The CIRCUS stays in Town!!
La Pietra’s retirement plans are interrupted, but he’s not complaining
When we caught up with Gene La Pietra in early October, the clubland impresario said he was a day away from signing over this venerated Hollywood nightlife compound, including Circus Disco and Arena Nightclub, to a mixed-use developer for $62 million. Fliers were already circulating for a New Year’s Eve blowout at the 3,300-capacity Circus: The party was called “The Last Dance.”
La Pietra, who once coveted the mayor’s job when he was unsuccessfully pushing for Hollywood to become its own city, was looking forward to retiring after 33 years micromanaging the venues from a perch in front of Circus. Club-goers were abuzz: Not only was Circus the largest DJ-driven venue in town, but it was also a groundbreaking social experiment that welcomed gays, lesbians, minorities, and late-night ravers long before the rest of the city woke up.
But as the winter months came and went, Circus and Arena stayed open. L.A. Weekly even went so far as to call our journalism on the demise of the venues “premature.” We can hardly blame the competition for failing to conduct a follow-up with on-the-ground reporting, however. It seemed like every time we interviewed La Pietra outside the club it was pouring rain, bone chillingly cold, and downright dreary. (We still have notebooks with rain-blurred scribbling to show for it). This time we phoned the club owner. What he had to say wasn’t surprising. In the wake of the home-loan crisis, the real estate climate has gone from bull to bust since October. If only La Pietra could have gotten his hands on that $62-mil before the market sobered up. Of course, commercial real estate hasn’t entirely lost the plot in L.A. La Pietra says his door is always open but, for now, Circus and Arena live “for the long term.”
“At this point the economy doesn’t make sense,” says the 60-something. “There’s no reason in the world to expect any of these kinds of development projects to come to fruition.”
The idea, as he told me in October, was that the buyer would immediately raze and grade the property – 4 acres worth – in order to construct a massive mixed-use development that would likely include retail and housing. Asked if the developers got cold feet about the deal in the face of a softening economy, La Pietra said, “That’s probably it.”
“It didn’t go forward and that was it,” he says. “Nobody owes me an explanation.”
It’s too bad. La Pietra could have used the permanent vacation. He started Circus with a partner in 1974. It was a warehouse that they leased to hold occasional parties where gays and lesbians of color could come without hassle. (Some gay clubs in what is now West Hollywood wouldn’t allow Latinos and African-Americans). It was the right time, and Circus became a West Coast disco mecca. In 1990 La Pietra bought an ice factory next door and turned it into the more modern Arena. Both have become unofficial landmarks for dance music fans of all stripes. Circus was home to some of the earlier rave-like parties of the 1990s. Arena was the home of DJ Irene, who became the best-selling female DJ when it comes to mix-CDs. In 2000, Circus saw a new generation of clubbers come through its doors when Dave Dean introduced the European super-club concept to the region in the form of Giant.
Throughout the years, La Pietra has taken his punches: Critics have questioned his ability to take the pulse of club-land. In 2002, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and local cops raided Circus only a month after his Hollywood secession effort failed. Authorities claimed to have found prodigious amounts of ecstasy at the club, but they never brought charges against La Pietra; he says it was payback for his anti-L.A. campaign. Lately, super-clubs across Hollywood, including Avalon and Vanguard, have been giving the Circus/Arena compound a run for its money. But La Pietra always seems to thrive.
“At some point I’ll retire, there’s no question,” he says. “For now, we’re going to be here. Hopefully everybody’s happy with that.”
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