Hercules (nightclub)

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Coordinates: 60°10′12″N 24°56′33″E / 60.1701°N 24.9425°E / 60.1701; 24.9425
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Hercules
metro)
OwnerMoek Trading Oy (Erkki Koski and Mika Olkkonen)
Type
Opened30 August 2000 (2000-08-30)

Hercules is a

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.

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

SARS-CoV-2 virus.[12] It is open from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily.[13]

History

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

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 [fi], 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]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^
    ISSN 1401-1794. Archived
    from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  3. ^
    ISSN 1401-1794. Archived
    from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "Discovering The Wonders Of LGBTQ Helsinki". Passport Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  5. ^
    ISSN 1458-8013. Archived from the original
    on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Hercules". GayCities. Q.Digital. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  7. ^
    ISSN 1353-1875. Archived
    from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Hercules Discos". Yatra. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  9. 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. ISSN 1401-1794. Archived
    from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  12. ^
    ISSN 1401-1794. Archived
    from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  13. ^
    ISSN 1401-1794. Archived
    from the original on 1 November 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  14. ^
    Seiska (in Finnish). Aller Media [fi]. Archived
    from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  15. ^
    ISSN 0355-2047. Archived
    from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  16. ISSN 1401-1794. Archived
    from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  17. ry. Archived
    from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  18. ISSN 1401-1794. Archived
    from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  19. ISSN 1401-1794. Archived
    from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  20. ^
    ISSN 1401-1794. Archived
    from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  21. ISSN 2489-4907. Archived
    from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  22. ISSN 1401-1794. Archived
    from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  23. ISSN 1401-1794. Archived
    from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  24. ISSN 1798-9760. Archived
    from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  25. 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. ISSN 1798-4734. Archived
    from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2021.

External links

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