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| Even though this old sign is currently just a shell, spotting it along Orange Avenue brings back a flood of memories. Whether you knew it as Firestone, Club at Firestone, Firestone Live, Venue 578 or all of them, there is excitement growing because it's coming back! |
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| When the building actually housed a Firestone Tire dealership and Texaco gas station early last century, this was the business office. In clubbing years, it was The Den section of the club and you could count on great often-local DJ's playing in the small room. It's still here. |
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| Located where the prior main doorway was located along Orange Avenue, renovations have turned the formerly grungy area into a modern entrance. |
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| And a new stairway leads to another area above the entrance. |
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| Closer to the intersection with Concord Street, another entrance area at the base of those stairs. |
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| Taking a peek in. |
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| Making the turn and looking west along Concord Street, we see numerous doors facing north with a large balcony above it. |
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| Looking back towards those stairs. |
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| Outside The Den we often found additional DJ's playing outdoors here in the smokers corner. With a new modern fence installed, it looks like it could serve that purpose again. And perhaps above it in that new balcony area. |
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| Coming inside from the Concord Street side and looking left, we can see The Den area in the left corner. The walls that the room shared with the club have been removed so that seems to eliminate the possibility of having separate music than what is playing in the main room. |
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| Looking straight ahead towards the south, the main room. We see the familiar upstairs from which many used to watch the action below. Towards the left corner, a new set of stairs heads up there. Below those stairs, the familiar Mens & Womens WC where all kinds of shit used to go on, literally and figuratively! At the near right, another set of stairs that might lead to the stage? |
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| Moving around those near stairs, more of the main room. That back wall downstairs used to be raised for a VIP area and the main bar. That back wall upstairs in the corner was home to the lighting tech booth. It appears from the blueprints published by Bungalower.com here show that the raised stage will be along that back wall. |
Construction progress is moving slow, in my opinion. I can't see it opening until mid-2020 at the soonest. We'll see if it keeps its most-recent name, Vanguard. But it's coming back and we're excited about that. Stay tuned to the Blog for future progress.
