Chasing the Ghost of the Palladium Nightclub
Season 2, Episode 2
Hosted by Martina Merlo
Release date: October 19, 2026
The Palladium Nightclub became a fixture of New York City’s nightlife scene after it was established in 1985. For years, the Palladium served both as a space for creative expression and a destination where people could dance their cares away. It was also one of the protagonists of the East Village--a familiar face to the everyday residents in the neighborhood. But this chapter of the story came to an end in 1998, when the nightclub was demolished by NYU to make way for a new dormitory. In this episode, producer Martina Merlo chases the ghost of the Palladium—to recover a collective memory that is fading in a rapidly-changing urban environment, and to offer a cautionary tale about the importance of preserving more unconventional monuments. In the case of the Palladium, we visit a lost monument to an experimental music scene and culture that is inextricably entangled with its home in the East Village.
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify Podcasts
Guests
Pablo Meninato is Associate Professor of Architecture in the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University.
Manuela Roggiani is a Research Scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in microbiology and bacteriology. In this episode, she provides her account as a former resident of 111 3rd Avenue from 1989-1992, located immediately around the corner from the Palladium Nightclub.
Want to Learn More about the topics covered in this episode?
Jochen Eisenbrand, “Interview with Ian Schrager,” and Ivan L. Munuera, “Discotecture: The Bodily Regime of Archi-Social Exploration,” in Night Fever: Designing Club Culture, 1960-Today, edited by Mateo Kries, Jochen Eisenbrand, Catharine Rossi, and Kirsten Thietz (Vitra Design Museum: 2018).
José Tomás Franco, “Arata Isozaki’s Palladium Nightclub Through the Lens of Timothy Hursley,” ArchDaily, May 28, 2025, https://www.archdaily.com/912757/arata-isozakis-palladium-nighclub-through-the-lens-of-timothy-hursley
Arata Isozaki and Gini Alhadeff, “‘Catching Desire by the Tail’: The Palladium Club in New York,” Domus,March 23, 2023, https://www.domusweb.it/en/from-the-archive/2023/03/22/the-palladium-arata-isozaki.html
Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Vintage Books, 1961).
jo ke, “PALLADIUM Nightclub New York New York (New Render),” YouTube, May 9, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3uR-EPk6q8
Ivan L. Munuera, “An Organism of Hedonistic Pleasures: The Palladium.” Log 41 (2017): 102-12.
Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (Museum of Modern Art: 1966).
Music Credits
“I Get Lifted (Boyd Slam The Organ Mix)” by Barbara Tucker
“I Get Lifted (Duck Beats)” by Barbara Tucker
Palladium Nightclub DJ Set by DJ Kirk Alert