Hercules (nightclub)

Last updated

Hercules
Hercules (nightclub) logo.png
Logo
Hercules (nightclub)
Address Keskuskatu 8
Location Helsinki, Finland
Coordinates 60°10′12″N24°56′33″E / 60.1701°N 24.9425°E / 60.1701; 24.9425
Public transit Helsinki central railway station (metro)
OwnerMoek Trading Oy (Erkki Koski and Mika Olkkonen)
Type
Opened30 August 2000 (2000-08-30)

Hercules is a gay bar and nightclub in Helsinki, Finland. Operating since 2000, it is the third establishment opened by Moek Trading Oy. The venue caters primarily to gay men over 30, and its live entertainment features drag queens and strippers. The bar was located in Helsinki's Kamppi neighborhood until the end of 2015, when a hotel took over its space. It subsequently reopened at an address in Etu-Töölö, where it endured a number of events that caused financial strain. That location closed in December 2020, when the building was sold to new owners. The club then reopened across the street from Helsinki's central railway station in October 2021. Critics generally describe Hercules as popular, edgy and welcoming.

Contents

Description

Hercules is a gay bar and nightclub that is owned and operated by Moek Trading Oy, [1] a partnership between restaurateurs Erkki Koski and Mika Olkkonen. [2] [3] It attracts a customer base ranging in age from 18 to 60 [4] but caters primarily to gay men over 30, restricting entry to those 24 and older on weekends. [5] [6] The venue's playlists are heavy in Europop, trance music and Finnish folk songs. [7] [8] Through the end of 2020, it regularly hosted drag shows [9] and events featuring strippers. [10] As of 2014, the club was managed by Mikko Ikonen. [3] [11]

To date, Hercules has occupied three spaces in downtown Helsinki. [12] Its second location, on Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu, had a dance floor on the main level, a bar in the basement, and a summer terrace outdoors. [2] [4] Its newest spot, across the street from Helsinki's central railway station, is a single large room featuring a dance floor, two bars, a stage and a lounge. This location, too, has an outdoor terrace. The club shares a lobby, bathroom and coat check with an adjacent bar in the same building. [12] [13] Opened in October 2021, the space is outfitted with ultraviolet lights capable of destroying the SARS-CoV-2 virus. [12] It is open from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. [13]

History

Upper-level dance floor of Hercules' Etu-Toolo location in 2017 Hercules 2017.png
Upper-level dance floor of Hercules' Etu-Töölö location in 2017

In 1994, Koski and Olkkonen opened their first gay bar, Café Escale. This was followed by a second establishment, Mann's Street, in 1998. They received orders to vacate the building that housed Escale in what Koski described as an incident of homophobic discrimination, which ultimately led to Escale's closure in early 2001. While working through that situation, Koski and Olkkonen opened a new nightclub, Hercules, on 30 August 2000. They temporarily closed Mann's Street for renovation around the same time, directing their customer base to try out the new venue. Hercules became popular almost immediately. Shortly after opening, it lost its liquor license for a week when it was caught operating above capacity. Koski and Olkkonen then repurposed the kitchen and staff areas, which increased the capacity by 100 customers. [3]

From its inception through the end of 2015, Hercules was located on Lönnrotinkatu in Helsinki's Kamppi neighborhood, where it contained a dark room. [1] [14] Koski and Olkkonen had the original space remodeled in 2013. [3] The club was forced to relocate at the beginning of 2016, when Hotel St. George moved into its space. [1] [15] [16] For the next five years, it operated at an address on Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu in Etu-Töölö. [17] [1]

Those years were fraught with financial difficulties. From November 2016 through April 2017, while Koski was hospitalized for a stroke, the club's manager embezzled approximately €61,500 in cash, a crime for which he was convicted in February 2020. [2] In April 2017, Hercules received public backlash after a racially charge post appeared on its Facebook page. In a request for comment from the press, manager Antti Seppälä stated that several people had access to the venue's social media accounts and that the post must have been published to the club's profile in error. [18] Koski said that it did not represent the views of the business. [19] The venue then lost €60,000 one summer due to a pricing error on its outdoor terrace, where premium sparkling wine was accidentally sold for €3.50 less than its wholesale price. In spring 2019, Hercules was shuttered for two months following an incident that caused extensive water damage. [2]

The establishment's operation was irregular throughout 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, [1] [2] which caused further strain. [20] [21] After closing to customers, it converted its dance floor into a TV studio, from which it hosted live-streamed talk shows, [22] drag revues, concerts and theatre events for several months. [23] [24] By September 2020, Hercules had reopened and launched a new annual competition called Queer of the Year. [25] Hercules was made to relinquish its Etu-Töölö premises in December 2020, when the building's ownership changed hands. [1] [20]

In October 2021, the club reopened in Makkaratalo, on the corner of Keskuskatu and Kaivokatu, across the street from Helsinki's central railway station. The new space is shared with Baarikärpänen, another nightlife venue that was evicted from the Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu building at the end of 2020. [12] [13] [14] [26]

Reception

Passport Magazine dubbed Hercules the most popular gay club in Helsinki. [4] Will Stroude of Attitude characterized it as a place of "Euro-pop, vodka and a mixed crowd of edgy Finnish locals". [7] The venue's GayCities.com listing reads: "Hercules ... is just as packed, fun and raucous as Helsinki's other gay disco, dtm, and can even be a fair bit raunchier." [6] After DTM, often billed as the largest gay club in Northern Europe, [5] [27] entered into a state of temporary closure in June 2020, [15] Finnish news service Yle described Hercules as the largest one in the Nordic region. [28] The club's Yatra review characterizes its client base as "open-minded and friendly", adding that patrons "can let [their] guard down and have an excellent time". [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helsinki</span> Capital and most populous city of Finland

Helsinki is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About 675,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.25 million in the capital region and 1.58 million in the metropolitan area. As the most populous urban area in Finland, it is the country's most significant centre for politics, education, finance, culture, and research. Helsinki is 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 360 kilometres (220 mi) north of Riga, Latvia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki has significant historical connections with these four cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vantaa</span> City in Uusimaa, Finland

Vantaa is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately 247,000. It is the 4th most populous municipality in Finland. Vantaa is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, which has approximately 1.58 million inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay bar</span> Drinking establishment catered to LGBT clientele

A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi</span> Association football club in Helsinki, Finland

Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi, commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history in the top tier of Finnish football. The club's home ground is the 10,770-seat Bolt Arena, where they have played their home games since 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helsinki Cathedral</span> Church in Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki Cathedral is the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the neighborhood of Kruununhaka in the centre of Helsinki, Finland, at the Senate Square. The church was originally built from 1830 to 1852 as a tribute to the Grand Duke of Finland, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. It was also known as St Nicholas's Church until Finland declared its full independence in 1917. It is a major landmark of the city, and one of the most famous historical structures in Finland as a whole when viewed globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G-A-Y</span> Gay nightclub in London

G-A-Y is a long-running gay nightclub brand, based at the Heaven nightclub in Charing Cross, London, owned by Jeremy Joseph.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Finland since 1 March 2017. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriages was approved by the Finnish Parliament in a vote of 101–90 on 12 December 2014 and signed into law by President Sauli Niinistö on 20 February 2015. Further legislation to harmonise other laws with the legalisation of same-sex marriage was passed in 2016. The law took effect on 1 March 2017. Polling suggests that a majority of Finns support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Finland was the twentieth country in the world, the twelfth in Europe as well as the last Nordic sovereign state to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Finland</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Finland are among the most advanced in the world. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity have been legal in Finland since 1971 with "promotion" thereof decriminalized and the age of consent equalized in 1999. Homosexuality was declassified as an illness in 1981. Discrimination based on sexual orientation in areas such as employment, the provision of goods and services, etc., was criminalized in 1995 and discrimination based on gender identity in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trams in Helsinki</span> Overview of the tram network in Helsinki, Finland

Trams in Helsinki form part of the public transport system organised by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority and operated by Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd in Finland's capital city of Helsinki. The trams are the main means of transport in the city center, and 56.8 million trips were made on the system in 2019. In addition to the older tram network, there is a single light rail line that was opened in October 2023. Although technically compatible with the tram network, the light rail line is separate from the city center tram network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pasila</span> City area in Helsinki, Finland

Pasila is a part of Helsinki, Finland, that is both a central-northern neighbourhood and district, bordering the areas of Alppila to the south, the Central Park (Keskuspuisto) to the west, and Vallila to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berghain</span> Nightclub in Berlin

Berghain is a nightclub in Berlin, Germany. It is named after its location near the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain in Berlin, and is a short walk from Berlin Ostbahnhof main line railway station. Founded in 2004 by friends Norbert Thormann and Michael Teufele, it has since become one of the world's most famous clubs and has been called the "world capital of techno."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kari S. Tikka</span> Finnish legal scholar

Kari Sulo Tikka was a Finnish legal scholar. He was a Professor of Finance Law at the University of Helsinki and one of Finland's leading experts on taxation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helsinki Regional Transport Authority</span> Public transportation authority in Finland

The Helsinki Regional Transport Authority is the inter-municipal authority that maintains the public transportation network of the nine municipalities of Greater Helsinki, Finland.

Aino Nykopp-Koski is a Finnish serial killer. She worked as a nurse and was found guilty of killing five patients and the attempted murder of five more. No motive was established for the murders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CC Slaughters</span> Pair of gay bars and nightclubs in Portland, Oregon and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

CC Slaughters is a gay bar and nightclub located in Portland, Oregon, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The Portland bar is located in the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, and the Puerto Vallarta bar is located in Zona Romántica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cygnaeus Gallery</span>

The Cygnaeus Gallery is an art gallery in Helsinki.

Established by Swedish magazine QX in 1999, the Gaygalan Awards are an annual event created to hand out prizes for LGBT achievements. In 2004, the gala was broadcast for the first time on Sveriges Television when it was held at Hamburger Börs with Annika Lantz as the host.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DTM (nightclub)</span> Gay nightclub in Helsinki, Finland

DTM is an LGBTQ nightclub in Helsinki, Finland. Founded in 1992, it was once the largest gay club in Northern Europe. The venue was initially situated in Helsinki's Kamppi neighborhood, having since relocated twice: first, to Iso Roobertinkatu in Punavuori in 2003, and second, to Mannerheimintie in Kluuvi in 2012. Popular with gay men, DTM also caters to a straight and lesbian customer base. The club's playlists contain primarily pop songs, dance music, techno and Finnish hits, with live entertainment often taking the form of drag shows. Through an agreement with UK-based promoter Klub Kids, DTM hosted visiting performers from RuPaul's Drag Race from January 2019 to early 2020, when the Mannerheimintie venue closed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helsinki City Library</span> Municipal library system in Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki City Library is the largest public library in Finland. Owned by the City of Helsinki, the library has 37 branches and a collection of about 1.56 million books. The City Library is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Libraries network.

Aili Annikki Nenola is professor emerita of the University of Helsinki. Her research specialty was folklore and she pioneered multidisciplinary and critical women's studies in Finland, designing the curricula and introducing courses at the University of Tartu. She later assisted in establishing the national curricula for women's studies, became director of the graduate program in women's studies at the Kristiina Institute, and secured accreditation of the field as a degree major. Nenola was also a participant in creating the curriculum of the Women's Studies Centre of Vilnius, Lithuania. From 1995 to 2006 she taught women's studies at the University of Helsinki and simultaneously served as the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities between 2004 and 2006. In 1999, Nenola was honored as a Knight, first class, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland and was elected to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters in 2002.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mollgren, Sami (18 December 2020). "Yökerho Hercules joutuu luopumaan nykyisestä tilastaan" [Hercules nightclub will have to leave its present location]. Ranneliike.net (in Finnish). Sateenkaariyhteisöt ry. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Montell, Sami (12 July 2020). "Suuri kavallus vei Herculeksen tappiolle" [Massive embezzlement caused losses for Hercules]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Montell, Sami (19 March 2014). "Homobaarien konkari haastattelussa" [Gay bar veteran in an interview]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 "Discovering The Wonders Of LGBTQ Helsinki". Passport Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  5. 1 2 de Camp, Walter (30 March 2004). "Pinkkieurojen metsästäjät - bisnesalueena gay-ravintolat" [The pink euro hunters – gay restaurants in the area of business]. Viisi Tähteä (in Finnish). ISSN   1458-8013. Archived from the original on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Hercules". GayCities. Q.Digital. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  7. 1 2 Stroude, Will (10 January 2020). "Prison break: A gay weekend at Helsinki's famous jail-turned-hotel". Attitude . ISSN   1353-1875. Archived from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Hercules Discos". Yatra . Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  9. ↑ "Hercules". Petit Futé . ISSN   1160-235X. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  10. ↑ "Gay Helsinki: Hercules". Daily Xtra Travel . Pink Triangle Press. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  11. ↑ Montell, Sami (15 November 2014). "Tinder, Grindr, miten käy homoklubien?" [Tinder, Grindr, how does it go in gay clubs?]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Montell, Sami (26 August 2021). "Pian pamahtaa: Hercules avaa ovensa Makkaratalossa" [Coming soon: Hercules to open its doors in Makkaratalo]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  13. 1 2 3 Montell, Sami (29 October 2021). "Hercules III avataan tänään – avoinna joka päivä" [Hercules III to open today—open daily]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 1 November 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  14. 1 2 Nurmi, Juha (27 August 2021). "Yökerho sulkee ovensa! Cheekin jättitappioita tehnyt Skohan väistyy homokapakan tieltä" [Nightclub closes its doors! Skohan, which caused Cheek great losses, makes way for gay club]. Seiska (in Finnish). Aller Media  [ fi ]. Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  15. 1 2 Räty, Hanna (4 July 2020). "DTM on jo toinen hotelli St. Georgen tieltä väistynyt homoyökerho – Apulaispormestari Nasima Razmyarin mukaan lopputulos kertoo Helsingin epäonnistumisesta" [DTM is the second gay club made to get out of hotel St. George's way – According to Deputy Mayor Nasima Razmyar, this result says something about Helsinki's failings]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). ISSN   0355-2047. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  16. ↑ Montell, Sami (8 December 2015). "Hercules joutuu sulkemaan ovensa" [Hercules must close its doors]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  17. ↑ Mollgren, Sami (5 February 2016). "Helsinkiläinen yökerho Hercules julkisti uuden sijaintinsa" [Helsinki nightclub Hercules announces its new location]. Ranneliike.net  [ fi ] (in Finnish). Sateenkaariyhteisöt ry. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  18. ↑ Montell, Sami (12 April 2017). "Gay-klubi Hercules some-kohun pyörityksessä" [Gay club Hercules embroiled in social media controversy]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  19. ↑ Montell, Sami (16 April 2017). "Herculeksen omistaja vastaa rasismisyytöksiin" [Hercules' owner responds to racism accusations]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  20. 1 2 Montell, Sami (17 December 2020). "Hercules etsii uutta liiketilaa - kiinteistökauppa ajaa yökerhon pois jo toistamiseen" [Hercules is looking for a new space—real estate transaction drives nightclub out again]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  21. ↑ Paastela, Kaisa (13 October 2020). "HS: Nämä helsinkiläisbaarit pysyvät kiinni nyt kokonaan – 'Myynti oli 7% normaalista'" [HS: These Helsinki bars are now closed entirely: "Sales were 7% of normal"]. Helsingin Uutiset (in Finnish). ISSN   2489-4907. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  22. ↑ Montell, Sami (19 April 2020). "Hercules tarjoaa koronaviihdettä – raflaavien vieraiden talk show alkaa" [Hercules offering COVID entertainment; talk show with sensational guests starting]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  23. ↑ Montell, Sami (29 April 2020). "Hercules muutettiin tv-studioksi ja sieltä striimataan täyslaidallinen viihdettä korona-vappuun!" [Hercules has transformed into a TV studio and is streaming entertainment for a COVID May Day!]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  24. ↑ Tainola, Rita (14 May 2020). "Saara Aalto esiintyy tänään viisuteemaisessa lähetyksessä – laulaa kaikki kappaleet, joilla on pyrkinyt Suomen edustajaksi" [Saara Aalto performs today in Eurovision-themed broadcast, singing all the songs she's competed with to become Finland's Eurovision representative]. Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). ISSN   1798-9760. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  25. ↑ Montell, Sami (10 September 2020). "Herculeksen Queer of the Year -kilpailu tähdittää Pride-lauantain esikuvilla" [Hercules' Queer of the Year competition stars Pride Saturday's role models]. QX (in Finnish). ISSN   1401-1794. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  26. ↑ Mollgren, Sami (27 August 2021). "Yökerho Hercules avaamassa syksyllä Helsingin Citycenterissä eli Makkaratalossa" [Hercules nightclub to open in the autumn in Helsinki's Citycenter, a.k.a. Makkaratalo]. Ranneliike.net (in Finnish). Sateenkaariyhteisöt ry. Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  27. ↑ Tabberer, Jamie (11 April 2017). "9 places to take a date in Helsinki". Gay Star News . Archived from the original on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  28. ↑ Koskela, Miika (13 September 2020). "'Yhteiskunnan homosaatio on todellista', murjaisee HLBTQ-klubeista näyttelyn tehnyt Janne Siironen, ja valokuvat Helsingin yöstä sen todistavat" ['The gayification of society is real', jokes Janne Siironen, creator of an exhibition about LGBTQ clubs; photographs of the Helsinki night prove it]. Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). Yle. ISSN   1798-4734. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.