I was big into the alternative rock scene in South Florida back in '89/'90. I deejayed at a tiny public-run radio station in Sunrise, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, that was playing an alt-rock rotation mixed with local bands at the time. My favorite hangout was a place called Reunion Room, attached to a larger disco called Confetti's - it didn't take long before they stopped charging me a cover. I also frequented joints called Squeeze and Metro Alternative, a club within a club at City Limits. I also made the rounds occasionally at the Button South. There was a sort of rotation that took place - you'd go to Reunion Room, it closed at 2am so you'd go to Squeeze, it closed at 4am so you went to the Button South and that didn't close until 6am!
Today, Confetti's/Reunion Room's building still stands but it's not a nightclub any more - I think it's an exercise club or an office building. Squeeze was shuttered for many years, eventually reopened as Sea Monster, a gay club that held "Squeeze nights" once a week before eventually closing and getting torn down, Metro Alternative only lasted a single summer and the club it was in, City Limits, I think it a country-Western bar, and the Button South is rumored to be a strip club!
Best show I probably saw was the B-52s, touring for the release of Cosmic Thing. Some local bands I used to catch were Black Janet, Vesper Sparrow and (yes, this really was the band's name), Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids! When they started, before they became a big act, they were a bunch of local kids based out of the next county south, Dade (now better known as Miami-Dade). I also got to see the inaugural show of my buddy's band, Death Valley Jupiter - I had to give up seeing Fetchin' Bones to catch that show, but it was worth it! (I know, you probably don't recognize most of those band names. Guess you had to be there!)
The radio station, WKPX-FM 88.5 MHz, still exists - it used to operate out of a high school (I was part of the "adult ed" night classes they offered), but I think they moved the studio to the local community college while the antenna and transmitter are still at the high school. The station's a pale shadow of what it was like back then, broadcasting on an even shorter schedule than it used to have.
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