Night Moves

The clock struck 10 p.m. and already a line of perfumed club-goers snaked down Broadway Street. Their destination? Tom Tom Club, a glitzy panorama of champagne flutes, fitted suits and disposable income. Inside the building at 618 N. Broadway, the dance floor swelled to the thump of electronica as Milwaukee sucked down its first taste of big-city nightlife. The year was 1998.

“When Tom Tom first opened there was nothing else like it,” remembers Jonn Hawley, resident DJ during the club’s three-year run. Clubs of the past lacked Tom Tom’s central location, high visibility and expensive sense of style. Shag rugs, mirrored walls, VIP bottle service in the lounge – it all screamed “new” and “notice me” in a way that set the tone for a nightlife revolution. Slews of local entrepreneurs began to follow owner Tom Wackman’s lead.

Jon Taylor Gustavson and two fellow Tom Tom partiers made their move in 2001, gutting a small travel agency at 722 N. Milwaukee St. and turning it into a 2,000-square-foot lounge. The space, Three, would blend high style with the intimacy of smaller underground dance venues. “We were a little more laid-back than Tom Tom, but still stylish,” Gustavson says.

Meanwhile, Wackman, riding the success of his Broadway club, struck again – erecting a midnight monarchy on Milwaukee Street. Eve, Kenadee’s and Tangerine all opened within three years of each other, beginning with Eve’s debut on New Year’s 2002. Boasting tangles of welded white steel from the walls and bar area, courtesy of then-budding design firm Flux Design, the venue raised the stakes anew for dramatic club settings.

With Three building on the electronic music momentum of Tom Tom, Eve focusing on hip-hop and mainstream dance music, and Tangerine entertaining the money-clip crowds, Downtown had a new nightlife hub. Its influence quickly spread. In 2000 alone, the city of Milwaukee approved 15 new dance hall and cabaret licenses. The East Side’s Dragon Lounge (2001 to 2004) was a mainstay for deep house music while Redroom became an “intelligent” dance music venue. Larger venues, including the ill-fated Pure on Wisconsin Avenue, created their own brief buzz.

Scott Blum, creative director of local nightlife magazine Info, credits Wackman for raising the stylistic – and monetary – stakes for Milwaukee venues. “He set the standard,” Blum says. Proprietors who once invested a certain amount to open a place were now spending that – or more – just to have their space designed by a firm like Flux.

Typifying this approach is Moct, which opened in Milwaukee’s Fifth Ward in July 2004. Behind the bar, a blast of angular lights juts into the lofted ceiling. The bartenders wear black, while art crowds discuss “The Work” and sip dirty martinis from thin-stemmed glasses. Moct’s airy interior has made it the perfect venue for alternative nightlife events such as fashion shows, another new concept at Milwaukee clubs.

The 2006 opening of Zen Den inside the InterContinental Milwaukee Hotel continues the evolution of the city’s night scene. The warmly lit space brands itself as an “ultralounge” – a cozy hybrid of lounge (cushy seats) and club (live DJs).

“I’m not sure our concept would have gone over a couple years ago,” says Zen Den bar manager Michelle Shannon. Since the explosion of clubs on Milwaukee Street, she notes, more people are coming Downtown “looking for nightlife options.”

Also playing the versatility card is Decibel, the 7,000-square-foot club that supplanted the former Mantra Lounge at 1905 E. North Ave. The split-room space blends the laid-back elegance of a lounge with the showmanship of a large-scale club.

The goal, says Decibel co-owner Drew Deuster, is to give people more than just a club experience. “People can come in seven nights a week and just have a drink.”

Nearly a decade after the opening of Tom Tom, the club revolution continues. “Ten years ago, if someone said we would be where we are today, I would be like ‘No way,'” says Moct owner Nebi Torbica. But now, Torbica is convinced, “things are just going to keep getting better.”