Photo by Danny Fulgencio
Babies of the 80s, you read that right.
For one night and one night only, Dallas’ most “legendary nightclub” will come back to life for the Starck Party, honoring the 40th anniversary of the club’s opening. The party will be held at the Kessler Theater on May 12, the exact day the club originally opened.
“We love revisiting stuff and we love bringing stuff back,” said Jeff Liles of Kessler Presents. “(The Starck Club) had this air about it. When celebrities came to Dallas, they’d go there.”
And indeed, the cast of Dallas, RuPaul, the Brat Pack, Andy Warhol and Prince are just some of the celebrities former employees remember running into at the club. “Anything that happened in the 80s” happened at the Starck, which was open from 1984 until 1989, Liles said.
The Kessler is perfectly primed to model the Starck’s “unique configuration.” In the original club, the dance floor was a staircase below the rest of the bar so that revelers could stand around a balcony and watch the dancing.
The VIP ticket to the party costs $50 and will grant access to the Kessler’s upstairs balcony. A general admission ticket will cost $25. Tickets go on sale March 6.
While there is no dress code for the party, George Baum who worked the door at the Starck Club remembers giving people who “looked interesting” an advance on the line.
“It was the best job I ever had,” Baum said.
The party will channel all things Starck but the hours. Liles said the 40th anniversary night out will start around 6 p.m. and end at 11 p.m.
DJ’s, drag performances and a set by Lithium X-Mas, the psychedelic rock trio that got their start at Starck, are on the programming schedule. And the video compilations that Starck became famous for will be back, run by the club’s original video guru David Hynds.
