When was the last time you boogied in a nightclub that enshrined a Veg-O-Matic and a vest from Sonny Bono? Or invited you to watch 1970s TV commercials in a quasi-“Brady Bunch” living room?
Welcome to Groovy, the campy ’70s brainchild of Joe Bortz, whose Bortz Entertainment Group has spawned such concepts as Blue Suede Shoes and Sally’s Stage.
“We consider ourselves to be producing interactive plays for people that can literally come out and be part of the environment,” Bortz says. “They first are kind of amazed, then they get the spirit of it.”
Hey, man, ready for a trip back in time? Here’s a tour of what you will find at the recently opened club at 1190 E. Dundee Rd. in Palatine:
– Hop the psychedelic Volkswagen bus (above right) that is sliced in half (with the Veg-O-Matic?). The bus is parked beneath posters of John Travolta, Charlie’s Angels and Kiss and between tie-dyed window shades.
– Scurry past the distortion mirrors (one makes you look fat) plucked from Riverview Park in the ’70s to peer at shelves of classics such as a Six Million Dollar Man lunch box, a Farrah Fawcett button, Popeil’s Pocket Fisherman, a Smiley Face candle and a 1972 National Star newspaper headline: O.J. Says He’ll Do It Again. (“It” refers to winning the Heisman trophy; what did you think?)
– Next stop is the wallful of Lava Lites that happily ooze red, orange, aqua and green globules. Somebody’s mother’s orange shag carpeting backs the display.
– If you can get past the working Galaga, Donkey Kong, Centipede and Ms. Pac-Man video games, feast your eyes on the LPs and 8-track tapes from the Partridge Family, Billy Jack, Olivia Newton-John and Village People.
– Old centerfolds (yeah, they age too) hang on the men’s room walls. But the real thrill — a streaker — lurks in the ladies’ room. Pull the rope that yanks his trench coat open and . . . Whoa! Was that an alarm, and does everyone in the club know what you just did?
– Strut your stuff on the flashy dance floor complete with the kind of sunken light squares you last saw in “Saturday Night Fever.”
– Time to get a drink at the blacklight bar up front. Or visit the magazine bar in back. Magazine bar? Just lean on the lime-green-bordered bar and look down deep into the eyes of . . . Farrah. Donny. Shaun. These and other famous faces, snipped from vintage magazines, are set into the bar.
But if all you remember of the ’70s was being in diapers, know this: It’s fun to stay at the YMCA while workin’ at the carwash, yeah.
Just don’t ask about muskrat love. It’s not possible to explain.
