max's kansas city

By Peter Crowley

Max's Kansas City was a steak house and artistic urban oasis established by Mickey Ruskin just three blocks north of Greenwich Village in 1966, abandoned by Mickey Ruskin in '74, and subsequently revived by Laura and Tommy Dean. Danny Fields introduced punk rock (Alice Cooper, The Stooges, The Magic Tramps, The New York Dolls and The Velvet Underground) into the max's artistic mix in '69 when he convinced Mickey to add live music to Wayne County's Upstairs At Max's rock discotheque.

Shortly after Mickey jumped ship, the Deans took over the now world famous bar and restaurant, but they got off on the wrong foot with tacky plastic stained glass decor in the dining room, live disco bands in polyester flares Upstairs and a top-40 juke box in the bar, but they soon realized their errors and brought me in to create the new Max's Kansas City. Of course my first move was to hire Wayne as the Upstairs DJ. Then I filled the jukebox with an eclectic mix of underground and classic rock n roll 45s, (everything from Professor Longhair to The New York Dolls) and began to bring over all the acts I'd been showcasing at Mother's.

We never succeeded in wooing back many of the 'old' Max's crowd, but the joint was soon packed with a new wave of young rebels, some of whom have lived to tell the tales that follow:

Peter Crowley, July 2008

The max's kansas city special feature is right HERE