![]() The Atlantis attracted some of the most popular bands of the day. Sunday was designated “locals’ night.” Music was a big part of the club’s allure. “And there was a real sense of community.” “It was just high energy,” said Keith Duke, who was the nightclub’s first DJ and second-year manager. “I loved how you could just walk out the back door to the beach if you got too sweaty and hot,” said Laura Perkins Tripp, a marketing director in Richmond, Virginia.īut the summer set was not there for the décor they were in the club to mingle, drink and party like it was 1979. ![]() “Hotlantis,’ man it was hot in there,” said Robyn Dozier, a nurse who lives in Duck. The air-conditioning system, which consisted of four ceiling units, struggled nightly to keep the hundreds of club-hoppers cool. Spilled beer often left the floor sandy and sticky. There were bars at the back and front of the building and a dance floor, a section of an old skating rink, occupied a space in the front of the stage. “The only time I was there, a horse came in through the back door,” remembered Carlen Pearl of Colington. Walls were covered with red shag-carpet, bathrooms were functional at best, the stage was small and the ceiling was low. McQuillis left the building in the late ‘80s and it was later owned by Doug Kibler and Jerry Dowless at separate times.Ĭapacity was listed at about 300, but numbers often exceeded that. He did a few repairs on the building and christened his new nightspot the Atlantis Beach Club, which opened in the summer of 1979. The flat, blue-and-white, oceanfront building, next door to the old Footsball Palace, housed several short-lived nightclubs, including the Rain Dancer and the Oz, which closed in 1978.Įnter Mike McQuillis, a former Navy SEAL and one-time manager of Peabody’s Nightclub in Virginia Beach. Atlantis’s history is rich with stories, and maybe a few fables, about wild summer nights, flowing beer and top-tier bands pumping out rock, punk, reggae, rap, alternative and blues jams.Ītlantis’s history is rich with stories, and maybe a few fables, about wild summer nights, flowing beer – cans and bottles only - and top-tier bands pumping out rock, punk, reggae, rap, alternative and blues jams. It was only a rock ‘n roll joint, but we liked it. ![]() The Atlantis operated for a few years in the space now occupied by the New York Pizza Pub in Nags Head, but this story is about the original.įull disclosure: I worked as the house DJ in the summers of 1981 and ’82. Wrecking machines tore the roof off the sucker and made the walls come crumbling down in early 1996 after the building was heavily damaged during a coastal storm. ![]() The iconic Atlantis Beach Club, two lots south of the pier, was the go-to place for young folks looking to get their groove on from 1979 to 1995. Over the surf sounds and seagulls squawking, you might hear echoes of a bygone era on the Outer Banks. The next time you’re driving or walking along the beach road near the Nags Head Fishing Pier at milepost 12, stop and listen. ![]()
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