Club 6400

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Club 6400 (Sixty-Four Hundred) was a popular nightclub located at the corner of 6400 Richmond Avenue and Unity Drive in Houston, Texas. Named from its numeric address, it operated at the original location from May 29, 1988 until January 10, 1989.

6400 logo

It began as a Sunday night event at Hippo nightclub that targeted the 18 and up crowd. The playlist consisted of no top 40 dance hits and highlighted the obscure, playing industrial, synth-pop, new wave, goth, techno, EBM, new beat, house, and Hi-NRG dance. Not unusual as other Houston venues such as Xcess, Numbers, and NRG (among others) were already doing it. It was the first time it had come into the mainstream as local radio station KKBQ-FM (then top 40/CHR "93Q") hosted the premier with its first ever weekly live club mixshow called, 93Q Live On The Cutting Edge. It was an runaway hit for both "93Q" and Hippo. The Sunday night feature lasted only two weeks before the club management made the decision to make it available seven days a week (audio link to the announcement below). It was then that the venue was remaned Club 6400. A large "X" was placed over the former name that was printed on the canopy over the front door and the entrance was moved to the side of the building. The radio broadcast created a frenzy among high school aged kids and young adults in the Houston area for the music the club was pumping out over the airwaves every weekend. It wasn't unusual to find someone with a homemade recording of a Club 6400 broadcast blasting from a car or boombox.

The venue was gutted by fire in the early morning hours of Tuesday January 10, 1989. It was speculated that the club was no more. The Houston Post reported that various local clubs were taking action to reel in 6400's misplaced clientel by lowering their age requirements. By that evening KKBQ-FM was already announcing plans to supplement the coming weekends live broadcast by doing an in-studio mixshow called "The Music of 6400". The liners quipped that "The Hottest Club On The Planet just got too hot". All the while the clubs management were working to reopen at a temporary location to house 6400 until the venue could be rebuilt. Club 6400 reopened that very next weekend, just four days later, on Saturday January 14th, down the street at 6130 Richmond Avenue (previously Level One). KKBQ was on-location for the live broadcast. The first one-hundred people through the door received a piece of the old venue. 6400 continued at the temporary address through 1989 but only replicated the momentum of the original for a short period. The gutted building at 6400 Richmond was finally demolished in August to make way for the new building but by then it was too late. The "phenomenon" had run its course and KKBQ's 70 week agreement with the club was over in September. Club 6400 was gone by 1990.

The new building was completed in 1990 and opened under the name Back Alley. The location has seen success in various incarnations. Other clubs at 6400 Richmond Ave:

Texas Live (1991-1993)
Peter's Wildlife (1993-1998)
T-Town 2000 (1998-2004)
Club Planeta Bar-Rio. (2004-current)

(Little known fact: Most of the concrete slab that the old building stood on remains unaltered underneath the east part of the current building at 6400 Richmond Ave. The rest serves as an outdoor patio bar. If you look to the outer edge you will find the steps to the side entrance that once lead into 6400)

A few nightclubs on the Richmond strip attempted to capitalize on the memory of the club by having special 6400 themed nights. In 1993, Club Blue Planet at 6367 Richmond Avenue set aside Sunday nights for "6400" (this club was owned by 6400s former management). Polly Esther's Nightclub at 6111 Richmond Avenue held a "Tribute 6400" night on a monthly basis for a time.

Though the club existed for a short time, it had a lasting effect on the Houston club scene and live radio mixshows for years to follow, even to this day. It set the standard as to what music was preferred. "6400 music" also serves as a single term for the type of music the club played. Ask any Houstonian in their late 20's to mid-40's about it, or even ask a local dj (of the same age) to "play some 6400 music" they'll know exactly what you're talking about.