Sunday, May 5, 2008/ARTS

El Morocco gets a new lease on nightlife


Dancers at the new El Morocco in Washington Heights,
which the owners hope will be a big draw for the Latino



Frank Sinatra at El Morocco back in the day.
Click pic for a photo gallery of the legendary nightclub.

At its height, El Morocco was Manhattan's mecca for the rich and renowned. Cary Grant and Jackie Kennedy caroused there. Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth held court.  But like all pop icons, the 54th St. club slid into decline, eventually becoming a topless bar and another club before a high-rise replaced it in 2004.
 
Now, an ambitious homage to the legendary nightspot hopes to make high-life history again. El Morocco Theater and Nightclub, at 145th St. and Broadway, strives to evoke the glam attitude (and zebra-stripe motif) of the historic haunt - as a Latino-oriented hot spot.

"The original El Morocco was the premier supper club in the '30s and '40s for the who's who," says Debbie Medina, director of operations of the new venue. "We created a place for Latinos of the new millennium, for our own jet set."

Medina adds that with the closing of the Copacabana last year, "Latinos really don't have a place where [they] can feel at home. We want to embrace them so they can feel at home here."  Currently in previews and set to officially open midmonth, El Morocco devotes its dance floor to salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton and more.
 
It will also host concerts and independent theater. Next Friday and Saturday, the club welcomes the all-female L.A. comedy revue "Hot Tamales Live!," created by comic Kiki Melendez and a pre-"Desperate Housewives" Eva Longoria in 2002.

But the folks behind the new El Morocco aren't only trying to turn Washington Heights into the epicenter of Latino nightlife - they're also opening the Tropicana Theater and Nightclub in the Bronx this month.
"We want to bring culture, style and class to the community," says Medina.

Rebecca Louie