Set your Wayback Machine for the summer of 1977 boys and girls. Once upon a time on Planet Voenix there was a wonderful nightclub hidden away off an alley just south of Indian School Road on the east side of 16th Street. It went through a variety of incarnations and name changes over the years (Maggie’s, Moon’s Truck and lastly HisCo Disco), but regardless of what it was called, it was known among the “alternative lifestyle” crowd as the place to go dancing. It had a huge raised lighted dance floor, an enormous mirror ball suspended from the ceiling, and probably the best DJs this city had spinning at the time (Jack, Hubert, and Steve). It also had the strangest mural hanging over the dance floor, a thing that to this day I still don’t understand:
It was here that I first heard Donna Summer’s Once Upon a Time, Michael Zager’s Let’s All Chant, Cerrone’s Supernature, and in fact, most of the other huge hits of the disco era. Due to its popularity, the club also attracted a good share of rowdy, unruly patrons. Eventually they started receiving major complaints about noise and other nefarious activities from the neighbors that all too often resulted in police involvement and eventually forced its closure.
During the period that the establishment was “offline”, a good portion of the crowd (and several of the employees, including DJs Hubert and Steve) migrated to a smaller, newly-opened club called Bullwinkle.
Bullwinkle was located on the north side of McDowell, between 16th and 20th Streets. Nowhere near as large or as glitzy as HisCo had been, the music was still just as hot and the crowd just as interesting. I have several fond memories surrounding Bullwinkle, and remember it was there I first heard the B52s singing Planet Claire.
Almost from the moment it closed, rumors were swirling that HisCo was going to reopen. Some said they’d worked things out with the neighbors and that it would be back after a major remodeling at the original location. Others insisted they were moving somewhere else.
It turned out the latter was true, and HisCo was reborn about a year or so later at 36th Street and McDowell as Hotbods.
The dance floor, the sound system, the mirror balls—all had been relocated to a huge new home, and HisCo’s previous employees returned en masse. The same faces were once again behind the bar, and my friend Steve was once again in the DJ booth:
More of a “big city” club than anything the gay community on Planet Voenix had seen previously, Hotbods was immediately a force to be reckoned with. It not only siphoned the old HisCo crowd from Bullwinkle (which then reinvented itself as Trax, a levi/leather bar), but also pulled clientele from The Forum, both of which were nearly deserted for months after Hotbods opened. By this time, even though disco was officially declared dead, it still attracted a whole new generation of dancers eager to get down to what was now called “dance music”. Hotbods provided that in great abundance and flourished for many years afterward, but like all good things, it too had to come to an end. Sadly, after one or two other brief incarnations, the establishment eventually closed for good.
The building now houses a restaurant supply company. The old HisCo Disco is now an auto sound system supplier. Whenever I pass by either building I blink away a tear and think, “If those walls could only talk…”
(Originally published 8 October 2005.)
July 8, 2007 at 6:57 am
God, I love this post. The summer I was turning 16 (1983) my mom was suspicious of some of my new friends and secretly picked up the other extension when I was talking to one of them. Louis was a fellow Blondie fanatic and asked me if I wanted to go to a club that was playing Debbie Harry’s new single “Rush Rush.” Then he said, “Do you know what Hotbods is?” to which I replied, “No.” He then said, “It’s a gay bar.” My mom never confronted me directly about it but apparently went crazy cross-examining my older brother about my activities. (He told me about it thinking the whole thing was absurd and probably just a “Three’s Company” misunderstanding.) Sadly, I was still way too freaked out at that point and never made it there. When I turned 20 I finally started to venture out a bit and made it out to Connection and Al E. Gator’s (???) but all everyone could talk about was hot great Hotbods had been and how sad they were it had closed (for good) …
September 28, 2007 at 11:01 pm
I was a 16 year old girl and basically grew up at HisCo Disco, The Forum, Sportsman’s Lounge…basically 76-79. Those were great times, great friends, dancing. Everyone was welcome and our group was a mix of pretty much everything. Ross, Rhet, Dana, Mike, Carrie, Mark. Ohhhh the memories.
November 27, 2007 at 7:11 pm
WOW! Thanks Alexander for the memories! I too was there at Hisco Disco. Back then you had to be 19 years old to drink, and in 1977 I was 19. The first time I went to Hisco it was called Maggie’s. I was 17 in 1975 and we (my cousin Blane and I) would sneak out of our houses in Tempe and drive to Phoenix and sit outside the Casa De Roma, on north 16th street and watch the gay guys go in and out. One nite Blane got the nerve up (he is 2 years older) and went into the bar to check it out. They let him in. We heard of another gay bar on north 7th street, called the Sportsman’s Lounge. So we went, and after a few weekends of sitting in the car watching, we found out that you could be 18 and go into the club afterhours (1am) so we did. Wow, what an amazing sight, everyone dressed up in their finest Judy’s wear, platforms and the music. The first song I ever heard in a gay bay was Barry White’s “My First, My Last, My Everything” and “Get Dancin” by DiscoTex and the Sexolets, We heard about another club called Maggie’s on 16th street and Indianola. By now we had fake ids, so we could get into the club. I remember walking into that club one December night in 1976, and hearing Donna Summer’s “Try Me I Know We Can Make It” playing and seeing the white plexiglass lit dance floor. I was so intimidated by all the dancers and the Mexican dancers. I remember watching 2 guys dancing on the corner of the dance floor as you walk into the club. Their names were “Cheerleader Steve” cuz he was an ASU cheerleader and a gorgeous collegiate black guy named George. That began my “adult life.” I became one of the “dancers” of Maggies. There were dance contests all over the city at that time. By the way, Miss Matty’s Attic wasn’t at this location, Mattys Attic was up on 32st and Shea. But the discos of the time were Isadore’s at Town and Country Mall (str8) 20st and Camelback, Mabel Murphys, Thomas and Scottsdale roads, (str8), and the gay bars at the time were, NuTowne Saloon, Sportsman’s Lounge, Diamond Lil’s, Connection, and Casa de Roma. Phoenix was actually glamorous then. But the top club was Maggies. Jack Witherby was the DJ, and what people don’t know, is that bar broke alot of disco music onto the scene. I remember when Elton John and Kiki Dee came to the club, (in town in concert) and created quite a stir! I will never forget those days or the people; there was energy and glamor! It was the only time that Phoenix actually sparkled like a jewel in the desert! God Bless everyone then: Cheerleader Steve, Otis, George Sugar Daddy, Junior T (RIP), Ray D. , Kris W. , Hughes F, (rip), Roxy, David P, (rip), Sal T, (rip), Danny W. (RIP), WooWoo (RIP), Black Lloyd, White Darrell (RIP), Lisa R, Starr and April (RIP), Cheryl H, Kip and David, Denise A, CR, Mryna, Dragula, and all the queens!!!!! Bless! Indian Darrell