Welcome To The Brand New Renovated, Innovative Evolution in Jackson Heights!
Eddie Valentin, owner, and Nefti Rios, Manager, of the newly renovated Club Evolution are welcoming everyone to come celebrate the reopening and brand new parties that are about to make history in the club scene.
The bar is located at 76–19 Roosevelt Ave. at the corner of 77th Street in Jackson Heights, Queens. The Next Big Circuit Invasion is on Friday, July 24, with DJ Obra Primativa and DJ Kenneth Rivera with Vocals By MEG Singing Live and Willie Star Estrella with His GoGo Gods!
Eddie, tell us a little about the new renovations at the club.Is the club opened yet?
Yes, we have been officially open for the past two months but are still adding awesome stuff like LED TVs to the bathroom to keep our customers informed of our main events. We invested over $150,000 into the club. It has a complete makeover, with a SoHo-Meets-South Beach look, a new 20,000 watt soundsystem, a new VIP dancefloor for 15 clients, a new raised 60-person VIP area by the main bar, new dancefloor lights and just a complete clean new look. The club was gutted out, and everything is brand new. The bar was 16 years old and needed a fresh, modern look. After all, we have to live up to our name.
Are you the original owner?
Yes, I’ve always owned it together with my partner Casimiro Villa.
What made you decide to do all these expensive renovations?
The biggest reason for my renovation was because in the past we were known as Club Atlantis. When we decided to become Evolution, people wanted something new. I actually hired somebody to redesign the space for me, and my customers and I weren’t quite happy. The club, being called Evolution, didn’t have anything wild and contemporary about it. It wasn’t great. Customers would come to me and remind me that it’s called Evolution but that its not “evolutionized.” They wanted something new, high definition, high-tech and more wow. That was part of the reason we decided to give the club a complete upgrade. Besides all the upgrades, we also installed over 40 outlets for regular and USB cell phone plugs throughout the club, and it’s free. The customer had no place to charge their phones, so now we have more than 40 places to do so.
That’s probably the smartest thing anyone has ever done.
Actually, for the last four years that we’ve been Evolution, I have been listening to the customers. Whatever input they had to make the club better, I listened and wrote it down. Every suggestion led me open Notes on my iPhone, where I was able to write four years worth of improvements. I told my contractor that I wanted to renovate the space myself, because I knew what the people wanted and needed from the club. Thank God we did it. I’ve been hearing many compliments, especially the bathrooms. Customers wanted brand-new bathrooms, and we gave them that too. We have separate lights and speakers for happy hour, so everyone is happy! We kept a large sound on the dancefloor but yet you can still talk in the other areas.
What happens on each of the nights now?
Once we got the new look, the next thing we needed was a new management because of the fact that I needed fresh eyes. So we brought Nefti in as part of the fresh eyes of the team. Basically he’s creating new nights. Saturdays and Mondays are my best nights, and we get over 350 customers each night. We brought Nefti in to help with the other five nights, and he started on Fridays with the Circuit Invasion. When I met Nefti, he was a big promoter in Puerto Rico. He started something at our club called CIRCUIT INVASION. By taking DJs and strippers from the city and bringing them into Queens, it’s sort of a merger between Queens and Manhattan, so you have a Manhattan look and parties but Queens’ friendliness and reasonable drink prices. He started this the weekend of Gay Pride. That’s where he got his feet wet, and that’s where he and I developed a very good working relationship. He is a marketing guru, and now there’s two of us. We decided that we could be a team and work well together. So his first real party as the official manager was July 3 when he brought DJ Hannah, who is very well known from Matinee, and DJ Obra Primitiva, who is another well-known, high-energy DJ. This was a hugely successful party, which attracted close to 400 party people. With these Friday night parties, we are trying to reach out to potential customers who aren’t so into the Latin sound but want a euphoric house beat and incredible mixing by the best DJs in the world. But for my Salseros and Latin music lovers, we kept the back lounge as a Latin room with DJ Eddie Cruz. With this party, we were able to bring people into Queens that don’t normally go to Queens clubs. When they saw a new look and not only heard but felt the new pumping sound, they fell in love with the place.
What are your hours?
Our hours are 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. every day. Yes, we have a happy hour: 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. every day with only $4 drinks.
I interviewed one of your DJs, Ed Wood.
Nefti is actually the manager of Ed Wood, and he also owns Color Events in Puerto Rico.
Actually, Nefti brought Ed Wood here as we are trying to reposition ourselves. We flew him in from Puerto Rico. He’s a top 5 finalist at Matinee. With Club Atlantis, we were getting people from neighboring boroughs and even from neighboring states. Now we are again trying to appeal to the party people from Washington, D.C. all the way up to Boston. We guarantee that the music, the look and our bartenders will be simply perfect.
Are you bartenders this hot?
They got body and face, but more importantly they have PERSONALITY and zero attitude! Did I mention the great tattoos? Did I say they work shirtless? Viva los muscles! We are also trying to identify niches in the community that Latin clubs dont really market. For example, we want to throw a great bear party.
What would you say is the future for Evolution?
I want people to know it’s a guaranteed place to go and have a good time. We want to put it out there so that we’re not just known in Queens, but in the other boroughs, and then the other states and even internationally. We will be inviting DJs from all over the world, and just recently got in contact with one from Rio De Janeiro. On Friday, August 7, we are flying in DJ Nando from Los Angeles, who won the DJ Matinee Contest in 2014. We are repositioning ourselves because our customers asked for it and because we know we can do it. Club Evolution: A Star Is Reborn!
76-19 Roosevelt Ave,
Jackson Heights; Queens, NY
(718) 457-3939
facebook.com/eclubnyc
eclubnyc.com
