Speak Easy (Speaks)

SpeakEasy what can I say the best of the best, every weekend in all kinds of weather we would all head to SpeakEasy from Brooklyn. In our tunic outfits and platform shoes we were the disco divas back then. Doing the bus stop seeing the Trammps and Calhoun; and of course dancing to the hustle. That was the place to be at and also they loved playing James Brown's music and we loved dancin to it.

Speaks used to be the Action House back in the 60's and before that it was called the Hayloft a gay joint. When Philly and Chubby first started running it it had live rock bands, that's when I worked there. Groups like Lee Michaels's, Chubby Checker, Mountain as in Lesile West, and of course The Vanilla Fudge. It was Philly that took the band The Vinilla Fudge , over the other great group the Illusion's, to a little recording studio in Hempstead next to the Caldarone Theater and recorded " You Keep Me Hanging On" and the rest is history. After that he meaning Philly started Concerts East a management company and had management over groups like Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, The Stones as a promoter and on and on. Unbelieveable days.

The Night Club was on Long Beach Road across from Rumors.Speaks evolved into Industry.

Didn't it change over to "The Night Club" afterwards?

Great place sometimes hard to get into when you were just under 21 but I did it.
Saw the Mets win game 6 here in 1986 on the screens , free shots for an hour! oh boy. Saw so many great disco acts France Joli, Lime, Expose, and others great times...we would drive down from Glen Cove and then all the way back...even did a New years here

this was when I first stated going to clubs..I was just beginning to DJ, and heard lou rawls, "you'll never find", and The DJ had one record playing behind the other so it echoed..That was the first time I heard that..Great place if you could do the hgustle

We installed the First Sound System in Speakeasy when it opened in the 70s.I will never forget when Larry and Philly had me come to check the place out it was four walls with no roof.There was a fire before that which gutted the place.We filled up these large speaker cabinets that held four speakers mounted a horn on each and hung them in the four corners of the dance floor and now this was the Sound System. Went to Opening night which went over real well.This Club was the real deal for Long Island back then. Well that was many moons ago and real good times which I will never forget.

Disco Ball 9 @ Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort Arena Atlantic City NJ on Saturday October 16, 2010. The biggest 70s classic disco live concert in the world.
Vito Bruno presents Disco Ball 9 hosted by WCBS FM DJ Joe Causi & former heavyweight champion Smokin Joe Frazier. LIVE...Gloria Gaynor, Rob Parissi of Wild Cherry, Santa Esmeralda starring Leroy Gomez, The Trammps featuring Earl Young, Norma Jean Wright & Luci Martin formerly of Chic, Sugar Hill Gang, Rose Royce, Anita Ward, Peaches And Herb, Musique, Linda Clifford, original village people cowboy Randy Jones, original performance group of Lime.

Speak Easy was GREAT giant club on Austin Blvd (off Long Beach Road) in Island park, Long Island, NY. It held about 2000 people and was always packed on weekends. The best disco bands at the time played there; The Trammps, Calhoon, Gloria Gaynor, Ecstasy Passion And Pain, Vicki Sue Robinson, Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes, Blue Magic, The Stylistics, Andrea True Connection, Le Point, Hokis Pokis, Lovelace, The Joneses, etc.. It was an experience.

I went by the place last summer in 2009 and they have completely demolished the whole building, it is an empty lot now :(

My first night at a disco was unforgettable. I was 16 with a beautiful Brazilian girl doing the hustle as The Trammps were live at Speakeasy, and when they weren't on stage the DJ was endlessly pumping and mixing "Disco Party" and "Turn The Beat Around" with crazy strobe lights (remember those?) and that disco ball, it was incredible...32 years and a bunch of other ladies from Brasil and other parts later, I'm still diggin those tunes and ocassionally doing the hustle in Manhattan!!!

was 16 and had no car,so my friend and i would hitch from elmont just go there. one of the best nights ever was seeing harold melvin and the bluenotes,that was the first place we all discovered disco,it was the easiest to get into at that age.

Speaks! I went there for New Years Eve in the early 80s - I remember dancing to WHIP IT! WHIP IT GOOD!!!!! :)

Oh do I remember speak easy, or speaks as we used to call it. The dancing, the girls, the clothes, the lights, and of course most of all, the MUSIC.
There was live music, and a D.J. .There was upstairs seating as well. It also boasted one of the largest dance floors around.

i went to speak easy when i was about 16 . i can not remember any thing about the place but i must have had a good time because i went to clubs for the next 20 years.