Don Hill, Nightlife Fixture and Club Founder, Dies at 66
Legendary club owner and nightlife icon Don Hill died Thursday. He was 66.
Don Hill, born Donald Mulvihill, was synonymous with the New York City nightlife scene. He ran the eponymous Greenwich Street venue, which recently became a celebrity hotspot and Mecca for up-and-coming musicians. Hill also ran the East Village bar The Cat Club in the 1980s.
“Don Hill was a rock 'n roll legend who was adored by everyone in the business and everyone he touched," said Nur Khan, a co-owner of the club Don Hill's, in a statement to WNYC.
"He was a dear friend of mine for over 20 years. I am honored and proud to carry on his legacy. Don and his constant presence at the club will be dearly missed by us all.”
Nur Khan (left) and Don Hill (right). Khan was Hill's business partner and long-time friend. (Photo courtesy of Nur Khan)
Entertainer Murray Hill remembered Hill as an artist who cared more for the craft than for making a buck.
Murray added, "He gave us a chance ... and when I say us, I'm saying all of the nightlife creatures that no one else wanted to give a break to, " he said. "He let us onstage and he provided the scene with so many memories. I'll never forget the way he treated me and I miss those times in this city. It is an end of era."
Singer songwriter Bebe Buell, who met Hill in the ‘80s and whose band started on the stage of Don Hill’s, called Hill her best friend and said no one could fill his shoes.
“It’s like saying, 'Can you replace Elizabeth Taylor? Can you replace Michael Jackson?'” she said. “No, you can’t. There will never ever be another person like Don.”
Thomas Onorato, who worked the doors at Don’s in the ‘90s, said Hill was always willing to give emerging artists a chance, along with more established ones like Joey Ramone, Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, Courtney Love, Marilyn Manson and Jimmy James. “He never had children, but in a way, we were all his children,” he said.
“In the context of New York music and New York nightlife, all of these parties that kind of were game-changers—Squeezebox, TISWAS, Misshapes that became huge cultural phenomena—were all there,” Onorato said. “And every single time, he just opened up the door and said, 'What do you want to do, and how are we going to to do it?'”
Geordon Nicol, one of the three DJs in The Misshapes who played weekly Misshapes parties at Don Hill’s for years, agreed that things would not be the same without Hill.
“Any time we went in that bar, he was sitting at the end of that bar,” Nicol said. “And if you needed something you could go to him, whatever you needed, he was there.”
Details for Hill's memorial are forthcoming.
What do you remember about Don Hill? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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