Victoria Davis- Abad Staff
Whether it is disco balls shining down on the dance floor or colored lights strobing across the floor. There are people having fun with their friends or making new ones with strangers.
While the club scene has changed over the years in the Bayou Region, it has remained a place of entertainment for teenagers and adults alike.
In the past, night clubs were almost everywhere in the Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish area. Places like The Safari Club and The Greenhouse were once popular, but those places that used to bring in a huge gathering have disappeared into almost nothing.
The Safari served beer and mixed drinks to everyone who came to party in Galliano. It was set up right across the bayou, but a fire broke out during its prime time in 1977, burning the building to the ground.
After the fire, a new disco club opened in The Safari’s place known as The Big Apple.
“It was like Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta,” says Claudia Spencer, a Larose resident.
"It was like Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta."
As people moved on from disco, The Big Apple changed its theme from disco to country and started doing more events to draw in the young adults. All that remains today is concrete that is used for parking.
The Greenhouse became a club for young adults in Cut-Off in 1982. The club had themed nights that it became known for, but it closed in 2012 due to lack of maintenance.
Lee Brother’s Dance Hall was a small building in Cut-Off where many people danced the night away; but now it stands abandoned on the side of the highway with boarded windows and holes in the ceiling.
Even though there have been multiple clubs that have closed down, there still are some today that draw in crowds.
As the years have changed, so has the club scene. Old clubs catered to a specific audience with disco clubs or bands with live music. The clubbing scene has dropped because of several factors.
WHAT HAPPENED?
In 2015, New Theory Magazine said the reason why the clubbing scene is decreasing is a lack of revenue because the newer generation does not go to clubs as often as the older generation.
In January 2023. The National Public Radio covered a story of a shooting in a Louisiana nightclub that injured a dozen people. With certain violent incidents like shootings happening in nightclubs, the customers would not feel as safe going back to the nightclub.
Another factor could be the location of said nightclubs. When people think of nightclubs, they will think of the heavily populated city of New Orleans. When people search clubs in Louisiana on Google, the ones that get the most attention are the clubs located in the big city.
Not many people would remember the nightclubs that the Bayou Region has to offer. Although some of the nearby nightclubs will stand out to the young adult crowd in the area.
Halftime and Androgyny are clubs that are available for young adults. Halftime is a popular club for college kids in Thibodaux and Androgyny is a night club in Houma that has special themed nights for visitors along with drag queen performances.
Miranda Danos, a Nicholls student, said. “Androgyny is a great club, and I think it really helps foster the LGBTQIA+ presence in this area.”
Although the past clubs have disappeared with only memories left behind, the clubbing scene will not vanish into obscurity because people, no matter how young or old, want a place to dance and hang out with their friends.
