Twelve years ago Bart Johnson, Nathan Powers and Ken McIntyre purchased the straight dance club Metro, located in the heart of Hillcrest on University Ave., with the intention of opening up a gay club to rival any other in the area. Twelve years later the club is still going strong, packing in crowds every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.

“A lot of times people are in this business for three to five years,” said Rich’s manager Ken Jordan, who has been with the club for 11 years. “They’re in the business to come in, be popular, make a lot of money and get out. Our philosophy is that we are here for the duration. We come into a community to become part of the community.”

The building that the club calls home has been a bar since the ’50s, when it was known as Mickie Finn’s speakeasy. Later it was Mr. Dillon’s, a gay club that eventually became Metro.

The club has been able to maintain its popularity by hosting a number of theme parties, including the Studio 54 party, which will blast the club with classic disco tunes this Saturday night. In addition to theme parties the club has also featured performances from a number of singers, including Lonnie Gordon, Kim English, Kristine W and even Ru Paul in the early days of her career.

“With any nightclub you want to stay cutting edge and bring in the best entertainment and a feeling of welcomeness and friendliness,” Jordan said. “But we also look at it completely in the long term; everything we do today is for tomorrow.”

One of their most popular nights was Club Hedonism, which ran for ten years on Thursday nights. “Industry wide, world wide, a club to run 10 years is, like, unheard of,” said Jordan. “What was cutting edge about that was we basically took the rave scene and brought it into a controlled environment.”

The night was so popular that it drew a mixed crowd that ranged from ravers and club kids to surfers, skaters and college students, gay, straight and bisexual.

One of the community’s most popular bartenders and personalities, Big Mike, has called the bar home for 11 years.

“It’s opened a lot of doors in the community for me,” Big Mike said in an interview with the Gay and Lesbian Times. “I have seen some good times and some bad times, and I’ve seen some times I wish I hadn’t seen. I have to say, overall it’s been a really enlightening and growing experience for me.”