Iconic Buckhead nightclub Johnny's Hideaway celebrates 40th anniversary
ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - It’s a true Atlanta institution, a place where local folks (and some celebrities) can let their hair down, have a drink, and dance like nobody’s watching. And this week, Buckhead’s iconic Johnny’s Hideaway is celebrating a major milestone with a celebration to which we’re all invited!
Johnny’s Hideaway is marking its 40th anniversary with a party on Thursday, April 25th – and will be serving up complimentary cocktails and a buffet of menu items starting at 8:00 p.m.
We probably don’t need to tell you this – because chances are you’ve spent a night or two there – but Johnny’s Hideaway is the famed Buckhead nightclub that features walls covered in music memorabilia and a packed floor that only plays classic dance hits. Disco tunes including “I Will Survive” and “Play That Funky Music” are so synonymous with Johnny’s Hideaway that it might surprise you to learn that back in 1979, visiting Johnny’s Hideaway was a very different experience.
“[It] started out as a big band, dressy club,” says current owner Chris D’Auria. “Everybody had to be dressed up, no hats, no T-shirts, no jeans, even on guys.”
That changed when the club hired a disco DJ, and things got a little more relaxed. Since then, Johnny’s Hideaway has gained a reputation as a place where people come to have fun and – according to D’Auria – sometimes come away with “colorful” stories.
“Some are great,” he says. “You know, ‘I met my wife here, we’ve been married 17 years, blah blah blah.’ But most of them are, ‘I met my wife here, we got divorced two years later … I met my second wife here, we got divorced two years later!’ And then the going joke amongst the staff is, who gets the Hideaway in the divorce?”
In honor of the club’s 40th anniversary, club DJ Jack Pena (otherwise known as DJ Happy Jack) has put together a “Johnny’s Hideaway Top 40 Playlist,” available on Spotify. Here are the 40 songs that never fail to get Hideaway patrons moving on the dance floor:
- “Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry
- “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor
- “Love Shack” by The B-52s
- “Conga” by Miami Sound Machine
- “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins
- “Dancing Queen” by Abba
- “This is How We Do It” by Montel Jordan
- “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations
- “The Way You Look Tonight” by Frank Sinatra
- “Build Me Up Buttercup” by The Foundations
- “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” by Michael Jackson
- “What is Love” by Haddaway
- “Another Night” by Real McCoy
- “You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon
- “You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC
- “Stuck in the Middle” by Stealers Wheel
- “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars
- “Kiss” by Prince
- “I Gotta Feeling’” by Black Eyed Peas
- “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye
- “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston
- “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley
- “Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley
- “My Way” by Frank Sinatra
- “Stayin Alive” by Bee Gees
- “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire
- “I Need to Know” by Marc Anthony
- “Brick House” by Commodores
- “Brown-Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison
- “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” by Shania Twain
- “Smooth” by Santana
- “Bailando” by Enrique Iglesias
- “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks
- “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield
- “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson
- “The First, the Last, My Everything” by Barry White
- “Sexy Back” by Justin Timberlake
- “Bust a Move” by Young MC
- “Under Pressure” by Queen
- “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond