Hail the Taxi – Christina Dior celebrates the Taxi Club’s reprieve
Image: Gay Sydney stalwart, The Taxi Club will keep its doors open on Easter Sunday and beyond after announcing that it will continue to trade after April 8.
Gay Sydney stalwart, The Taxi Club will keep its doors open on Easter Sunday and beyond after announcing that it will continue to trade after April 8.
The club was thrown a lifeline by an offer to amalgamate with an as yet unknown second club.
The Taxi Club’s General Manager Michelle Mancini told
City Hub the party planned for Easter Sunday has turned from a commiseration to a celebration.
The Taxi’s members and supporters will experience an Easter resurrection of a different kind, with a weekend long party.
“At the moment we are continuing to trade while we investigate the best way to do this.
We’re not going to close on the 8th, we’re going to continue trading.
We’ll take it step by step after that, but it’s all looking really good,” Ms Mancini said.
“Our planned party for the closing night, Easter Sunday, is now a celebration of the resurrection of The Taxi.”
Since The Taxi announced its closure on March 9 2012, there has a been a flurry of public interest.
“Since we announced we were closing, it was all very sad and everyone was quite upset. After we decided to stay open, Facebook’s gone wild, there’s been a lot of positive comments. People have been telling us how great it is. It’s all very positive,”
“It really is an icon and an institution that really needs to be saved and at this stage the amalgamation does look like it’s going to happen.”
Ms Mancini would not divulge which club The Taxi would be amalgamating with until it had consulted with its 3,200 strong membership.
“I can’t really say at this stage, until we get to the next point and our members are told.
We need to call a general meeting as well,” she said.
After its announcement of closure, the club said: “An approach was made from another club expressing an interest in an amalgamation arrangement.
Following lengthy discussions, meetings and correspondence, the club’s board has decided to pursue this arrangement.”
The statement reassured The Taxi’s members and supporters that the club’s unique nature, namely its status as an LGBTI friendly nightclub, would not change.
The 55 year-old club, formerly known as The Grosvenor, started as an allhours social venue for taxi drivers.
The Taxi Club was unique in conservative 1950s Sydney as one of the few places open 24 hours.
“It started out as being the only late night venue and that really attracted all sorts of people. It had a really great mixture which is what the club’s known for, it’s diversity,” Ms Mancini said.
Over the years The Taxi Club, situated on Oxford Street’s doorstep, had a special following amongst the transgendered community.
Ms Mancini, herself a transgendered woman, said The Taxi Club had for decades provided a safe haven for trans people.
After a night of performances, drag queens and Les Girls would unwind with affordably priced meals and an affirming social scene.
“Because there was more transgendered people there, it made you feel safe and comfortable. For me when I found about The Taxi Club, as a transsexual, I could actually be me for the first time in my life,”
I was there every night of the week because I could be me and it felt comfortable and safe.
The Taxi’s 2012 near death experience is not the first time the club has flirted with closure.
Since 2006 the club faced declining revenues due to changed licensing laws and changes to smoking regulations which resulted in deteriorating poker machine income.
Demographic changes also contributed to a decline in what once was a thriving LGBT hub.
“There aren’t as many gay people living in that particular scene in Darlinghurst anymore.
People used to go out for a night out in the city. It’s not like that anymore.
People go to their local and there’s a lot more venues in the suburbs now,” Ms
Mancini said.
The Taxi Club encouraged former and current members as well as the LGBTI community to celebrate at its “Resuscitation/ Celebration Party Weekend” with DJ Jimmy Dee.
Drag acts including Christina Dior and Ophelia Shaft will cap off a long weekend of celebrations.
“Help us show we want The Taxi Club to stay!” Ms Mancini said.
By Alex Pittaway
