SE, proudly painted purple inside and out, will be demolished to make way for a seven-story office building for Navy contractors. Soon after, the cavernous warehouse at 80 M St. People from across the country have called and e-mailed the club to lament its passing. On Saturday, Tracks will hold its final party, a bash expected to draw as many as 4,000. He was already meeting gays elsewhere in the city and said he no longer needed to be at the nightclub to feel special.īut in the past month, he and others have started coming back to mark the final days of a place that for most of the past 15 years was a hub for many in the area's gay community.
Last year, he stopped going to Tracks every week. It took nearly three years of learning how to dance at the club off South Capitol Street for the baby-faced Short to gain the self-assurance to tell his family he's gay. On the catwalk, there is little inkling that by day the 21-year-old is a struggling office worker.
Here under the mirror ball, the regulars at Tracks nightclub know him as 'Shawn Allure.' He's the guy with the outrageous costumes, glass-smooth moves and the captivating confidence. His black cape flows behind him like a billowing parachute. As lights flash around him, Shawn Short steps onto the dance floor, strutting and posing for the admiring crowd.
