Rive Gauche Nightclub, open late 1999 to mid 2005, was a popular nightclub located in the River West district near Chicago's

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 Greektown

Greektown, Chicago

Greektown is a dining and nightlife district on the Near West Side of the American city of Chicago, Illinois. It is one of many neighborhoods that make up the Near West Side community area, and is popular with tourists and Chicago residents alike....

 neighborhood, and the Loop. Rive Gauche is a French title meaning Left Bank

Rive Gauche

La Rive Gauche is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two: looking downstream, the southern bank is to the left, and the northern bank is to the right....

, an appropriate name for a nightclub that had a unique Parisian theme, despite it being located on the right bank of the Chicago River. Rive Gauche is simply known as Rive by Chicago’s nightclub enthusiast community.

History & Atmosphere

Before Rive opened as a nightclub that eventually catered to a crowd of Chicago's young Polish population, it was known as a predominantly male homosexual venue dubbed The Generator. It is true that the owners of The Generator and Rive's owners are the same.

Rive was the place to be for European tourists and celebrities at the height of its popularity. Its visitors included the founder of Playboy Magazine

Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

, Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner

Hugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...

 . Rive was undoubtedly an adult playground where only female patrons were allowed to dance on stripper

Stripper

A stripper is a professional erotic dancer who performs a contemporary form of striptease at strip club establishments, public exhibitions, and private engagements. Unlike in burlesque, the performer in the modern Americanized form of stripping minimizes the interaction of customer and dancer,...

 poles and the miniature Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...

 statues, sometimes three or four at a time. Some young women would eagerly participate in these stripper-like activities to gain attention from young male patrons, and the house-sanctioned photographers.

Early 2003 also saw troubles for Rive Nightclub. The E2 Nightclub catastrophe

2003 E2 nightclub stampede

The E2 nightclub stampede occurred on February 17, 2003, at the E2 nightclub located above the Epitome Chicago restaurant in Chicago, Illinois, in which 21 people died and more than 50 were injured when panic ensued from the use of pepper spray by security guards to break up a fight...

 on Chicago's South Side caused the city to create a task force to inspect all Chicago nightclubs for possible capacity violations and other building code violations . Rive was immediately handed a citation and had to close down for short period of time to fix their outside exit doors so they will open outward as opposed to inward.

In 2005, due to the age of the nightclub and patrons passing up Rive for newer venues, Rive Gauche Nightclub owners decided to close down and remodel the club back into the Generator, a club catering particularly to the African-American gay community .
The Generator closed its doors on September 16, 2007 to remodel and reopen as Mannequin on November 30, 2007. The new mainstream

Mainstream

Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....

 club boasts itself as a modern-day spin on what Rive used to be.

Mannequin Nightclub (2007 - 2009)

Mannequin is among the few nightspots to implement Illinois's state-wide public smoking ban well before becoming law on January 1, 2008. One reason for doing so is to preserve the club's new decor.

Folklore

Rive's success was synonymous with speculations made on the club for debauchery and illegal activities. Most prominent was that of underage girls being allowed into the club every weekend. Other speculations of capacity violations, drugs, much sex in the private bathrooms by Rive patrons were also made, but no legal action was ever taken due to a lack of substantial evidence. To Rive's patrons, that is what made the club fun. They saw it as a place to go and do anything they want, no matter what morals tell them not to. In many ways, Rive was a modern-day Studio 54

Studio 54

Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...

.

In early 2002, Chicago nightclub history might have been made when a cocktail waitress successfully sold 72 bottles of Champaigne to a single patron who, as rumor has it, was coaxing her to be his date for Valentine's Day. The bill and tip was for an undisclosed amount and it is unknown if she agreed to the date.