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Mon. 9:00 p.m. - 3:00 a.m.
Thu. 10:00 p.m. - 3:00 a.m.
Fri-Sat. 10:00 p.m. - 2:30 a.m.
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If I had a club of choice in Ybor it would have to be this one. It is one of those true alternative club where the music is good, the alcohol is cheap and strong.
I used to go to this club when I was 18+ and usually clubs 18+ are not "as cool" when you get old enough to legally drink but this defies the odds.
I would recommend this club also for lesbians, it's definetly one of those gay but not gay bars.
LURVE IT!
This place is a Tampa institution for alternative subcultures. If you live in Tampa and have not been here to get your dose of subculture education, then shame on you.
I have been involved in the Goth scene for over 17 years (yes I am getting old), and it is not just a phase for most people. I have been coming here on and off for over 13 years now. The Castle is one of the most highly regarded clubs in America as far as the Gothic Rock and Industrial scene go. You can come here to hear the latest music from both genres as well as see some of the most beautiful people outside of New York City or Los Angeles.
The main reason to come here is to listen/learn about music and dance. If people are looking for hook-up, dance in pairs, find drugs, or have bad behavior; then this is definitely not the place for you. Many people will find that just because someone dresses differently that they do not act that different. It is the people that look normal that are the real freaks, and commit insane crimes and are mentally unstable.
There is an 80's night, dance remix music night, indie rock/electroclash night, Coffin Classics, and Industrial nights. Something for almost anyone. The 80's night is also well known because they play the artists videos on the screens as the music is playing on the dance floor, and some of the stuff is quite rare.
I mainly attend the Saturday night because it is industrial upstairs, and I get drinks in the smaller upstairs room. There are really good mixed drinks for $3.00. I have not purchased drinks at the downstairs bar yet, but on Saturdays they spin 1990's Industrial and Darkwave on the back patio. It is a great place to get away from the smoke and reminisce about the 90's.
The cover is usually under $10.00, unless it is special event. Check their website for details on event nights. The drinks can be expensive in the main dance room and a lack of good service, but the smaller second upstairs bar has some great mixed drink specials.
Some of the patrons can be quite stuck up acting at first, but they will warm up to you eventually, especially if you attend often. There are also a slew of stupid people that have glowsticks and bump into you, but you will find that anywhere at a non-dress code type club. There are also many "normal" or "plain dressed" jeans and T-shirt type people that just go there to look at everyone and laugh, but they find out eventually that it is pretty cool and that vampires really don't exist. There are also some older fetish type people wearing stuff that is not so flattering, but I give them props for their confidence.
People watching is not a crime at The Castle and there is no dress code, so come as you are and learn something new about music, culture, dancing, and fashion.
I dragged my friend Elena out to play so I could get my first experience of Tampa nightlife. When it comes to going out, I like to stick to goth clubs, gay bars, and places that have a wide variety of music and a "come as you are" feel. None of the pretentious BS and I don't have to hear that one song about the Apple bottom jeans and the boots with the fur. So Castle it was.
We noticed almost no one was dancing (one dude was stompin around alone and there was a kid with glowsticks). I'm paranoid about looking like a jackass so I wait until things get a little busier. I like to people watch so all is good.
95% of the clientele that night fit into the two categories:
"I'm 16 but I have a fake ID and shop exclusively at hot topic. I'm so rebellious and gawthic! Look at my Tripp pants, fishnet shirt, and trench-coat with buckles!" and
older people hanging at the bar drinking alone, not talking to other people.
The remaining 5% accounts for people who wandered in mistakenly and didn't fit in.
I like the "goth" music scene - industrial, synth pop, whatever. Some of it is kind of -eh- but that's how all genres go. I've gone to goth/alt clubs in south Florida and loved everything the DJs played. Whoever was DJing the night I went sucked for 80% of the music choices and lineup (really fast tempo to slooow to slooow to mid tempo). I can understand music that is more in tune with interpretive dance (i.e. super slow chillout-esque) being played in a lounge type place, but there's a huge dancefloor! Play stuff that you can at least dance to (or stomp to or the leaf waving in the wind thing that super skinny goth girls do- you know, the generic goth girl dancing crap). After an agreement with my friend of "if he doesn't play something good in the next 5 songs, we're leaving," we left.
The people were dull and weren't into dancing or socializing (something that was ALWAYS big at the goth places I have been to). I'm used to friendly goths that at least make eye contact and don't live in their little clique. I saw more people txting on their cells by themselves or running around trying to "look cool" than anything. Where are the corsetted geishas, non-mainstream goths, and attractive (and fashionable!) gogo/burlesque girls that I miss so much? Not at castle.
And then it hit me. I've never been to a goth club where people under 21 were a main portion of the clientele, let alone even allowed in (soFL is notorious for most places being 21+ just based on local laws). It felt like I was babysitting or something, so many kids running around. And I'm only 22!
I wish the morgue in Miami still existed, but I'll survive with an occasional trip to Respectable's in West Palm. Not sure I'll ever stop by castle again, to be honest.
Now get off my lawn, your pleather platform boots are messing up the grass.
I've been to the Castle about 20 times over the years and it's all pretty much the same and it's exactly what you think it's gonna be. Goth kids all gussied up and old men in Peter Pan drag. It is what it is as the saying goes. The bartenders could use some hustle and the prices could ease back some but otherwise...not many surprises unless you have been living in the woods your whole life.
Last time I was there I believe the cape count settled around 11 or 12. Not sure what that means exactly, just that there were at least 11 guys in capes. So there you go.
This place is NOT my scene whatsoever, so it is hard to give a glowing review....especially since my clean cut preppy looking ass stuck out like a sore thumb here.
Went on a Friday night. This place is decorated very well and is quite fitting for the theme. It is HUGE for a club. The goth people on the dance floor and the risers were dancing in this slow-mo robotic way with some surprisingly good, although really dark, music playing.
I have never been in any club that looks like this and where goth folks can gather and do whatever it is they do.
God help me.
Wait, I mean Satan help me,
Wait! No. I mean....Trent Reznor help me.
This place continues to be amazing. And by amazing I mean disturbing. And by disturbing I mean FANTASTIC. How is it humanly possible for people like this to continue to exist? HOW?
When I was 18 (many many eons ago), I would frequent The Castle. Way back in 2003, the idea of being Goth in Florida wasn't really so cliche. Well, it still isn't cliche apparently. The jaded Californian in me wants to laugh and point fingers at people here, but they're having a good time.
Like the guy sporting the waist-length leather coat stomp-dancing around the patio to Nine Inch Nails. That's.....cool.
Or the bevvy of fake-titted Goth girls sequestered in a dark and shadowy corner...wearing extravagant corsets and straightening the yarn in their dreds whilst smoking cloves and glaring at all who dare trespass.
This place is great.
The bartenders, however....No. Just no. When I walk into a bar, I truly expect the bartenders to realize that I am not someone who WANTS booze, I am someone who NEEDS booze. I dislike waiting a long time for my alcohol. I'm here to drink. Give me what I need or get a shitty tip, guy in the shiny shirt with flames emblazoned on the front. I realize that I cannot compare to your badassery, but please. Help me out, here.
$6 dollars is about the running rate to get in the doors here if you're 21+, and it's ohhhhhh so worth it. Look for The Senator, a Castle staple. He's easy to spot. Just look for a 60-year-old man with white hair pussyfooting around in see-through negligee and a too tight thong. He's twinkle toes around you and coyly wink at you. If he thinks you're cute he'll sit in your lap and call you "sweetie."
Things might change in the outside world: gas gets cheaper, gas gets more expensive, we elect a new president, fashions evolve, popular music changes...But The Castle remains the same.
Oh, The Castle! What is there to say - so much and so little at the same time. Personally, I like the castle - scratch that, I love The Castle. It is the perfect place to sit back like a fly on the wall and do what I do best in these type of places - drink some and people watch (mostly for my own amusement, mind you).
I even got liquored enough to dance on the dance floor once, and since I can't dance, I didn't stick out like a soar thumb at all! Seriously. The way some of the characters dance in this place is like, WHOA. It's neither a good or bad whoa - just whoa.
Some people do their goth/vampire thing. Some people do their drag thing. Some people gawk. Some people make fun. Some people look scared. I mostly watch and have a good time with whomever I'm with.
It's one of those places I recommend people check out at least once.
The Castle has been, and continues to be, the one place that never really disappoints when I go out. Granted, that's mostly on Thursday or Monday nights, and not on their bread-and-butter goth nights, but still.
If you've never been, the best way to describe it would be a two-story palace of sensory overload, complete with high-tech lighting, gothic decor, lightening-fast bartenders, huge sound systems, and plush couches, if your feet get tired.. To de-romanticize it for a moment: picture everything SOAKED in cigarette smoke, and then get the hell over it.
I hate to say it, but you will not get noticed for what you're wearing unless you're just wearing fishnet and your hair is on fire (and maybe not then). The upside to this: everyone at the Castle is laissez-faire, so you can basically go out with friends and be totally yourself. It can get over-crowded, but I've never had a bad night because of the people there.
Let me echo VJ Mike: this is NOT a "gay bar". Sunday nights are a gay-themed party (which is starting to play some real cutting edge stuff) and queer people show up here and there on each night, but if you don't mess with anyone, they're not going to mess with you. Labels really don't have a place at The Castle. In fact, the last time I was out, I found myself meeting an entire gang who usually run a straight-as-they-come country western bar. If you're that uptight that you think the Castle is a gay club, you might as well spend your nights watching "The Cosby Show" on TBS.
Monday night is 80s/Progressive, which f**king rocks and has the most fulfilling dancefloor experience compared to busier nights. Thursday is Video/Electro/Pop, with some hip-hop and Lonely Island thrown in. I don't leave a Thursday without totally sweating through my clothes from dancing...it's a completely euphoric experience. Friday and Saturday are goth/fetish staples in Tampa. I don't have a leather harness and platform boots ready, so I tend not to show up for the mostly-industrial-dark-dance nights, although my friends just show up in jeans and t-shirts, so there you go.
The place is cash only, which can suck, but they have an ATM (and with the sheer volume of people in and out, it's better that they don't mix your card up with someone else's). Every night tends to have some kind of drink special, but nothing is cheaper than $3.
So, if you want a night out at a place where you can mix it up, move around, and possibly catch the inspiration to dance all night, hit the Castle.
Time to set things straight since I see some folks on here can't get their descriptions right...
.As the guy who VJs on Thursday it irks me when anyone tries to label who comes out on my night. You don't need to be gay to enjoy it and hell if playing pop music along with indie stuff means you have to be gay, you need a head check. And yeah Animal Collective, Three 6 Mafia, The Whip, Of Montreal along with a Lady Gaga track must make you a giant flamer!
Sounds like some folks need to clean the wax out of their ears and the crud from their eyes before misrepresenting things.
And btw if you want a true gay crowd, check out Sunday night SIN which caters to that specifically.
Thursdays used to be indie-ish but now it is not so secret gay night and they play a lot of Madonna, lady gaga & other classic gay bands. I heart teh gays but I miss the good music.
Otherwise, it is the has-been goth club of Ybor. Move along.
and apparently the DJs don't play madonna even though i have heard madonna on thursdays. mondays are good for 80s. if you are not gay SKIP THURSDAYS.
Speaking as a complete non-goth, never-was-goth, used-to-tag-along there-with-gothy-pals-and-still-do-when-in-town'er ... this place remains astounding. I've been through its doors at different points over, I believe, 3 decades, and it's always a good time.
Bartenders have been uniformly friendly and the people-watching bar none. Sure, I'm a bit of a fish out of water here, but it's one of the last remaining wonders of what was once the beautifully pre-corporatized Ybor City.
The Castle is great!
I spent many many many nights here.
Here's what's awesome:
-The drink specials are hard to beat, the bartenders will remember you.
-The music: currently not as awesome at it was years ago, but still it depends on what you're into. Thursdays and Mondays are my favorite since I'm not too into the industrial/gothic dance music
-Wear whatever you want. A thong? Go for it.
-Space: This place is huge. Downstairs bar, a patio, upstairs dance floor and bar, upstairs "red room" with another bar.
-Smoking: You can smoke here.
-Video screens. Videos for the most eclectic songs are shown on huge video screens upstairs on the dance floors.
-Request songs!
I can see how people can easily be freaked out at the Castle at first. You'll see 60 year old men in thongs (The Senator is the MAN!), 40 year old men dressed as Peter Pan (That's Randy and he is a sweet heart), people dressed in mostly gothic attire and a lot of make-up, etc.
It can also get kinda hot on a crowded night. Hang out front for a bit and have some drinks and you won't notice anymore.
I really miss this place. In Boston, nothing compares. There aren't any big clubs like this. In fact, everything is pretty much just low-key pubs.
I visted this place during the Superbowl, and although I'm sure that the stereotypical goth kid that hits this place on weekends wouldn't neccessarily be there FOR the Superbowl, I did still want to mention this fact because the place was incredbibly busy and I'm not sure if it was because of the Superbowl or what, but I was amazed at the goth scene's strength in sunny Florida. I guess I just had a different idea of Florida, but still--this place was PACKED on the Saturday night I hit it.
As for the club itself--it's basically decorated like the interior of a gothic mansion, with wrought iron chandeliers and spiderwebs and crosses all over the walls. There are a couple stories, and it's very easy to get lost in it's dark corridors. Dance floors abound, and although I will admit I was pretty drunk the majority of the time I was there and don't remember the exact number of dance floors, it seemed to me like the place had about two or three of them, all very packed full of people you'd see in Hot Topic ads. Gothed out kids to the fullest degree, and of the old school variety--the ones that like to revel in their gothness, and none of the new school ones that border between emo, scene and goth. Multi-colored dread locks and sky high platforms abound, and on the main dance floor on the second level, they have numerous gothic go go dancers up on pedestals that were so completely appointed in their gothic outfits they looked unreal.
Also on this second story dance floor was a HUGE screen, with various images projected on it along to the music that was being DJ'ed, and accompanied by many a smoke machine and laser show. There were tons of people dancing, all types, although predominately it was gothic looking individuals, I saw a little bit of everything on the dance floor. I hit it myself after a few drinks, served up SUPER FAST by a very good bartender, and moderately priced. I saw some crazy dancing, some crazy people, and it was definately a GREAT place to just sit and people watch after my feet started to ache from dancing.
However, being as crowded as it was, the lines for the bathrooms were ridiculously long and although the bathrooms were cool to look at, they could use a little cleaning up. There were plenty of bars around the club, to the point where I never waited more than a few minutes for a drink even with all the people, and very experienced, very good bartenders behind them as well. A few of the people at the club gave me some bitchy looks for looking as "normal" as I did, which isn't very normal, but a lot more socially acceptable than most of the people there. However, I really didn't care, and for the most part, people weren't exactly friendly but they weren't mean either.
I am a smoker, so I enjoyed being able to smoke in the bar, which is a luxury that many cities no longer have. It did get pretty smoky in the club while I was there, but it never bothered me any, although for non-smokers I could see how all that smoke and the fog machines could be bothersome.
All and all, this club is a very interesting, unique ode to the gothic lifestyle that's worth a visit just for the people watching alone, and if you're into getting hammered and dancing like a fool, this is also a place to hit up for sure!
PS-Pamela D, next time, write a review that actually HELPS people instead of using this place as a personal forum to vent your anger at not being able to get in. In fact, if you didn't even get in the club, why would you feel you had any right to critique it? Next time, call a friend and bitch and don't subject the world to your unneccesary vitrol.
The good: the DJs are attentive to your requests, the atmosphere (despite being a little oddballish) is pretty fun.
The bad: the area it's in is sketch as crap (my car got keyed there for no apparent reason), at one point they played porn on the screen, which seemed to come out of nowhere.
Dance with caution.
Like the Renaissance Festival, MegaCon, and a Genitorturers show wrapped together in latex and soaked in heroin. This place is frightening and wrong on so many levels.
Thursday night is a decent indie dance night for those of us who aren't into suspension and vampirism. Sink or Swim on Saturday nights at the Orpheum is way better, though, so why bother? If you're going out dancing two nights a week you're probably an asshole anyway.
This place is a legend in Tampa's backyard. It has closed and re-emerged through the decades as a disco, a gay disco, a gay salsa disco, and finally a catch-all, small-town alternadisco. It's settled quite comfortably there, as you probably will in its wax-stained, threadbare velvet settees.
It has it's own mascot. It has middle-aged latex fetishists. It has mall goths. It has frat & sorority types on some nights. It has thirty-somethings showing off their new plastic surgeries. It has go-go dancers. You will hear Ladytron and Pet Shop Boys. Your drink will be so strong you can't taste any carbonation, and you will be glad that you went. I'm not sure that you'll ever want to go back, but if you spend any amount of time in Tampa, you almost certainly will.
Step into the Castle's dark, loud and smokey interior and you'll find all types: goths, beatniks, i-bankers and high school chicks with fake IDs huddled in a corner, giggling at peoples' tattoos and piercings.
I went on Christmas day and found the Go-Go dancers that they'd hired pretty fucking hot for little old Tampa, except that they need to work on their hot girl attitude.
The river on the bar downstairs doesn't make sense. Cover it up so that people stop spilling their beers in it. The order of liquid cocaine I bought was really fucking strong. So was the playlist.
I'll be back.
I guess I went here on one of the aforementioned goth nights. Interesting to say the least. We went here on Friday night, we were of the first 25 to enter, so we got in free. I was pretty impressed at how big this place is, and how tacky the decorum was, but entertaining none-the-less. I felt like maybe I should have been in a movie about vampires, set in Tampa, like Lost Boys, maybe with Corey Haim, but sans Kiefer Sutherland (no one likes that guy anyways) The dancers were still on the pedestals doin their thng, which wasn't much, but something to look at while you watch the rest of the ensemble unfold.....I haven't seen glow sticks, well..... in over ten years, but apparently they never left this place, and they were twirling. If you plan on dancing, and are scared about your total lack of rhythm....FEAR NOT, you will only add to some of the awesome moves you see go down at this place. I saw this guy, who first off, had his shirt off, like he was a vampire god. If Baryshnikov and Jackie Chan artificially inseminated an ovum, then this would be their child. This guy was all over the place, and man it was BAD ASS, but probably not in the way he wanted it to be. I don't drink, so I really couldn't tell you price-wise how the drinks were, I just kept handing Chelsea the money, so judging from that, I guess they weren't cheap. The one cool thing I did really like, was that they had a little river running through their downstairs bar, which was pretty awesome. Chelsea asked the bartender if it ever overflowed, and she said no, and then she asked her if anyone had ever tried to damn it up to make it overflow, and the bartender replied, " Why would you do that, you would just be making a travesty of yourself..." I'll leave the rest up to you and your experience. Definitely worth going to for all the wrong reasons.
We caught the tail end here after the James Joyce Irish Pub. Everyone had pretty much left...except the hardcore techno dancers or the drunks (like us). The Castle is probably the closest thing to Cherry's (LA -it's closed long time ago). It's dark, you have the go-go dancers, techno music, and I really wanted a glow stick --just kidding. The music wasn't the annoying "thump, thump" techno music. And that's all remember...
This place was definitely not my style, but I gave it a shot when I was in town with friends. The dancers are extremely hot, and the low lighting and atmosphere is very gothic. If you're into that kind of thing, this is the place for you. The drinks were a little costly, and you aren't supposed to use cameras in there as a minute warning. The place was cool though.
It was a memorable night because some dude bought my buddies and I drinks all night because he was trying to get with this girl we were with. He was trying to cockblock on the dance floor all night. So he got us all drunk, she went home with one of my boys, and he left with his head down. LAWLZ
Agree w/ Nicoletta's astute observations. Not a place I would pick on my own, but have wound up there several times. I do like the music mix. Sadly though, I wind up just sitting around watching the go-go dancers instead of being inspired to dance myself. (strange cuz i'm usually the one asking everyone to dance w/ me). Not a bad bad place, but not a great place. Everyone just seems to be trying SO HARD to be different.
a must if you are of gothic feather.
Tampa, FL
Category: Dance Clubs
Tampa, FL
Category: Dance Clubs
Tampa, FL
Category: Nightlife
Tampa, FL
Category: Nightlife
Tampa, FL
Walking in, saying the name out loud, chatting…
Yes, I leave the state...Don't tell my parole…
