One Of New York’s Best Venues Is Closing

This week, owners Carlos Quirarte and Matt Kleigman announced that The Westway nightclub will be closed for business as of July 1st, 2015. The strip club-turned-nightclub—which retained its former dancing runway and stripper pole fixtures—ran a mixed bag of events, hosting ritzy fashion fetes, raunchy WestGay raves and some breakthrough performances in the NYC rap world. Sadly, the West Village club has met the fate that most cool things in NYC eventually meet, and will be turned into luxury condos. "The reason why Carlos and I fell in love with it in the first place was that we really felt it was wired for people to let their hair down and dance and have fun," Kliegman shared with Paper. "It's disappointing that it's closing."

To commemorate the loss of this lovably messy nightlife spot, we dug up this throwback video of Migos making their NYC debut at Electric Circus' Player's Ball party back in 2013. Electric Circus boss Shabazz Varnie shared her reflections on that legendary night with The FADER via email. "I still remember bringing Migos to The Westway for their New York City performance debut," says Varnie. "Offset was still incarcerated in fact! The venue was filled wall-to-wall with music industry executives, my favorite journalist people, and downtown scenesters. It was amazing to see Quavo and TakeOff share back-to-back energy on that old stripper walkway."

In the clip above, a then baby-faced duo Quavo and TakeOff bounce around the stripper's runway ad-libbing to the Drake cosigned-remix of "Versace" in a performance that still feels fresh, endearingly eager, and a little wet behind the ears. For a firsthand account of the legendary night, revisit Francis Capell's live review.

FAREWELL BUSTY MIRRORBALL </3