked after way too many hours spent there..
ReplyDeleteYes, this was the top gay bar in the city.
DeleteYup. From the 1999-2001 era, 36 Lewis Street was one of the two after hours clubs in Hartford - the other being the old Club Blu and current Russian Lady. Of course, the Hartford Brewery was right around the corner on Pearl and also a pretty happening spot. The club opened at 10 PM and stayed open till 4 AM with NO alcohol served. E and glow sticks were ubiquitous, and everyone pretty much looked like this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM3xf87CbIQ
There was a time when you could go out all night in Hartford (and not just here). And not just go out all night, but experience a scene that no longer exists. Bump into random people and talk for hours, get lost dancing in a mixture of fog, strobe lights and sirens blaring over the music, or even lay on a couch if you felt like it.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to think this place actually happened. No cameras, before youtube and social media, so its not like you can go back and show anyone what it was like. I'm sure as hell glad I was there for it. Getting amped right now thinking aback bout it...untz untz untz untz...
Smoke your meth you fucking faggot. Fuck assholes for 5 days straight. You rump rangers are all sick fucking assholes.
DeleteVibe and Insomnia...remember them well. Favorite after hours spots from 99-01
ReplyDeleteMe too!! I lived at Vibe and wasn't an E fan. Loved to dance to DJ Sydog and DJ Rampage. I still have their CDs. I too remember leaving the club with the sun coming up, ears ringing and followinging a long line of cars to a house in Newington where the party continued. Those were the days~99 to 01. Great times...
ReplyDeleteYes…. That was my boyfriend at the times house in Newington. Holy $hit those were the days!
DeleteI’ve been looking for their music forever!! And how about DJ Edit?? Please anyone have info?
DeleteI have some old dj edit. I worked the door and coat check at Vibes
DeleteI can't speak for the over 40 crowd, but the over 70 bunch remembers Lewis St. as the advertising center of Hartford in the early '60s...think "Mad Men". 36 Lewis was home to a very prestigious agency as I recall, whose art director could be seen cruising around the city his '55 Ford Thunderbird.
ReplyDeleteCool to know! That building has some history to it.
DeleteThe other after hours club was System before it became Club Blu. Vibe and System were my homes away from home!!
ReplyDeleteAnd Vibe was called Insomnia before it was Vibe. does anyone remember this?? System closed down in 2001 and then Club Blu took its place. And this was a very sad time for me because there was no longer Vibe or System.
ReplyDeleteSame! I listen to music from back then from time to time and it never fails... the goosebumps come back and a smile reaches my face..
DeleteMy friend was the one that opened Insomnia. Was alot of interesting things that went on. But people had fun. And alot of cash flowing
Deleteayeeee...36 Lewis Street...now there's a name from the past...and what a past!! Yep remember it well, usually one of the names on our pub crawl list that included Scarlet's (O'hara), Russian Lady, BT's, The Comet (and The Club Car on Sunday's as all other places were shut if I remember clearly), the year? 1987-1988!
ReplyDeleteNo alcohol one reviewer writes?...well rest assured that in the late 80's we drank legaly, Jack & Coke being my poisson of choice, guess the law changed in the 90's?
One fond memory was seeing REM play there one night...fantastic....
Good times! those were my years and places too.
Deleteinsomnia system thursday to sunday, centerfolds and hard hittin NB...real friends were made till this day a trance addict if you didnt live it you will never know what we went through.
ReplyDeleteI used to work at club 36...it was crazy seeing everyone high on E, jumping around and feeling up on each other lol. I was only 18 and few months later it got shut down. Definitely was a fun place to be after the clubs because you can dance your drunkness away. A lot of people went there because they didn't want to drink and drive, not all was about drugs.
ReplyDeleteIt was not called club 36. At least for the years I worked there. Insomnia and Vibe.
DeleteAbsolutely unbelievable. Insomnia was amazing. At the end it got a bit "cracky" but I have mostly very pleasant memories of early mornings there. Wish it was open now.
ReplyDeleteVIBE!! NVR BE ANOTHA ONE LIKE IT!! if you went there than u have storeys most people wouldn't believe, that's why I don't bother telln them!! The day they closed down was the end of my club runs. Nothing could compare...' OH DONT ASK WHY! 'CAUSE THERE ARE CASTLES IN THE SKY!!!!
ReplyDeleteAsdfasdf is right. It was an amazing time. U could just find ur way to Hartford and be guaranteed an amazing night. Kids from all around would come. Everyone had fun. I rolled. Some didn't. Either way it was great. Miss it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many of us bumped into each other at those places... Who would have thought we would be commenting on a web page trying to reminisce this many years later...keeping our comments short because trying to relay those experiences in words is impossible.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone recall all the Dj's? I remember Si Dog, Dj Edit, Ma Bell, Ranpage, TP & Dj Bio and a few more that escape me at the moment. So many great memories! !!
ReplyDeleteRemember Dee-Jay Bee
Delete34. All the best house DJs. Think of this. Every coed, dancer and waitress after hours spending their hard earned money ;) . Best house music out of all the clubs. Was there 99-02 ish. First roll and the best experiences of my life. Kyle.
DeleteI'm 33 and spent a LOT of time at 36 Lewis first when it was Insomnia and then later when it was Vibe. I was 17 the first time I went and it was Insomnia. Once Insomnia shut down, we bounced over to System and then back to Lewis when it became Vibe. I remember the DJs (Si Dog, Edit, Rampage) and there were a lot of guest DJ's that were primarily on the first floor. I remember when IIO came to sing (I think it was when it was Insomnia) and that was pretty sweet. I reminisce when I program by zoning out to some tracks that were played a lot in those clubs. Hard to believe the feelings I get after all these years when I hear them...they do something extreme to my body and it brings me back in ways people who never experienced those places would ever understand. Times are definitely different now!!
ReplyDeleteI came from small town Texas, right outta high school, to Meridian for work(1999-2001). I'd never seen anything like this b4. Everyone was cool as hell and we always had a blast. These establiments helped make me who I am today. Miss those days! !
DeleteNobody here used to go up to the "Muni" around the corner from where Vibe was? Hartford after hours and the Asylum in Springfield were tons of great nights with lots of friends.
DeleteI went there so many times and I worked at Vibe
DeleteLets get them back. Is that at all possible?
ReplyDeleteWhen and where is the reunioun?!?!?
ReplyDeleteI worked the coat check and door for years.
ReplyDeleteI lost my shirt once. I can't blame you. I took it off and threw it in a corner. It was a great tie dye shirt shirt in yellows. A real one perfect for a rave I found at the Salvation Army store. I never found another like it. I also lost my keys on another occasion which was a lot more trouble than driving home in the winter WITH NO SHIRT! I had to call my Dad!
DeleteThere will never be another reunion, unfortunately. Im glad you all came to enjoy our beats! I loved playing there. 1000 peeps every Saturday night, live on radio 104 for "The Spin Cycle". Its Edit btw. Great times and you were all a part of nightlife history! My most fond memories were from there!
ReplyDeleteI missed reunion somehow ...
DeleteI'm sure it was great ..
Vibe was my home away from home
I've been busy with a radio show and the like. Hit me up on Fbook. www.facebook.com/therealdjedit for music and other stuff!
ReplyDeleteTwo friends dragged me there in 99 and I was hooked on the whole lifestyle as well as the E. Exsp the E! I sure do wish we could go back in time. Two apartments there are for rent by the way. You can go back SORT OF! But it will cost you. I found a cool snapshot on the floor once. I will post a link tomorrow when I find it. Anyone else got pictures? It would be so cool if I found one of myself in there. I am surprised there isn't a website or a Facebook account with people's photos and stories. Or is there?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/47940095@N07/45926159781/in/datetaken-public/
DeleteYeah I can remember many times up in Hartford from like 99/04. System a few times but mainly insomnia/vibe/36 bunch of us would make the drive up from Fairfield county, sometimes in a line of cars. Always met the coolest people I can remember dipping out for the LONG drive back when the sun was just rising up over the Hartford skyline. So many good times. saw the warp brothers and Ian van Dahl.
ReplyDeleteEvery Saturday night, after working at Kahoots, we would all go to Insomnia. I always say that E was my favorite drug. (at least back then) Think of those days all the time. Really can't put into words the experience, just a really cool time.
ReplyDeleteThat place brings back some serious memories. Made a ton of friends there, listened to some sick beats(that aren't around today), experimented like there was no tomorrow. Where have the 20 some odd years gone... The bar scene was way better than it is now for sure in HTFD, but the after hours clubs are gone for good.
ReplyDeleteOhhh good old vibes ... Insomnia, vibe , club36 , many names , one family ... I just reed thru comments and apparently in 2018 was reunion .. Idk how did I miss it ...
ReplyDeleteHeh I remember going crazy on the dance floor with glowsticks to the beat ... After E kicked in I think I was pretty crazy on that dancefloor ... Maybe some of u remember Pete the polish kid ... Anyways ... I would go on reunion in a heartbeat .. Lets do something my people ... It doesn't take much because I am 100% sure everyone who went there would just show up ...
It is funny how certain song start to play out of the blue on a radio as a throwback and u just smile to ur self because that moment right there part of unforgatable moments was captured with that song and u going back in memory lane ... And that smile on ur face sez it all ..
I wish I could go back in time for one last dose of beats at vibe and hang out with cool peeps that at one point of my life I consider as my family ...
Dj solo aka solo138 was the real original resident dj of insomnia.
ReplyDeleteYup Mike coury
DeleteDam it was a good time I met Ron Jeremy there ,I went there when it was insomnia and also vibe also another place that we would go after insomnia Saturday night then Sunday morning leaving to goto pulse in .R.I...also there was the system in hatford 4 floor of awesomeness
ReplyDeleteReading all the comments, fascinating !! I was a manager at 36 Lewis Street was Hartford was it's full glory in the 70"s , so many memories there, I became an American Citizen in Hartford July 14, 1978 and had celebration at 36 Lewis St, I so well remember the bands we had playing upstairs and the three dinning rooms downstairs, including the green house, all three Bone brothers worked there as well as Marissa their sister, and so many others, I was in my twenties, now a senior woman of 70, wondering where time has gone.
ReplyDeleteI was in Hartford a while back and did a tour of Memory Lane, saw that 36 Lewis Street is now a residential dwelling , I guess it could be interesting living in a historic spot, Hartford does have a lot of interesting history.
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Does anyone remember Crisco?
ReplyDeleteEyebrow Jim? Manny? Brandon? Savage? Doug? Wes? Troll? Jamie? Stone?
Those guys really where some of the OG's of the Hartford Nightlife.
So many good memories, meeting great people, and fun that most people could never understand. Such a safe space for so many.
Whoa. Haven’t seen those names in a long time. Where are they now?…
DeleteI was 16 the first time I went to Insomnia and exposed to a whole counterculture that completely fascinated me circa 1999. I would literally have the best nights of my life dancing, listening to music and meeting new people unlike anyone I knew. All I could think about was the next time I could go to have that kind of experience again. I still remember the connections, excitement and sense of wonder. I always felt safe and a sense of community. There was nothing like it. Happy to see so many people share the same sentiments.
ReplyDelete