Straighten It Out with Larry Levan

Officers clamped down on after-hours venues in early 1983, using Arthur Weinstein as an informant. Dave Peaslee argued in Dance Music Report that choreographed closure of the city’s after-hours spots was motivated by a desire to move unwelcome populations out of gentrifying locations, with the official target of criminal activity a chimera. The analysis resonated as the local neighborhood association applied pressure on Michael Brody to close the Paradise Garage. Aware that the heating up of the real estate market made his eviction inevitable, David Mancuso began his own search for a new location in a less moneyed part of town. Both the Garage and the Loft continued to pack their dance floors. Behind the scenes, however, Levan began to test Brody’s patience to the breaking point as his unbounded lifestyle and additional undertakings threatened to compromise his basic DJ-ing responsibilities, prompting Brody to hire Brooklyn DJ David Morales to replace Levan for one weekend.