A few pics of this former rap club at 107 Suffolk St on the Lower East Side, now a community arts center (called the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center). I got taken here a couple of times on a visit to NYC around christmastime 1990, the New Year’s Eve line up included Doug Lazy and A Tribe Called Quest. I was thrilled to see De La Soul in the crowd. Smoked a dime bag of weed bought from someone there and, when it came time to leave, couldn’t figure out which wall of the lobby contained the exit door - very smooth!

There isn’t much you can find online about the club, here are the few bits and pieces I dug up:

Rap at the Amazon
By Peter Watrous
Published: October 28, 1988, New York Times

Halloween Voodoo Jam, Hotel Amazon, 107 Suffolk Street (995-2402). This large space - it was used for the dance scene in the recent Jonathan Demme movie ‘’Married to the Mob'’ - is one of the few places in lower Manhattan where rap has been heard with regularity; the club, which is now only open on Saturday nights, has been around almost a year. Tomorrow night will feature a Halloween Voodoo Jam, with some of rap’s bigger attractions and some-to-be stars: the Jungle Brothers will headline and De La Soul and Queen Lateefa will perform. Red Alert, one of rap’s groundbreaking disc jockeys, will serve as host and spin the turntables. The show starts around midnight, and there is a $7 cover.

The Pop Life
By Stephen Holden
Published: November 16, 1988, New York Times

Even as groups like D. J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince have helped to popularize rap music from the suburbs, harder-edged minimalist urban rap continues to flourish. This Saturday night, Wild Pitch Records, an independent New York label that is developing some of the most promising inner-city rap talent, will present three of its new acts - Latee, Gang Starr and Technolo-G - at the Hotel Amazon (107 Suffolk Street), the club on the Lower East Side that has established itself as the CBGB of rap music. Latee, the headliner, is a Jersey City rapper who avoids typically glittery rap-star regalia. His cult hits, ‘’This Cut’s Got Flavor'’ and ‘’No Tricks,'’ produced by D. J. Mark the 45 King, are valued by rap connoisseurs for their extra-hard rhythmic clout. Show time is 11:30 P.M.

Fresh as a Daisy
De La Soul From Three Feet Up
by Mary Huhn
Village Voice, December 21-27, 1988

Hotel Amazon also gets a mention in this well-aimed kick at Michael Alig by Lady Miss Kier, see also her post in the comments section.

Also on the wall of the building now, another cool art piece: