The Club King: My Rise, Reign, and Fall in New York Nightlife

A behind-the-scenes look at the meteoric rise and stunning takedown of a nightclub empire, by the man who held the reins.

Limelight, Tunnel, Club USA, and Palladiumthe cutting-edge, insanely successful, and notoriously decadent clubs that dominated New York Citys entertainment scene, their influences reverberating around the world. Across four decades, a single mysterious figure stood behind them all: Peter Gatien, the leading impresario of global nightlife. His clubs didnt follow the trendsthey created movements. They nurtured vanguard music acts that brought rock, house, grunge, hip-hop, industrial, and techno to the beautiful ones who showed up night after night to tear the roof off every party. But as Peter and his innovative team ramped up the hedonistic highs, Rudolph Giuliani was leading a major shift in the city. Under the guise of improving New York Citys quality of life, the club scene was targetedand Peter Gatiens empire became a major focus of the administration.

In this frank and gritty memoir, Peter Gatien charts the seismic changes in his personal and professional life and the targeted destruction of his nightclub empire. From Peters childhood in a Canadian mill town to the freedom of the 1970s, through the excesses of the 1980s and the ensuing crackdown in the 1990s, The Club King chronicles the birth and death of a cultural movementand the life of the man who was in control of every beat.