quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN At least here in Cali, any building which can accommodate 50 people or more has to have a sprinkler system. But the again, with places like the ghost ship haven't been brought up to code so there's still no protection.

Yes, that code certainly helped the people this thread is about.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN I've been in venues though that were deathtraps. One of my favourites clubs when I was a 15/16 was Labyrinth in Hackney Dalston. It's name was no mistake; it had at least a dozen rooms of varying size spread over a brick victorian commercial building a ton of little corridors and stairs. It did have several fire escapes but fuck, thinking back that place would have killed dozens if it had ever gone up in smoke.

Don't worry, it's been replaced by a Starbucks (though it's Dalston, so they haven't labeled it a Starbucks) and a 'luxury' apartment complex now, with one tower fittingly named 'Labyrinth Tower.'

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It's terrible and brings back bad memories.

Since New Year's night 2001 a lot changed over here regarding safety:

The Volendam New Year's fire was a café fire in the Dutch town of Volendam in the 2000–2001 New Year's night. The fire began early on New Year's Day 2001 and caused the death of 14 young people. There were in all 241 people admitted to hospital, 200 of whom suffered serious burns.
People were taken to hospitals all over the country and even to Belgium and Germany.
The fire took place in a building where three cafés were located. On New Year's Eve the cafés were packed with more than 350 young people between 13 and 27 years of age when a short blaze happened in the café De Hemel ("Heaven") which was located on the top floor after a sparkler hit Christmas decorations that hung from the ceiling. The temperature in the room reached 400 °C (752 °F). There was great panic and the heat, lack of oxygen and people falling over each other made escaping extremely difficult. There also were bars in front of the windows and there were too few emergency exits, all of which contributed to the high number of injuries.

I guess this survivor shows why there's little to joke about :
https://youtu.be/4mB4fpkUaQU?t=1398

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quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN Ugh, that's awful. I honestly wonder what the fuck these people are thinking have full stage pyro in tiny venues with short ceilings. How the fuck were there no sprinklers?

Illegal/improper use of pyrotechnics is the cause in a huge number of these deadly venue fires. This blaze in Oakland is slowly being attributed to an electrical fire, but beyond that, please, leave the damn fireworks at home or to the professionals.

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Turns out one of the women who died there was Finnish. What are the odds?

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quote:

Originally posted by Lews Yes, that code certainly helped the people this thread is about.

Well that's why you can't legally do any changes to a building without a permit (much as the bureaucracy drives me fucking nuts) and then that triggers outdated code requirements. There's no law that says you have to bring a building up to code if it stays in it's current usage, and that's why this guy will probably go to jail. It's a warehouse (fairly low code requirements), not a legal dwelling (fairly high code requirements) and certainly not an events venue (very high code requirements).

quote:

Originally posted by Lews Don't worry, it's been replaced by a Starbucks (though it's Dalston, so they haven't labeled it a Starbucks) and a 'luxury' apartment complex now, with one tower fittingly named 'Labyrinth Tower.'

Ugh. I went past it in summer and saw it had been developed. It looked more like one of those shitty "mixed usage buildings" with shops below and "luxury apartments" above, that looked ok for all of a year, then that ikea-like veneer of design that looked good to hackney council planning on paper looks like any banged up shopfronts with crappy block of flats above.

Didn't realize that it was a starbucks. Such a shame, that place had quite the history and was a listed building. Bob Marley played there several times, every major DJ in the Hardcore, Oldschool and DnB scene played there in the 90's.

I will admit it was rough as fuck getting to and from it, but it was a lot of fun.

I've read quite a lot about the Labyrinth in terms of its importance in the hardcore scene. Apparently one of the Prodigy's very first live shows was there.

How did the dozen small rooms thing work? Presumably not all of them were dancefloors?

I've been to Salon zur wilden Renate in Berlin which is a similar concept, a warren of tiny rooms and corridors. The majority of those had small bars or seating areas though.

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100% Silk artists Cherushii and Nackt confirmed dead in Oakland fire: https://t.co/1cjKs3PLgF

Cherushii

Building has not been inspected for 30 years. WTF

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I've read quite a lot about the Labyrinth in terms of its importance in the hardcore scene. Apparently one of the Prodigy's very first live shows was there. How did the dozen small rooms thing work? Presumably not all of them were dancefloors? I've been to Salon zur wilden Renate in Berlin which is a similar concept, a warren of tiny rooms and corridors. The majority of those had small bars or seating areas though.

That's true, I didn't know it at the time but the place was kind of fundamental to the hardcore, oldschool and early DnB scene. I was just a kid going to a rave, and honestly had amazing nights, if extremely munted nights there.

It's really difficult to describe because it was set over three pretty large floors and at least to my memory, while the main rooms weren't massive, it was spread out both vertically and horizontally. I remember the downstairs where you entered off the road, you literally walked past a couple of bouncers and right in to the first dancefloor, There were then at least 4 ways to leave that room, going to staircases or corridors to other rooms. The middle floor is something of a blur to me, but I remember the top floor being this brick warehouse style room that had brick or metal pillars which kind of created enclaves in the space. There were then at last 4-5 other smaller rooms that either had the main floor music piped in to or something else. One room was a wide set of stairs that went up to no where just a platform with a locked door to the side. That was typically a chillout. You could then leave the top floor via an old wrought iron staircase (fire escape) that took you all the way down to the garden outside. I always seem to remember hearing hardcore in the garden. Actually thinking about it, and maybe it had more to do with my specific point of time, the 20 or so times I went, it was mainly hardcore or oldchool, but this was the mid 90's and somewhat the peak (pre toytown) of hardcore and oldschool.

I don't ever remmebr the prodigy playing but every big name at the time was a regular fixture, Sy and Unknown, Slipmatt, Ellis Dee, 2badmice, Ratty, Hype, Ratpack, Kenny Ken, Andy C, Force & Styles, Scott Brown, Spinback, Producer etc.

It was all a bit messy in there to be honest, decks used to bounce about and the sound wasn't great but there was something pure and real about it. You didn't go all dressed up and there wasn't silly glowsticks (yet) so it was really just an indoor regular rave, in a fucking rough part of town. As cliched as it was, it was about just going out and having a great night; What's your name, where you from, what you on? There really wasn't any drama in there either.

There used to be this pub on the corner (I think it's a thai restaurant now?) that was a yardie/rudboy hangout. Us being weedy little white boys, had to sprint past it on the other side of the road or you were getting mugged, Ah, those were the days lol.