Scandals Nightclub

Scandals had its final curtain call in early March 2025, after announcing it would not renew its lease in the historic Grove Street building in downtown Asheville. [www.bpr.org] Scandals was originally founded in 1982 by the late Art Fryar, described as a community organizer, entrepreneur, and trained classical dancer. [www.bpr.org] Fryar ran the club until the early 2000s; he died in 2006. [www.bpr.org] The chandelier that hung in the center of the nightclub for decades was installed by the club's owners in memory of Fryar, whose drag name was Crystal Chandelier. [www.bpr.org] Drag performers Celeste Starr and Aurora Borealis performed for decades at the club, per the article. [www.bpr.org] Former bartender Joanna Knowles described Fryar's significance to the club's patrons. [www.bpr.org] Knowles recalled Fryar's message to patrons in a hostile social climate. [www.bpr.org] Scandals' final show was scheduled for Saturday, March 1. [wlos.com] The article describes the club as having opened over four decades earlier and having been a staple in the Asheville area. [wlos.com] A farewell brunch celebrating the club's history was held on Feb. 23, 2025, bringing together past and present performers. [wlos.com] Performer Celeste Starr described the club's significance in her life. [wlos.com] Scandals was founded in 1982 by Art Fryar, a community organizer, entrepreneur and trained classical dancer, as a place to dance, drink, see drag shows and get politically involved. [www.bpr.org] It closed in early March 2025 after announcing it would not renew its lease on the Grove Street building in downtown Asheville. [www.bpr.org] In its early years it was one of only a few safe places in Asheville for LGBTQ people to go. It held drag shows, dance parties and benefits for nonprofits including the Western North Carolina AIDS Project. [www.bpr.org] Joanna Knowles, who first went at nineteen and later bartended there, described what the room did for people who came in. [www.bpr.org] She distinguished the club from a business and Fryar from a businessman. [www.bpr.org] Knowles remembers a night when Fryar stopped the dancing to bring the activist Leni Sitnik on stage — Sitnik became Asheville's first woman mayor in 1997 — and questioned her in front of the crowd. [www.bpr.org] Fryar ran the club until the early 2000s, and Knowles credits that period with activating queer voters. [www.bpr.org] Fryar died in 2006. After his death the club lost some of its political charge but remained a place for dancing and drag. The owners who followed installed a chandelier in the centre of the room in his memory; his drag name was Crystal Chandelier. [www.bpr.org] Celeste Starr and Aurora Borealis performed at the club for decades, and it drew out-of-state performers. [www.bpr.org] The drag queen Faytriana Brown, who went on to win state and regional titles, said in an oral history interview that the club's standards shaped her. [www.bpr.org] Knowles is working with Amanda Wray, a professor of gender and sexuality studies at UNC-Asheville who runs a regional LGBTQ+ archive, to preserve the club's history. Wray is collecting trophies, plaques, memorials and flyers, and plans to photograph the chandelier. [www.bpr.org] The club's own page gives its founding as 1982 and counts its run in the same terms as its trade. The page carries a 2018 copyright by Cahoots Inc. [www.scandalsnightclub.com] Its address is 11 Grove Street, Asheville, North Carolina 28801, and it describes itself as the heart of the Grove House Entertainment Complex. [www.scandalsnightclub.com] The room could be run on its own or combined with Club Eleven on Grove and the Boiler Room, depending on the size of the event. [www.scandalsnightclub.com] The page claims a long line of titled performers from local and national pageantry systems, along with fully featured Broadway-style productions, and describes the club as a place for open expression and recognition. [www.scandalsnightclub.com] Scandals nightclub, a safe haven for LGBTQ patrons in downtown Asheville, closed in early March 2025 after not renewing its lease in the historic Grove Street building, ending a run of more than four decades. [www.bpr.org] Scandals was founded in 1982 by Art Fryar, a community organizer, entrepreneur and trained classical dancer, and served as a place to dance, drink, see drag shows and get politically involved. [www.bpr.org] The club hosted drag shows, dance parties and benefits for nonprofits including the Western North Carolina AIDS Project. [www.bpr.org] Former Scandals bartender Joanna Knowles described the club's founder and what he created there. [www.bpr.org] Drag queens Celeste Starr and Aurora Borealis performed for decades at Scandals, and the club was also a destination for out-of-state drag talent. [www.bpr.org] Drag queen Faytriana Brown recalled performing at Scandals as a young adult and credited the club with elevating her craft before she went on to win state and regional drag titles. [www.bpr.org] Fryar ran the club until the early 2000s and used it as a site of LGBTQ political mobilization, at one point bringing activist Leni Sitnik, who would become Asheville's first woman mayor in 1997, to address the crowd. [www.bpr.org] After Fryar died in 2006, the club's owners installed a chandelier in his memory, referencing his drag name, Crystal Chandelier. [www.bpr.org] UNC-Asheville professor Amanda Wray, who runs a regional LGBTQ+ archive, is collecting trophies, plaques, flyers and other memorabilia from Scandals to preserve its history. [www.bpr.org]

“It was so much more than a dance club, and Art was so much more than a businessman.” [www.bpr.org]

“In a world where much of society was saying, ‘You’re dirty, You’re disgusting,’ Art was saying, ‘You’re gorgeous. Here’s a spotlight’.” [www.bpr.org]

“When you turn 18, where do you go? You go to Scandals and dance all night long. I have that experience, and I mean I've met a lot of people, and I've just had the time of my life working here.” [wlos.com]

“During that time, a lot of queer folks were just constantly carrying fear and hiding themselves and as soon as you walked in that door, you got to drop it” [www.bpr.org]

“In a world where much of society was saying, ‘You're dirty, You're disgusting,’ Art was saying, ‘You're gorgeous. Here's a spotlight’” [www.bpr.org]

“It's the first time I as a young person realized that politicians work for us and that we have power and that we have a responsibility to each other to get informed and to show up.” [www.bpr.org]

“Because to be on the show at Scandals you had to have fresh tights, you had to have body, you had to have nails, you had to be together.” [www.bpr.org]

“The longevity of Scandals Nightclub is almost unheard of in this type of business, with over 35 years of service to the Asheville community.” [www.scandalsnightclub.com]

“It was so much more than a dance club, and Art was so much more than a businessman.” [www.bpr.org]

“Coming to Asheville, I got polished. Because to be on the show at Scandals you had to have fresh tights, you had to have body, you had to have nails, you had to be together.” [www.bpr.org]