I ruled ManRay once upon a time. Long before 80's night, there was the actual 80's. 1988-1990 to be specific. Every Wed, Fri, and Sat night, I would put on one of my mock turtle neck shirts, a pair of my Girbaud jeans (black, green, or even white), and my black jacket (there were several second hand clothing stores that had racks of them). And then I would walk over from my killer grad student pad in one of the towers along the Charles River. I had become pretty friendly with the tall doorman and his girlfriend and would chat with them for a bit. The cover at that time was pretty minimal. I think it was free on Wed and maybe $3 on the weekends? Not sure about that. Once inside, I would head straight back to the alternative room. The front "quiet" room was for those occasional times when you would actually want to have an extended conversation. And the more disco room off to the right was for those nights when things were especially slow or picked over in the alternative room. I would fire up a Camel light and order a Corona with lime or if the mood struck me a White or Black Russian. The curly haired bartender was my buddy also and always hooked me up pronto, no matter how busy the place. I always arrived on the early side. When I say I ruled, I mean it. Haha. Many many nights people would be standing around waiting for the dance floor to get going. I would step up and get that baby going in a matter of minutes. Pubic Image Limited, The Smiths, Morrissey, Depeche Mode, Suzi and the Banshees. That was the music. I was 23 and all of the women of Boston were mine! Haha. Well maybe not all, but enough. I was at the top of my game. Chicks who were supposed to be out of my league were under my spell with the ManRay DJ behind me and the dance floor under me. I get misty eyed now thinking about all of the beautiful women I met at ManRay. Nobody told me that it wouldn't last forever!! Those were hands down, the best two years of my single life. By the end of those 100 visits to ManRay, I had so many phone numbers on matchbooks, coasters and napkins, that I had a whole drawer devoted to them. At 1am they would close but give you a free pass to Ground Zero on Mass Ave and there we would dance to Public Enemy and the Cult until closing at 2am.
If anybody has any memories from those years at ManRay, please post them. I'll add this to my favorites and check it once in a while.
RIP ManRay. My favorite address ever. read more