Tuesday, January 24, 2017

PI Update: Mannequins Shocking Photos!

The year 2013 was one where club demolitions were rolling across Pleasure Island.  By August, demolition walls had made their way up to the outside of Mannequins!  Meanwhile inside, 5 years after Cannalte & Peapod had closed the place down, time stood still!
An anonymous reader that year had provided the Blog with exclusive photographs taken inside MDP showed the the amazing revolving dance floor was still in there!
Behold the ahead-of-its-time light wall above the stage, the mirrored wall below it and the corner platforms that so many liked to watch the clubbers go by!

 A view looking over to the DJ booth upstairs and the main bar below it where Bobby C & Gordo used to ply their trade!
The more-or-less stripped &destroyed DJ / Tech booth!
Vantage point where I used to stand with a great view of the floor, stage and the hanging mannequins on the far pillar!
This side bar was Dawn's spot!
A record fragment.  Most all the music during the final years of Mannequins was played off CD's. Hard to believe that the closure took place before laptop computers, SD cards & memory sticks became the way most DJ's deliver music.
Sadly we now know what we didn't know in 2013 which is that Mannequins did not come back. And if you're age 28 or younger, you don't even know Mannequins!

15 comments:

meome said...

At Least my teenage boys got to see it, Thanks to RJ convincing security to let them in through the back upstairs entrance. They got to hang over the balcony and watch over the dance floor for a few songs. I just wish they could enjoy it now as adults.

KingBob said...

Thanks for sharing, Meome.

Anonymous said...

and I BET some still think that floor is still in! OR should I say UNDER a concrete floor!
NO WAY NO HOW any good builder would do that NO WAY you can make a floor that big with out supports. and with that floor it had TIRES to support it so in time they will need air and to be replaced!
I know some people will claim it never got taken out. OK how could it be still under that NEW floor? EVEN if the new floor that covers the round on be built? no matter how will need to be supported
So I would LOVE to hear this!

Anonymous said...

How about who really cares either way at this point....It's a floor!

Troy said...

I was in Morimoto the other day, talking to the manager about how people still debate about whether the floor is still there or not. He smiled, leaned in close, and said, "It's still there. Want to see it?"

I was shocked, of course. I mean, this was something we've been debating for years! The floor still there?! I nodded, unable to speak.

"Come back after we close," he said.

I walked around the area, remembering the days of Pleasure Island and how much it had changed. I could visualize Adventurers Club where the Edison is currently going, and though the smell of steaks filled the air near STK, I could almost hear the laughter from Comedy Warehouse...

Evening had come and gone, and most of the patrons had left the area, aside from a few cast members who remained for cleanup detail. When I arrived, the lights at Morimoto were dim, and it was dark on the inside; I was afraid the manager was just joking with me or had forgotten.

I had just turned to head back toward the Hangar Bar when I heard a voice. "You've been waiting 10 years for this, but you couldn't wait another few minutes?"

The manager stood near the entrance, arms open, beckoning me to enter the revitalized, redecorated shell of the building that once housed Mannequins. It may be an Asian restaurant now, but millions of people know it as the revered dance palace that it still resembles. You can rename the building, paint it a different color, and put down some tables, but its patrons know the truth; it's still Mannequins.

I walked into the darkened building to find the tables and been moved to the side, and an open compartment in the floor was flung open. Strange, I thought, noting I had sat near that location before...and had never noticed a place in the floor.

I looked at the manager curiously. He shrugged. "See for yourself."

I inched closer to the door in the floor, hearing a buzzing sound of something moving below. I'd heard the sound before...and the memories rushed back. I took a deep breath and peered into the floor.

There it was. Brightly lit and spinning. It looked as good as new.

I couldn't believe my eyes. I looked back at the manager in disbelief.

"One day," he said, "It'll spin again for everyone. The lights will return, the music will boom, and the mannequins will return."

It was a blur after that. The next thing I remember is waking up on a bench outside of Raglan Road. The lights of Morimoto were dim again, the Disney Springs sign on top of the building reminding me that Pleasure Island was just a memory.

But I know the truth.

The floor is there. It still spins.

And will spin again.

Anonymous said...

funny cause Disney said the floor was broken on the last night no reason to fix it make it run again as it was the last night ever!

that and the controls was in the NOW gone DJ/light tech booth. why would anyone fix the broken floor? and then hook up a floor you can not use? SO how did this person TURN on the floor? MAGIC I guess?

Great story line! OR maybe just maybe you had a dream?! ?

so you are trying to tell me that FLOOR all the booths are on and all the people sit at are just floating? COME ON! try again

Troy said...

*shrug* Ask the manager the next time you're in there. Maybe if you're lucky enough, he'll give you the same tour! ;)

KingBob said...

Way to go, Troy!!

Anonymous said...

The floor stopped working the second to the last night too but they had it operating again for the last night. Both times it stopped working due to the weight of so many people on the floor. It wasn't actually broken.

Anonymous said...

again tell me how the tables and all the weight that will be on the floor over the old floor with no support! IT would flex really bad if not break.

again WHY would any one have the controls to run the floor put money into that?

so troy and BOB came think this is true but now way Orange co. would let you build a floor that will have hundreds of people onit with no support.
well I guess IF you did it and the GUY didnt see it its OK?

Anonymous said...

OH yeah I forgot I heard the people and the manager is annoyed from all the Mannequins people saying how they used to go to Mannequins.
SO why now he is showing this floor? heard someone talking to bar tender said XXXX about the club the person got rude. then these people said OK good bye. talked to the manager and said SORRY but didn't mean it. as in YEAH YEAH YEAH.
just doesn't fit

Anonymous said...

I'm very excited to ask the manager for this tour. Thanks Troy for the tip!

Anonymous said...

If the floor was built above the dance floor with "H" iron beams it could surely support the weight of the occupants on it. Homes in the North with basements use this type of beam with no weight limits imposed. Just sayin. !!!

Hair Guy said...

All of you do realize that Troy was being facetious right? Read the ending again and maybe a few more times.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ January 25, 2017 at 4:00 AM who cares? right?