'The Roar of L'Amour'

TWISTED SISTER - How they wound up at the venue 

A story on the beginning of hard rock and metal at L'Amour actually begins at another Brooklyn disco that tried rock music called ... 2001 Odyssey (famously known for Saturday Night Fever)

Longtime L'Amour bouncer/security James Gheida told me the story.

Sometime in early 1980, Gheida went to see tri-state legends Twisted Sister at a club called Speaks in Island Park, NY.

At the show he heard Dee Snyder say that "no club in the heart of disco-land had the balls to book them".

Gheida immediately realized this was an opportunity to do something.

At the time, he was working with 2001 trying to bring more rock bands to the venue because the disco scene was dying.

He immediately went to Big Sal Valvo (Twisted Sister security) and asked to speak to Dee and Joe Gerber (manager) about the possibility of booking them in the home of Saturday Night Fever.

You see TS had a song called 'Rock and Roll Saviors' which included a line "disco will die" ... PERFECT.

Dee and Joe agreed and Gheida went immediately to club owner Charlie Rusinek and booked a date for June 1980.

Around the same time L'Amour, was also hurting to draw as a disco and Gheida looking to expand his reach talked to owners George and Mike Parente about coming to see Twisted as his guest, so they could witness for themselves what Gheida thought was the future.

The night comes and George and Mike get to the door and they weren't allowed in. Venue was sold-out and the staff guestlist was not honored.

Gheida witnessed this and made sure they were comped and left the L'Amour brothers alone to witness the carnage.

They noticed that the venue took out the seats and that there were so many people packed in that 2001 ran out of a lot of liquor by the end of the night.

George and Mike smelled money.

L'Amour had a higher capacity, and they witnessed the "drinking" that the TS crowd was doing.

These were not local dancers, drinking one drink and dancing all-night. These were 20-something rockers (mostly male) looking to pay to get drunk and go crazy.

Outside of Dee putting a mic stand through a ceiling tile, the show went off without a hitch and L'Amour owners realized a change needed to be done in their venue.

Gheida eventually left 2001 and was hired to do security at L'Amour and worked with the owners through-out all the ventures.

This was Gheida's story (as told to me), but whenever George told me about the early days, he always mentioned this as a pivotal moment in club history. 

So, it all began in another Brooklyn disco trying to morph into rock, but it was L'Amour that took it to another level.

Chuck Kaye

Ah Yes Indeed

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"Most of the stories on L'Amour I call BS on. I never seen Chuck Kaye write a word that wasn't true" 

- James Gheida  ( L'Amour employee for four decades)