Whether it was Porky's or Lavish, this Wilmington spot raged. Now the party may be over.

The News Journal

A crowd parties at The Funky Monkey in Wilmington in 2009. After 40 years of hosting nightclubs, the location is now out of the nightlife world.

After 40 years of high-octane cover bands stomping through popular songs and DJs keeping the party going, it's eerily quiet at Wilmington's 1206 N. Union Street, located at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Whether it was bowling balls striking pins at the original Open Lanes Parkway bowling alley before the location's 40-year run of 11 nightclubs or the most booming beats from the recent tenant, the nightclub Lavish, the spot has always been abuzz.

But on a recent weekday, the only noise inside came from property owner Frank Pagliaro, who also runs and owns Frank's Wine next door.

Pagliaro was explaining that Lavish's lease ended in March, most likely closing a chapter in Wilmington nightlife history at a location where generations of Delawareans partied to everything from disco in the '70s to hip-hop and electronic dance music in recent years.

The same space that raged as Union Station in the '80s and Porky's Dance Club in the '90s before hosting a string of more short-lived clubs (Club Epoch, The Colosseum, Tru Sin,The Funky Monkey and Club 3 among them) has fallen silent.

Frank Pagliaro poses for a portrait in front of the now-closed Lavish nightclub on North Union Street in Wilmington. The location has been home to 11 nightclubs across four decades.

Gone are the mornings when Pagliaro would come into his liquor store to find a bottle or two shattered on the ground, rocked off the shelf due to bass-heavy acts. Also gone are the nights where hundreds of partiers would dance the night away while getting faded.

A line of customers wait to get into Funky Monkey on November 2009 in Wilmington.

So why is Wilmington's longest-running nightclub spot — a location that once competed with Riverfront icon Kahunaville — calling it quits now?

Pagliaro says he will most likely bring in a non-nightclub into the spot to change with the times, ready to turn a page as a $40 million development project continues across the street.

The 38,000-square-foot Galleria retail center was demolished last year on Pennsylvania Avenue and the new 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue, named after its address, is now going up.

The five-story building will house shops and 166 luxury apartments topped by a rooftop swimming pool and patio. A parking garage will be located beneath. It should be completed by the end of the year.

Possibilities for the space where Lavish once lived could include everything from a restaurant or catering facility to a community arts center. The property is just hitting the market now.

The Wilmington nightclub Lavish, which authorities temporarily closed last year for overcrowding, has closed for good. After four decades of hosting nightclubs, the location will now go in a different direction, the property owner says.

"I want to find the match for the neighborhood," Pagliaro says.

While Pagliaro will miss the excitement of leasing to a club — "I feel like an empty nester now" — there are parts that he won't miss.

The worst came when bands would come early for soundcheck. Customers would be in his shop buying fine wine while drummers raged next door.

"It was bad. The bottles would rattle," remembers Pagliaro, who took over the property in 1986 when Union Station was getting its start.

A 1986 advertisement for former Union Station Restaurant at the corner of North Union St. and Pennsylvania Ave. in Wilmington.

Pagliaro had partied there when it was known as The Alley, keeping with the bowling theme when it first opened in 1978. But when his father Earl bought the property from Jerry Gallucio in 1986, Pagliaro went from partier to manager, leaving business classes at Saint Joseph's University and his sophomore year behind to take charge of the property instead.

"I figured I would take a year off and give it a shot," he adds. "That was 32 years ago and I never went back."

Joe Latina, a broker with Patterson Woods Commercial Properties who specializes in retail and business spaces, has leased the 6,000-square-foot space before and has the listing once again.

He himself was a bartender at Porky's.

"Back then, it had that Starboard/Bottle & Cork vibe to it — good bands with a good mix of people, 20s to 40s," Latina says. "You'd have everyone from Love Seed Mama Jump and Mr. Greengenes to Jellyroll."

Eleven nightclubs have found their home over the past 40 years in the building next to Frank's Wine in Wilmington. Building owner Frank Pagliaro is now looking for a business to move in that better fits the neighborhood.

Stanley Yau owned the spot when it was Club Epoch, which had a four-year run at the location starting in 2001. His first memory of the location was when it was Union Station in the late '80s.

"It rocked," he says. "I was underage, but it was always fun."

By the time he owned the club, Yau says he was battling both with Kahunaville over cover band bookings and the club's Forty Acres neighbors. Club Epoch's early success created lines out the door and down the block, leading to noise and nuisance complaints.

For those neighbors, the idea of the spot being silenced as a hard-charging nightclub is a blessing. Yau remembers those conflicts well.

"It turned into a situation if someone found a condom on their lawn, it automatically would come back to me," he says. "Probability-wise, maybe it's me. But there's no way you can say for sure."

Kristen and the Noise perform at Funky Monkey in Wilmington in 2009. The location, which was most recently home to Lavish, will no longer be a nightclub. Eleven clubs have called the spot home over the past 40 years.

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).

A PARTIAL LIST OF 1206 N. UNION ST., WILMINGTON CLUBS

The Alley (1978)

Ronzo's (1985)

Union Station (1986)

P.A. Woody's (1990)

Porky's Dance Club (1994)

Club Epoch (2001)

The Colosseum (2005)

Tru Sin (2008)

The Funky Monkey (2009)

Club 3 (2010)

Lavish (2013)