Monday, March 20, 2017

PI Update: 8TRAX Shocking Photos

Since the Blog has gained so many new readers these past couple years, we at times repeat previously published photos so that others can experience them. This past January, our article called "Mannequins Shocking Photos" showed the inside of Mannequins in 2013, five years after the club closed. It was as if time had stood still! Today we do the same with 8TRAX, a Pleasure Island favorite for many with its 70's Disco & 80's Classics format!
Who can forget the multiple levels, colorful decor and dance music selections that every generation knew the words to!
In 2010, a source provided the Blog with photos from the interior of 8TRAX. The dance club, instead of earning revenue for Disney, was being used for storage!
Curl by Sammy Duval was using the place for storage and I believe Paradiso 37 was as well.
Talk about time standing still, the walls of 8TRAX still had 70's memorability posted on it!
Remember the old drink menu board and the lava lamps that were on each side?
Again, this was in 2010 which is 2 years after the club closed.
Fully intact though, a through clean-up and new bar and club equipment brought in could have had 8TRAX operational again within weeks!
And this 2010 photo also showed the main dance floor level in good shape! Notice the stairs at the rear which were the main stairs from the bar level near the club's front door.
So imagine our shock in 2013 when the same photographer that had delivered those Mannequins photos to us delivered these bombshells!  Looking at those same stairs and the floor demolition that had taken place!
We do not know if this was a simple leak repair perhaps or something related to the conversion to Disney Springs.
And what about 8TRAX today?  We know that both the upstairs (pictured above) and the downstairs below it at the south end serve as kitchen areas for Morimoto Asia.
And we know that the north end, the former front of 8TRAX along Hill Street, was chopped away to make room for a flip-flop store. But that leaves a large section of the middle of 8TRAX that remains unrenovated and unused. Island sources tell us it's just sitting there vacant, looking a lot like 8TRAX!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So the question is does Morimoto or the shoe store have the access point....and who do you have to slip some $$ to get in there?

Troy said...

If they have access, I'd assume the shoe store would be your better bet. Too many people and managers in Morimoto, and you're probably looking at pair of folks at the shoe store.

That being said, I bet access there was closed when they restructured the front of 8Trax and rebuilt all of that stuff.

And I think there's even a chance that Morimoto employees don't have access to it. Could be one of those things that Disney made into a tomb and the only people who have access are them.

I'd still love to see it, though. 8Trax was not my preferred venue at PI, but I'd love to set foot in there again.

KingBob said...

Island sources tell me that there is a gate adjacent the flip flop store that leads back to where the upstairs door of Mannequins used to be. Instead, there is a different door that leads into that 8TRAX space behind the flip flop store.

Anonymous said...

Many of us whom were regulars got tie dye keys yes there not good for anything but still cool to have the memories.