In the wake, or face, of the constant nightclub raids and stings and the occasional murder in New York’s Chelsea district, one of the city’s most wonderfully infamous (shall we count the ways?*) venues, the Limelight (currently called Avalon), has been caught in the virtual crossfire, sentenced to be “cut up” and turned into a mini mall with “retail tenants and a restaurant with patio seating.” Most WOW Report readers know how important the club is to nightlife history, to pop culture in general, and to the term “cut up” in particular. But, knowing our readers as we do, we realize nothing will keep them away from the inevitable H&M, the patio seating, and the bus fumes along Sixth Avenue, “end of an era” be fucked. (NYP, t/y Beau)

*Limelight, founded in the deconsecrated church in 1983, hosted some of clubland’s wildest parties in the ’80s and early ’90s under now-deported club king Peter Gatien. In 1996, federal agents charged that Limelight was a “drug supermarket” and shut it down. Gatien was acquitted of racketeering and drug charges but convicted of tax evasion. He spent time in jail and was eventually deported to his native Canada.That same year, one of the club’s flamboyant promoters, Michael Alig, pleaded guilty to manslaughter for killing Angel Melendez, a club regular and reputed drug dealer over a money dispute. He’s still in jail.

As Homer Simpson might say, “Mmmm… drug supermarket.”