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(Yes, that’s Bjork!)

Does anyone remember Michael Alig?  Oh, come on, you must: legendary club promoter?  Leader of the infamous “Club Kids”?  Inspiration for the movie Party Monster?  Currently imprisoned due to murdering, injecting with Drano, & dismembering Andre “Angel” Melendez, resident drug dealer at The Limelight?

The Michael Alig who, while in prison said, “I know why I blabbed. I must have wanted to stop me. I was spinning out of control. It’s like the old saying ‘What do you have to do to get attention around here – kill somebody?”

—Michael Alig Yes, you remember him.  He was a mess.  The Limelight was a mess, too.  Located in the former Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion on Sixth Ave., it was the club to end all clubs.  With a dance floor designed by H.R. Giger, marble crypts on display & a VIP area created from a repurposed chapel, it was the stuff of myth.  It was the first port of call for anyone seeking recreational drugs.  The mix of club kids, goths & ravers made for a multi-colored, flailing, clove-scented cornucopia of sin, decadence & depravity.

But times change, & after Michael Alig was arrested, & owner Peter Gatien was arrested multiple times (first on drug charges, then for tax evasion, before he fled to Canada), the club was shuttered in 2001.  It was reopened as Avalon in 2003, but closed for good in 2007.  The church has sat empty since then, a cold stone monument to the passing of time.

Until this month.  On Friday, the Limelight reopened — as the Limelight Marketplace, a collaboration between Jack Menashe (former owner of Soho club Lounge) & designers James Mansour & Melisca Klisanin.  Billed as a “three-storied shoppers’ paradise”, it has had a complete makeover.  Most of the original structure of the church has remained intact, & very few clues as to its notorious history have remained.

Described by Jack Menashe as “Disney World meets Manhattan”, you’d be forgiven for feeling a little wary about the deconsecrated space, but it’s clear that the new owners are intent on attracting a new kind of clientele.  With fewer crystals stuck to their face.

As well as upscale vintage shopping & a peak season green market, there are also some well-known stores like Havaianas, Hunter Boots & LeSportsac.  Artisanal candy is not dead at the Limelight Marketplace — It’s Sugar is a Wonka-tastic candy store which sells the world’s biggest gummy bears (5lbs each & $40).  Be sure to come hungry: in addition to the world’s biggest gummy bears, the space also contains a new Grimaldi’s location, a sit-down cocoa bar, cupcake, cookie & brownie specialty stores, among others.

Go & have a rummage.  But leave your jumpsuit that shoots fireworks at home.

Words by Gala Darling with photos by http://www.flickr.com/photos/firepile and http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephiblu

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