Remembering the ‘Studio 54 of Manila…
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Remembering the ‘Studio 54 of Manila’
https://philstarlife.com/style/546800-remembering-studio-54-manila
> I was a disco kid—what we used to call “laman ng disco.” My friends and I were always the first to hit the dance floor at Faces, Isis, and Stargazer, and the last to leave, usually ending the night with breakfast at The Peninsula or Rufus, the legendary tapsilog place.
>
> Some of my most memorable college nights were spent at Coco Banana, the legendary and highly influential Manila nightclub created by the flamboyant fashion designer Ernest Santiago (Santiago de Manila), affectionately known by his regulars as "Mother Taray." Widely remembered as the epicenter of Manila's gay, bohemian, and underground disco scene, Coco Banana opened on Philippine Independence Day, June 12, 1977, and was operational until the early ’90s.
"Coco Banana: Where Manila boogied the night away" (Sept. 29, 2013)
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/127963/coco-banana-where-manila-boogied-the-night-away/
> Originally, Coco was a ’50s-style residence with chuka tiles that proved perfect for doing the hustle or salsa. Soon it became the one and only place for Manila’s bohemian fashion set and café society, frequented by fashionistas, call boys, expatriates, drag queens and even old guard socialites like Chona Kasten, Mary Prieto and Chito Madrigal, who was Ernest’s patroness.
>
> Indeed, it defined the after-6 freedom of the city populace in the peak years of martial rule, and the party would continue until 1987.
"REMEMBERING COCO BANANA ] As we say goodbye to Malate as we know it" (Dec. 29, 2009)
https://theswankstyle.blogspot.com/2009/12/remembering-coco-as-we-say-goodbye-to.html
> How these become by nighttime Coco Banana, the most fabulous club in the history of Manila nightlife, is a transformation born out of the virtuoso hand of Manila’s Steve Rubell, Ernest Santiago, and the cast of characters he assembles every night. “You can’t be too straight or square if you want to be at Coco. Even society people—they have to be a little mad to dare enter,” remembers a former Malate club owner. But the people alone didn’t account for each evening’s high spirits: there were the music, the drinks and the drugs.
>
> The club was born in the era of disco and Donna Summer and, cliché as it may sound, the days of sex, drugs and rock and roll. “It was the first openly gay club in Asia,” says Louie Cruz who can’t remember if he was already wearing his off-the-shoulder blouses then. “But it was not just a gay ghetto,” offers Ricky Toledo, who started frequenting Coco as a student in Ateneo. It was the club to see and be seen, and during the Martial Law years, everyone’s fun, glamorous jailhouse of choice if you want to avoid the PC.
#ph #philippines #pinoy
source
https://philstarlife.com/style/546800-remembering-studio-54-manila
> I was a disco kid—what we used to call “laman ng disco.” My friends and I were always the first to hit the dance floor at Faces, Isis, and Stargazer, and the last to leave, usually ending the night with breakfast at The Peninsula or Rufus, the legendary tapsilog place.
>
> Some of my most memorable college nights were spent at Coco Banana, the legendary and highly influential Manila nightclub created by the flamboyant fashion designer Ernest Santiago (Santiago de Manila), affectionately known by his regulars as "Mother Taray." Widely remembered as the epicenter of Manila's gay, bohemian, and underground disco scene, Coco Banana opened on Philippine Independence Day, June 12, 1977, and was operational until the early ’90s.
"Coco Banana: Where Manila boogied the night away" (Sept. 29, 2013)
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/127963/coco-banana-where-manila-boogied-the-night-away/
> Originally, Coco was a ’50s-style residence with chuka tiles that proved perfect for doing the hustle or salsa. Soon it became the one and only place for Manila’s bohemian fashion set and café society, frequented by fashionistas, call boys, expatriates, drag queens and even old guard socialites like Chona Kasten, Mary Prieto and Chito Madrigal, who was Ernest’s patroness.
>
> Indeed, it defined the after-6 freedom of the city populace in the peak years of martial rule, and the party would continue until 1987.
"REMEMBERING COCO BANANA ] As we say goodbye to Malate as we know it" (Dec. 29, 2009)
https://theswankstyle.blogspot.com/2009/12/remembering-coco-as-we-say-goodbye-to.html
> How these become by nighttime Coco Banana, the most fabulous club in the history of Manila nightlife, is a transformation born out of the virtuoso hand of Manila’s Steve Rubell, Ernest Santiago, and the cast of characters he assembles every night. “You can’t be too straight or square if you want to be at Coco. Even society people—they have to be a little mad to dare enter,” remembers a former Malate club owner. But the people alone didn’t account for each evening’s high spirits: there were the music, the drinks and the drugs.
>
> The club was born in the era of disco and Donna Summer and, cliché as it may sound, the days of sex, drugs and rock and roll. “It was the first openly gay club in Asia,” says Louie Cruz who can’t remember if he was already wearing his off-the-shoulder blouses then. “But it was not just a gay ghetto,” offers Ricky Toledo, who started frequenting Coco as a student in Ateneo. It was the club to see and be seen, and during the Martial Law years, everyone’s fun, glamorous jailhouse of choice if you want to avoid the PC.
#ph #philippines #pinoy
source
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