The Paradise Garage Retrospection; a Career in Lighting.

How I started Working at the Paradise Garage:

Hello, my name is Ralph Curtis and welcome to my Blog.

After my first time dancing at the club, I went back a few weeks later to hang out with my friend Peter, this time it wasn’t to dance but to get a glimpse behind the curtain and meet some of the people responsible for operating this fantastic night club. Peter worked on the tech crew, which was responsible for the clubs lighting designs, electrics, built and maintained the set decor and theme designs. So as you might imagine these people seemed almost magical to me.

Peter introduced me to the guys on the tech crew at that time, Fortino Jimenez, Stephen Ziegler, and  Derek Vasquez, from there we went around to meet everyone else. We headed to the offices, and I met the manager Mickey Schmolar, and assistant manager Jose’ Lynn. We crossed the back lounge and hit the kitchen where I met Kenny Eubanks and Ricky, then across to the coat room where I met Bobby and Juan. We made the rounds to the other departments meeting so many great people, finally ending up at the front door where I was introduced to Noel, The Front Door Host, the young man who let me in the club my first visit.

I am leaving out a litany of names like Edgardo and Lilianna who worked at the clubs entrance, not to mention all of the security people Joey Llanos and Louis Morrales, so forgive me for that.

Here is our Tenth Anniversary Photo, please note that there are a few people missing from this image and it is not complete.
I am on the third row from the top, second in from the right next to Mickey. My buddy Peter is sitting on the bottom row, legs crossed all the way on the left.

The last stop Peter and I made was to go into the DJ Booth. There I met DJs David DePino and Joey Llanos, 2 of the greatest guys you would ever want to know. David was playing that night and Joey was assisting, as well as being chief of security.

The club was jumping just like the night I went weeks before, the music was as engaging as ever, and people were making the dance-floor move. Peter moved over to the lighting desk and began to do the lights on the dancefloor. I watched him in complete amazement…. He was playing along with the songs and making the lights on the dancefloor respond in kind. I didn’t know it then, but that was the moment which started my career in lighting design. I was amazed at how he could tell a story about the music by using the lighting effects, I was seriously impressed. I watched Peter do the lights for an hour or so, then we left the booth to roam about the club a bit more and party with some of the staff. I met so many people that night it was hard to keep track of, Hector, Mongo, Bill, and Patrick who was the clubs Floral Designer. There were just so many people and friends that made that place tick it was amazing.

When I left that morning, I was thinking what a great bunch of people, everyone seemed friendly and at ease, and it seemed everyone really enjoyed their jobs, how could you not what a great atmosphere this was, I was totally blown away. I ended up returning to the club a few more times over the next few months getting to know everyone on the tech crew a little more. They were becoming friends which was something I needed outside of my neighbourhood and people I knew from work at the hospital.

One particular night they needed some help in the coatroom as Juan did not come in, so Mickey, the club's manager asked me if I wanted to help Bobby out for the night, of course I said yes. The next thing I knew I was working part time in the coat room on the weekends. The Coatroom was a complete blast, Bobby Feliece was the most interesting and funny person I had ever met, mind you, at this point in my life, I had never been around gay people before and getting to know Bobby was a learning event.
Bobby was as masculine as any straight guy I had known, if fact if you didn't know he was gay, you wouldn't have known. I always use to say if I got into a scrap, having Bobby watch my back would be no problem. This man was hysterical, he had tons of stories and could tell a joke. The coatroom had its sporadic moments of intense work, you had to be fast going up and down those isles storing peoples coats and belongings, then retrieving them at the end of the party, but hanging out and partying with Bobby made it a great gig.
(Bobby is in the staff photo, second row from the top first person on the left).

One week I went in to the club with Peter during the afternoon, the tech crews work week started on Wednesday from 10:00am to 6:00pm, Thursday's hours were the same. On Fridays they started at noon and worked until the club opened at Mid-Night. Saturdays they worked from 8:00 pm until Mid-Night. That was the weekly routine however, if there was a special party that weekend, the work hours and days varied accordingly. Anyway, this one day I went in with Peter during the week and hung out with him while he worked, well I didn’t just hang out, I helped him a little bit here and there it was no big deal, but this didn’t go unnoticed. The lighting director Fortino saw I had some knowledge of wiring and cable runs.  See, I knew a bit about wiring cables before I went into the Corps, and when I finally joined the Marines, I was a Communications Specialist and attended C & E School in 29 Palms California, so I gained knowledge about electronics it was a solid base for what was coming next.
I didn’t know it then but my job at the club was going to change.

This one Friday, I had gone in early for my coatroom gig and was hanging in the shop with Peter and the rest of the tech crew. Earlier, Kenny Eubanks, who was the backstage manager as well as the nightclubs Chef, decided he no longer wanted to work that backstage position. So, while I was in the shop, Mickey the club's manager, came and asked me if I wanted to do the backstage manager's gig.
I was completely floored, as this sort of thing was way over my head, if any of you remember the acts that played at the Garage you know what I mean, Whitney Houston, Grace Jones, you get the picture... anyway the guys on the crew seemed to think I could handle it so I agreed to do it.
That was the beginning of me being near, on, or around a Stage.

That first night was intimidating to say the least, I went over all the protocols with Joey Llanos the head of security, and the show cues with Fortino the Lighting Director. I believe it was Colonel Abrams who performed that night, I can't be sure, but the show went off without a hitch. I was in such a state that the zombie apocalypse could have happened, and I wouldn't have noticed, as I was just way too focused on not screwing up.
 Anyway, after the show was finished, we all ended up in the shop were everyone was congratulating me on not screwing up... I took a bit of ribbing, but it was all in good fun. It was then that Fortino Jimenez asked me if I wanted to join the tech crew, completely honoured and beside myself, I said yes without hesitation. On a technical side-note it was at that point the job of backstage manager was merged into the tech crew, yes that is an odd mention, but if you work in the production industry you know this was an obvious progression.

I think I worked at Mount Sinai for another week or so, then I began working at the Paradise Garage full time, this was the end of 1983 the beginning of 1984.

In retrospect, that was a pivotal moment in my life, Fortino asking me to join the crew set my career choices and my life on the path I am on today. I spent the last 30-some-odd years in the production industry as a lighting designer and a production technician. Being a lighting designer gave me the opportunity to work in a lot of places outside of the U.S. I met a ton of people from all walks of life, I have worked with a variety of talent from Jerry Lee Lewis to Phish, I even did a gig with Martha Stewart if you can believe that... lol.  Years later I would look back and realize how far I came since those Garage days, how much I experienced and how much I have learned.  At one point in all of this, I even had my own tent lighting company in Montreal that ran for 7 or so years. None of this would have happened without the Paradise Garage.    Thank You Fortino.

Note: more info on the tech crew can be found here: 
https://tail-end-boomer.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-paradise-garage-retrospection.html

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