For teenagers, finding a place to dance, see a good rock band or meet new people can be a real drag.
With taverns and even many concert halls off limits, youths are often relegated to doing the same old things: school sporting events, movies or, with luck, a party at a friend`s house.
The cries of ”There`s nothing to do!” have been heard, however, and now answered. In just the last few years, several dance clubs strictly for teens have opened, and a number of adult bars have set aside weekend evenings for the under-21 crowd. And while each club has its own atmosphere and attitude, there`s one similarity: They`re all crowded with teenagers having fun.
”Coming here is better than going to parties,” says Lake Park (Roselle) High School student Joanne Schultz, 18, who spends many of her weekend nights at Discovery in Elgin, a huge club that caters to those ages 13 to 20.
Amid lights and a large-screen television airing videos, teens dressed in mini-skirts, black leggings and M.C. Hammer-style harem pants are dancing, wandering along the outskirts of the floor, sitting at patio tables and playing pool and video games. The myriad speakers pump out deejay-spun music consisting of everything from The Romantics` ”That`s What I Like About You” to Vanilla Ice to the latest house-mix import scrounged from specialty dance music stores.
The Discovery crowd is mostly teens 16 and older, simply because getting there requires a car or a willing driver. Jennifer Staigen of East Aurora and Jim Martin of Elgin, both 17, met at Discovery in August and have been coming back ever since.
”You can meet a lot of people here,” Staigen says. Rob Starks, 19, of Aurora, agrees adding that he comes ”to see the women in nice clothes.”
Co-owners Chuck Weissmueller and Michael Matara opened Discovery in 1988 in an unused tennis and raquetball facility in the unincorporated area of Elgin near Gilberts.
”We wanted the kids to have a place to go,” explained Weissmueller. ”I had done something like this a long time ago and I wanted to prove it could be done here.”
Considering that anywhere from 700 to 1,000 people show up every weekend, Discovery is a success.
”People were skeptical,” Matara recalled. ”It took a lot of convincing that having so many teens in one area wouldn`t cause trouble. The county believed in the project, however, and gave us their support.”
Instrumental to a good reputation for teen clubs is security. At Discovery, three Kane County sheriff`s police officers are on duty along with 18 of the club`s own security personnel who routinely walk the dance area and parking lot.
”If parents want to check out the place, they can simply call up the police department. A lot of them send their own kids here,” Matara said.
Kane County sheriff`s police Sgt. David Barrows, who signs up for regular door duty at Discovery, noted that his 16-year-old daughter comes to Discovery but ”not if I`m here.”
When on club duty, Barrows checks all the entrants with a metal detector before they are allowed in. Dancers also have to check their jackets so nothing can be concealed.
”The only problems we`ve ever had are boy-girl fights,” added Kane County sheriff`s police officer Dan Lorang, ”and you get those everywhere.” Security is a main concern for any club that has all ages nights, said Steve Kalbach, owner of Stay Out West in Hanover Park. Kalbach, who has a 15- year-old daughter and 17-year-old son, decided two years ago that he should make Sundays an all-ages affair.
Unlike the dance crowd at Discovery, however, most of the Stay Out West regulars are self-proclaimed ”metalheads” who listen to hard rock and come to see the live bands.
Elk Grove residents Julie Hill, 17; Destiny Lepgold, 16; Liz Kose, 16;
and Jennifer Young, 17, come once or twice a month, depending on which groups are performing that night. Like most of the crowd at Stay Out West, the four friends play in a band together.
”My parents don`t mind if I come here,” Lepgold explains. ”They know it`s no drinking.”
The crowded area at Stay Out West is filled with barstools and tables and is strictly no dancing-by choice.
”No way,” says Hill when asked about dancing. She wears ripped jeans and wild hair like most of the group who favor loudly played music by Guns `N Roses and Metallica.
Several adults with graying hair also dot the audience at Stay Out West. ”Those are the parents who come to see their kids in the band,”
explained owner Kalbach. ”They always ask me, `No drinks for anyone? Not even me?` But I don`t care if they`re 90. They can`t get a drink here on Sunday night.”
Kalbach opened Stay Out West as a training ground for young bands, most of them made up of high school students.
”We`ve got a lot of good local bands and this is a chance for them to perform,” he said. ”The crowd is definitely different from a dance crowd. This is the band crowd.”
Kalbach also enforces security measures: The club closes by 10:30 p.m. so the patrons can be home before curfew and no one can leave and re-enter the club.
”We don`t want anyone partying in the parking lot,” he explained.
”Their parents think they are inside; so we try to make sure they are.”
At McGregor`s in Elmhurst, the scene is similar, with bands varying from classic rock covers to tribute bands (groups that look and act like a particular famous band) and hard rock music.
”We`ve had as many as 500 people here on all-ages nights,” said manager Perry Morris. ”It`s a good way to keep the kids off the streets and let them have fun.”
McGregor`s has held all-ages nights on Sundays for five years, although special sporting events or activities for the regular bar can cause the teen show to be canceled. When there is an all-ages night, the teen room is separate from the regular bar, and only juice and pop is offered. The vast room houses a small stage in a back corner and the long pop bar and scattered tables are equipped with stools for the concert-goers.
”We get more of the kids who like to see live bands rather than dancing,” Morris said. ”You could say we get the long-haired kids.”
The latest addition to the area`s teen scene is The Cellar, which opened in Warrenville in September. Open only on weekends, The Cellar offers occasional live performances by dance music artists and deejayed house and Top-40 music.
Owner Vijay Puniani opened the club when his 16-year-old daughter Ambika complained she and her friends had nothing to do.
”It was her idea and now she and her friends work here on weekends,”
Puniani explained. ”They love it.”
Because of its easy drop-off location in downtown Warrenville, many of the regulars at The Cellar are as young as 13, although plenty of 17- and 18- year-olds hang out there. At The Cellar, the attendees dress more casually in sweats and jeans, but they take their dancing seriously.
”It`s always fun to come here with friends,” says Jean Brannan, 17, of Buffalo Grove, who shows off the latest dance steps with a group of well-choreographed guys and gals.
Fourteen-year-old Phil Rivera of Bolingbrook also comes to The Cellar when, he says, ”there`s nothing to do.”
Marc Bohnert, 20, of Aurora, sums up The Cellar in few words: ”Friends, music, girls.” Bohnert, like many of The Cellar`s crowd, also goes to Discovery.
Puniani estimated that anywhere from 250 to 400 people show up and said the number is growing as more people find out about the new club.
”In the beginning, I received many calls from parents,” he recalled.
”Some even came over to check out the place and make sure there was no alcohol served.”
Puniani said safety is his main concern for the club: ”If it`s not safe, it won`t be fun.” The Cellar employs eight in-house security personnel and two local off-duty police officers who frisk all entrants for weapons, drugs, liquor or gang paraphernalia. So far, he saids, there has not been a problem. At Toto`s in Schaumburg, the security procedures are the same except more officers are employed as the club holds as many as 1,500 people.
”We`ve got five uniformed officers with two squad cars visible; so a person would have to be crazy to start trouble here,” said manager Greg Owen. The parked squad cars are visible from the moment teens enter the long line that leads into Toto`s door, which is draped with a striped circus tent. Inside the club, the carnival motif is continued with circus mirrors, umbrella tables and a dance floor with enough lights to rival a spaceship. Outside the fenced-off dance floor, cliques gather at tables along the sides to watch the dancers. A live deejay plays house music.
On teen Sundays, Toto`s allows only those over 17 to enter so the crowd is older and dresses more provocatively than at other clubs. Although the dress code specifies no concert T-shirts, tennis shoes or gang colors, the patrons are far too fashion-conscious for any of those things.
The girls sport big hair and a variety of outfits, including such staples as halters topped with jackets, tube skirts, thigh-high boots and denim shorts over leggings.
The guys tend to dress in black and wear their hair short on top, long in back and shaved on the sides.
One patron jokes: ”They must have a sale on the haircut at the salon next door.”
Dennis Ostrowski, 21, of Wood Dale, comes to Toto`s because he ”likes hip-hop music and most of my friends aren`t old enough to go to bars yet.”
Jamaul Greene, 18, who lives in Arlington Heights, comes strictly for the girls. ”I try to stay away,” he says, ”but when you hear some awesome girl`s gonna be here . . . well, you know.”
Greene, who works as a salesman at a trendy men`s store in Woodfield, also comes to show off his snazzy attire and dance moves. ”I get excited when I hear hip-hop,” he explains.
Dance music is also the big attraction at Crazy Rock in Romeoville. Inside this two-story bar, the dance floor is crowded on its Friday and Saturday teen nights.
”The people come here from all over,” said manager Janet Richards, who with her hip clothing and blond hair is barely distinguishable from the customers. ”We have one guy who drives an hour from Indiana every weekend.” For almost nine years, Crazy Rock has hosted its weekend teen dances, quite a change from the usual bar business, which includes ”Harley Night” on Wednesdays.
Steve Zujey and Gerald Rosenbaum, both 17 and from Cicero, have been coming to Crazy Rock for several months.
”It`s good when you can come to a place like this,” explains Rosenbaum. ”When there`s drinking, kids could get into accidents and get hurt.”
When Tracy Hogan, 15, of Lockport wanted to come to Crazy Rock last year, her mom called to make sure the bar was closed on teen nights. Now, with her mother`s approval, Hogan is there nearly every weekend. ”Everyone hangs out here and it`s the best place to learn new dances,” Hogan says as she moves to the beat.
A variety of music, centering on the latest dance music straight off MTV, is played. Although house music is played, Crazy Rock doesn`t play as much rap or hip-hop as Toto`s, which seems to satisfy the attendees.
”They play the best music here,” say Kim Powers, 16, of Mokena and Mike Jungles, 19, of Romeoville.
Two squad cars stake out the driveway at Crazy Rock and security inside is tight as well.
”We watch for any gang symbols or baseball caps turned different ways,” explained the doorman known to all as Tex because of his obvious accent.
”There`s basically no problems. We`ve had a couple of girl cat fights. You`d be surprised at how they go at it.”
Although the under-21 clubs are typically crowded, it`s not easy for them to survive.
Charles Martinez of Party People Productions/Midnight Illusion, a music and light production company that has hosted teen shows at Toto`s, The Cellar, Crazy Rock and other clubs, said community politics play a part in a club`s survival.
”A lot of towns don`t want large groups of teenagers gathering at clubs,” he said. ”They don`t want them to drive in from other towns too far away, and they don`t want them to smoke in the clubs. But if a town puts too many restrictions on the club owner, the business won`t survive.”
Martinez has been able to generate large crowds at clubs he has worked with as long as the security is tight and the community restrictions are reasonable, he said. In this situation, he said, eventually a club will find its crowd.
”It takes a lot of word of mouth by the kids,” he said. ”The crowds increase, but very slowly.”
