there's no such "Cat Scratch Club" in NYC

Since everyone has something to nitpick about in the nitpick-worthy (but still moving and enjoyable) film of RENT, here's mine: There is no such animal as the film's "Cat Scratch Club." I lived in Manhattan 24 years, during the heyday of this movie, and was out/about on the lower east side. Never have I -- or anyone I know -- seen such a club in those environs. Yuppies in 3 piece suits acting like it's "Scores?" Anywhere near Avenue A??

It's bizarre, because Mimi's act -- interpolated oddly into "Out Tonight" -- feels as if it's out of FLASHDANCE, not Rent (that expensive, high tech waterfall backdrop and the stairs ouf of SHOWGIRLS?! Downtown?) It's neither neighborhood nor era-specific. I always imagined Cat Scratch to be a hole in the wall, and her "act" hardly something that resulted in an evening of 20 tips.

If she worked in such a place, and was tipped accordingly, no matter how pricey her heroin habit, she wouldn't be a squatter.

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Updated On: 11/25/05 at 06:59 PM

I think we should open one! I have a cat that needs scratchin!

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While you are at it, tell me where Mark and Roger would find an apartment THAT huge in the East Village.

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It's like Friends! They never worked, but had those huge places!

I was gonna say...lofts and such--it was possible.

Well, Mimi DOES have a rather expensive drug habit, don't forget. Something tells me she would live in a bit of a slum like the one in Rent so she could keep her hobby healthy...

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I know what heroin cost back in the day (I knew more than my share of junkies) and I re-iterate, if she worked at an upscale club like that Cat Scratch thing in the movie, she wouldn't have lived in a squat -- she could have bought a pound a day and still afforded to live in a building with a doorman. There was no club like that in the East Village now or then. Columbus should have made it much much divier, but then what does he know or care about realism.

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yea..i thought it should have been grimyer (sp?).

Amazingly, The Pyramid is STILL there, although I haven't been in there in YEARS. I believe that they're still doing 1984 all these years later. Whenever I walk past on a Friday, the place looks packed (and from what I can tell glancing in from outside, it hasn't been renovated and looks exactly the same).

I think Columbus actually could have filmed many more of the exteriors in today's East Village. While yes, there are more upscale clubs, bars, cafes and restaurants, most of the neighborhood is still tenements (which now cost you $3000 a month to live in) and with a bit of creative art direction, could be dirtied up to look like the old days. While A & B are much more populated commercially than 15 years ago, many of the residential street blocks (6th between A and D, 7th through 12th between B & D, several streets between 2nd and Bowery) don't look all that different other than the occasional high rise that's popped up. Pyramid, 7A,Sidewalk, PS 122, are still there and unchanged and Mars Bar is still as nasty looking as ever. Why not film Maureen's performance art piece at Angel Oresanz that still looks the same as it has for decades (and hosts performance pieces to this day)?

Knowing the neighborhood inside out as I do, I found the film disorienting to look at -- especially the subway station next to Tompkins. Huh?

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Boy Bar became the staight rock club Coney Island High which closed down several years ago and they tore down that building and built a high rise with very expensive condos on that spot.

Wonder Bar went from a kitschy gay bar (with Monday night movies) to a cool lounge (with a DJ booth where the backroom used to be) owned by the people who own Starlight on A between 10th & 11th. They had a fight with the building owners a few years ago, refused to renew their lease and another group took it over, but I believe it died under the new management. I think it's still a bar, but I don't think it's gay.

Crowbar is now a restaurant I think (I passed it a couple of weeks ago and it's either a restaurant or a fancy bar).

And I'm sure you know the Tunnel Bar on 7th and 1st is a Gardening store.

One of my East Village addresses was on 11th between 1st & 2nd, over Veniero's bakery (1990 to 1994) and a couple of my best friends lived down the block on 11th between 1st and A. Huge place that they renonvated. You probably knew them or ran into them. Such fun memories. I remember going there for a pre-Wigstock party once -- lots of folks who didn't live so close to the park, waited to do their makeup and drag there for ease and safety reasons (and get help and costume ideas from everybody already there -- not to mention drink heavily before the festivities). What a truly insane group of people. I'm sure we were quite a sight when all of us (25+) descended on the park en masse.

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I hesitate to go here, but I am fairly knowledgeable on the subject of strip joints. NYC strip joints, even the "upscale" ones such as Scores, don't like anywhere near what was depicted in the movie. It was so far removed from the grim, gritty dehumanized NYC club that I almost think it should have been taken as much as a dreamscape (heroin induced?) as Mark's Tango Maureen vision.

Rosario looked goooood though.

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HAHAHHAHA
Just so you know... (movie trivia)

The Cat Scratch Club EXTERIOR:
6th and Mission, San Francisco, CA

The Cat Scratch Club INTERIOR:
The Crib (gay club on Thursdays)
City Nights (hip-hop club on Fridays), San Francisco, CA
(I've danced in those cages and on that stage before)

Updated On: 11/26/05 at 04:39 AM

that's true NackteRenner.
it isn't a documentary.
i think some of us were making honest observations.
especially those of us who lived in the area.
on the other hand some are just merely nitpicking.
it is *only* a musical.
and i remember Save The Robots!

i saw the movie again last night and the club really doen't look *that flashy* especially not "las vegas" flashy.
that's an exagerration.
i think the angles that number was shot in made the place look bigger than it actually was.

and why is it suddenly an issue that there really was no "cat scratch club" in nyc.
no one had an issue withit when it was on stage.
why is it an issue now just because it's a film?

Updated On: 11/26/05 at 08:05 AM