After 11 years of defining uptown Charlotte nightlife, the Mythos party stopped
All good things must come to an end, and Mythos nightclub, one of Charlotte’s greats, was sadly no exception.
All week, we’ve been taking you back to the era of 1993-2004, when Mythos nightclub ruled Charlotte’s nightlife scene, and we danced like there were no cell phones watching (because there weren’t).
And, as we get ready for the Mythos throwback reunion party on Friday, Feb. 16, let’s go back a little further: to summer 2004, when the famed nightclub was on its last call. The club was closing its doors, but it had left a forever mark on this city.
These throwback parties are not just about going back, though, Mythos owner Andy Kastanas told me recently: “This is why I’m getting back into this: To push things forward, not to really take them back. We have to look back — we learn from it, but I don’t want to stay there. What I’ve done all my life is move forward.”
We’re with ya, Andy, but for one last moment — let’s do look back at Mythos. This wasn’t just one dance club, this was a movement.
And at the end, The Charlotte Observer’s Paid to Party reporter Tonya Jameson was there, of course, capturing the club’s final moments as only her words could:
Mythos opened door for uptown nightlife. Club’s closing marks the end of an era in city’s cultural evolution
Published: 6/13/2004
Byline: Tonya Jameson
I can’t believe Mythos is closing.
I’m waiting for the historic preservation commission to step in with a temporary injunction. I’m waiting for the city to declare Dec. 15 a holiday to recognize the day Mythos birthed life in uptown after 5 p.m.
I’m sitting across from Andy Kastanas at the Westin, waiting for him to say it’s a gag. Instead, the 43-year-old nightclub visionary says it’s time for a break.
“We have to refocus, regroup and rethink the market and make a decision on what the future holds,” he said. “The best way to do that is closing the club.”
Mythos opened Dec. 15, 1993, with considerable hype. It was a nightclub in the heart of an uptown that had no heart.
Back then, Tryon and College streets were dead zones after dark. The poppin’ clubs were out on the edges: Plum Crazy on Tyvola Road, Dixie Electric Company off The Plaza and Park Elevator on Cedar Street.
Kastanas was a DJ at Park Elevator. Gus Georgoulias, who partied there, suggested they open a new club together. It took a couple of years, but Kastanas found a paint and glass warehouse at Sixth and North College streets.
Kastanas, Georgoulias and other investors who’d been saving money from jobs as DJs and dishwashers grabbed the space. Tall buildings were sprouting nearby, Blumenthal had opened a year earlier and Spirit Square was hosting events.
Mythos wasn’t just the first dance club uptown, it also was a pioneer of style.
“Mythos was the first club to create a big-city-kind-of-atmosphere nightclub, where you got all walks of life together to enjoy dance music,” said Liquid Lounge DJ Matt Bolick.
It welcomed gays and pink-haired partiers, people in feather boas, polyester pants and platform shoes. It had black walls, cement floors and a multi-paneled mural depicting Medusa and Pegasus.
“I didn’t think secretaries and bankers and the people that worked uptown were going to show up at Mythos, but they did,” said Kastanas, who’s been a DJ for more than 20 years.
He gave them a reason to come. Kastanas, who was born in Greece and partied in New York, Miami and Amsterdam, spun progressive house instead of radio hits. And he brought high-profile DJs to expose Charlotte clubbers to new music.
“If it wasn’t for Mythos, you wouldn’t be seeing these super-duper DJs,” said Ronnie Matthews, owner and director of Starfleet Music Pool. “Nobody was bringing world-class DJs back in those days.”
By 1999, the owners had poured more than $600,000 into upgrading light, sound and the interior. Mythos hosted fashion shows, charity events and celebrity guests such as George Clinton, Prince, Cyndi Lauper, Bill Maher and RuPaul.
Kastanas and his partners didn’t stop with Mythos. In 1995, they bought the warehouse that housed the club. They lease space to Bar Charlotte, the Hut and Have a Nice Day Cafe. Two years later, they opened the restaurant Cosmos, which had an art gallery and cigar bar, on the backside of Mythos.
The restaurant’s salsa night became so popular that the Mythos group hooked up with longtime area promoters and club owners the Presley brothers in 1999. They opened Salamandra, a now-closed Latin dance club on Morehead Street.
In 2000, Kastanas and some investors opened Q, an upscale gay lounge at 521 N. College Street. It’s now Aqua, and Kastanas plans to spin Chicago house there one night a week.
All the ventures by the Mythos crew didn’t last as long their first love, but their efforts helped Charlotte evolve culturally. These days, clubs selling cheap drinks, blasting radio hits and appealing to the MTV crowd dominate the uptown entertainment district. Mythos offered something different.
Matthews doesn’t believe Mythos is gone for good.
“Maybe it’s time to shut it down, clean it up and call it something else,” he said. “It’ll be the phoenix rising from the fire.”
Phoenix - sounds like a cool name for a new club at Sixth and North College streets.
More Mythos nostalgia
We’ve been here all week, friends. Check out CharlotteFive’s reports from The Charlotte Observer’s archives as we ramp up to the Mythos reunion:
