The Savage Garden

I’ve been to goth clubs all over North America. This one was the most pompous, rude and off-​putting club I had ever tried to frequent. I am glad they closed their doors.

I used to call this place the ATM disposible slot because only white slips of goths goes into this place.
Over the years I got sucked into this mini-​vortex several times, thanks to encouraging white friends in black. Each time though, I immediately find myself too embarrassed to stay. Bad murals of «tortured souls» tangled in barb wire abound. Some décor elements looked to have been inspired by Velvet Underground.
Then they made this HORRIBLE move, 10 YEARS TOO LATE, to paint 3 HUGE random Chinese characters onto the walls of the dance floor. The characters roughly *ahem* translated to «life, speed, body», but the character «speed» was painted on BACKWARDS.
And some of the crowd they attract… YEESH. The Crow-​style CRYING MASCARA look on MEN. And there’s more than one of them! How about 5 more? You’d think they had to show up early before all the dark corners are taken.
I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry ~ because when I am amongst people in this club, I feel so alone.

okay, forget the fact that the name is shared by a sub-​par nineties ambiguous rock pop band. or maybe not. but i remember stopping in here briefly every now and then as it is conveniently nestled near to several other great bars such as the velvet underground and the bovine sex club. it has a fantastic, industrialesque ambiance, fantastic drink specials and if my memory serves me correctly, reasonable drink prices. the crowd is mostly leather and pleather clad with frighteningly tall boots, although it seems everyone is welcome. i think there is an occasional cover, which is also reasonable. nice lighting, or lack thereof. which is my general lighting preference when it comes to any watering hole. and this is a downright fine one.