Max's Kansas City
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Max's Kansas City was a nightclub (upstairs) and restaurant (downstairs) at 213 Park Avenue South, between 17th and 18th Streets, in New York City. Opened by Mickey Ruskin (1933-1983) in December 1965, it was a hangout for artists and sculptors of the New York School, sculptor John Chamberlain, Robert Rauschenberg and Larry Rivers, whose presence attracted hip celebrities and the jet set, and also a favorite spot of Andy Warhol's entourage. The Velvet Underground played their last shows with Lou Reed at Max's in the summer of 1970. It was homebase for the shortlived Glitter rock scene that included David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and, of course, Lou Reed. This was the first place many bands began their careers. Bruce Springsteen played a solo acoustic set there in the summer of 1972. Both Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played their first New York City gigs there. Bob Marley & The Wailers opened for Springsteen there at the beginning of Marley's career, in 1973.
In the 1970s, Max's Kansas City became one of the birthplaces of punk rock, featuring bands like Cherry Vanilla, The New York Dolls, Blondie, The Ramones, The Misfits, The Dictators (who were falsely rumored to have been banned from playing there), Wayne County, The Fleshtones, and Patti Smith, as well as out-of-town bands in the same vein such as The Runaways and The Damned. After the breakup of the Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious played many of his solo gigs there.
Max's Kansas City's popularity declined after pop art had transformed into punk rock, and the legendary establishment closed in December 1974. The club reopened in 1975 under new ownership. Max's closed its doors for good in 1981. The building is still there. For several years the ground floor housed a Burger King, and it now houses a deli.
[edit] Further reading
- Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin, High on Rebellion Inside the Underground at Max's Kansas City (1998). Yvonne established the Max's Kansas City Project in 2001, in memory of the late Mickey Ruskin who fathered two of her children. To honor the spirit inherent in Mickey's philosophy of helping artists in need, the Max's Project, a 501C3 non profit provides emergency funding & resources for individuals in the arts in crisis and empowers teens through the arts www.maxskansascity.org
"The max's kansas city stories" Tony Weinberger Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill [1971] Description: 190 p. 22 cm. CALL NUMBER in Library of congress: PS3573.E393 M3
