Rivers said the club’s physical space, which comprises two large rooms with professional light systems, television monitors and bars, rivals that of Avalon-but serves a unique scene. “There’s really interesting people-a whole different subculture really-that you don’t normally find in Boston.” Davidson ’05, who said ManRay is closer to the Harvard community than other dance clubs, almost all of which are in Boston. “It is the one place that people who don’t enjoy really cheesy, awful, mainstream techno music can go, and enjoy really unique takes on old-school 80s music and really unique genres of electronica,” said Julia C. “It would be really unfortunate if it closed or moved out of Cambridge, because it’s a gay club that’s not 21-plus and it’s walking distance from Harvard,” said Skier, who is also a Crimson editor. Skier ’05, president of the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgendered and Supporters Alliance, said that ManRay played an important role for Harvard’s gay community. They’re obviously doing this because of money, and not because of community interests,” she said. “I understand the financial and business motivation, but I think it shows the proprietor’s disgraded for the Cambridge and Boston commnity. Rivers said a “thriving fetish scene amazing gay night” make ManRay the only area dance club that caters to Cambridge’s alternative crowd. There’s nowhere else for these people to go, so you’ll see them every week.” “If you go there on a particular night, you will see the same people-it’s such a niche market. Rivers ’05, who has been a regular visitor for the past two years. “It does have a very cult-like following,” said Elizabeth H. “As part of the public project and part of zoning requirements, we present the project to the community for input.Being good citizens and concerned neighbors, we work to include the concerns of the communities in our plans.”īut the prospect of ManRay’s closing comes as tragic news to its dedicated clientele. “We don’t need approval from anybody,” Khalsa said. They had already scaled the project down from its original five-story design, based on complaints from the Cambridge community. In accordance with community recommendations, Khalsa said, the developers are currently looking into ways to change the location of the apartment building’s parking ramp, as well as certain landscape and fencing features. “We had a very productive and interactive meeting,” Khalsa said. The Central Square Advisory Committee, architects and representatives from First Cambridge Realty Corporation met on July 16 with approximately 25 neighborhood residents and abutters to discuss the project, Khalsa said. Khalsa said response from area residents to the building project has been “very positive,” with unanimous support from the community, though the Cambridge Chronicle reported that some neighbors opposed the plan. “There is no approval required to demolish ManRay, because it is not considered in any way significant or requiring review,” he said.
“It has nothing to do with ManRay.”Ĭonstruction of the four-story apartment building, Khalsa said, will only require the Cambridge Historical Commission to allow the demolition of a 50-year-old home that is also on the premises. “It’s a property that they own, and they’re hoping to utilize it for the highest and best use allowed under zoning,” he said. The corporation-which also owns the property-has the right to remove the club without approval from the city, according to Jai Khalsa, the architect who is designing the apartment complex. ManRay, which is located on Brookline Street in Central Square, currently occupies space that First Cambridge Realty Corporation plans to use for fifty residential units. One of Cambridge’s most unique and best known nightclubs may soon be demolished to make way for new apartments-to the disappointment of many Harvard students who flock to the club’s gay nights and alternative scene.