siness JULIE EDGAR STAFF WRITER BpI ~ pI ~ G Anew club offers teen-agers a place to cut loose in an alcohol-free, high-security environment. Adam Gottlieb and Jim Maceroni of the Modern Rock Cafe. mergency medical technician Adam Gottlieb is in the business of saving people. In his secondary role as club impresario, he'll be coming to the rescue of bored-stiff teen-agers. Mr. Gottlieb, 33, has joined forces with veteran club owner Jim Maceroni to open what he believes is one of the few teens- only dance clubs in the area. The Modern Rock Cafe is scheduled to open its doors at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8, in Walled Lake, offering teen-agers non- stop stimulation in the form of video games, junk food, caffeine and a huge dance floor within its vast reaches. Painted a deep lavender and ornamented with Day-Glo shapes, the 12,000- square-foot club on Pontiac Trail might be visible from the moon. The interior is still coming to- gether. On one wall is a 34-foot- high mural, also in fluorescent paint, of a generic rock 'n' roller affectionately called Jimmy Jam. A bar that will sell Pepsi prod- ucts and non-alcoholic frozen drinks is set up opposite. Dance platforms are placed here and there. Technicians working in the building gladly flip on the strobe lights that strafe the wood par- quet dance floor. As a 14-year-old, Mr. Gottlieb was spinning records at bar mitz- vahs and weddings. In late ado- lescence, the Southfield resident got a job at the defunct Roma's of Bloomfield doing the same thing. That was during the short-lived era of disco, when John Travolta was dismissed as a one-note Charlie in a white leisure suit. But, Mr. Gottlieb laughed, "It gave everybody something to do." Mr. Gottlieb went on to found Hart Medical in 1983, a private company that provides contrac- tual medical services at festivals, concerts and other special events. On the job, he has tended to plen- ty of teen-agers who've had too much to drink and called many parents to pick them up. The Modern Rock Cafe won't tolerate toxins. And anybody who has caused a problem won't be al- lowed back. A bar-coded identi- fication card required for entry will ensure that unruly patrons won't be dancing again at the club. Only those between 13 and 18 will be admitted. Three months ago, Mr. Got- tlieb and Mr. Maceroni took out a lease on the building, a former roller-skating rink and ban- quet/bingo hall. But before they sank $250,000 to gut the build- ing and start over again, they sat down with the Commerce Town- ship police and Walled Lake board of education to discuss se- curity at the club, their para- mount concern in an age of parking-lot gunfights. Actually, said both men, safe- ty seems to be the foremost con- cern of teen-agers, too. The police, Mr. Gottlieb said, are "100 percent behind us. That's really going to make us. We have a security system that can't be beat." That includes cam- eras inside and outside the build- ing, a fenced and lighted parking lot, and a team of private securi- ty guards, though they won't be hiring thick-necked thugs to man the doors and toss out unwelcome guests. "It gives us control," said Mr. Maceroni, a 39-year-old Northville resident who runs Graffiti, a nightclub in Westland. "If the club is going to make it, it's because we properly secure it." They estimate the security team will cost them about $150,000 annually. The coffeehouse on one end of the club is set up for live folk acts, poetry readings and karaoke, and they're thinking about theme nights when patrons get togeth- er and watch TV shows like "Friends" and "Melrose Place." The arcade will include pool tables, air hockey and foosball, and "redemption" games that generate tickets which can be ex- changed for prizes. The two part- ners are considering bringing in "laser tag," a game involving laser guns inside a moonwalk- like dome. Deejays will take requests from the floor, but the music will tend toward "alternative" and dance. Local radio personalities will be invited to broadcast from the club, and recording artists will be on hand occasionally to sign autographs. Mr. Gottlieb and Mr. Maceroni envision the Modern Rock Cafe as a refuge for teen-agers after school and after dinner, every day. Dancing will be featured only on weekends and holidays, and they plan to rent the club to youth organizations that might want to use the floor. If the place becomes a haven for safe fun, the two men will have achieved their goal, they said. "It was frustrating to see these kids doing all these nasty things to themselves and hearing their excuses about having nothing to do," Mr. Gottlieb said of his work at Hart Medical. "I thought of Shadowfax (a defunct nightclub that was located in Walled Lake) and Roma's and realized I need- ed to do something." And the teen-agers they've talked to tell them, "Finally, somebody is doing something for us," he added. The two partners are consid- ering an alcohol-free dance night for adults. ❑ cc co 2 Modern Rock Cafe is located c_) at 1172 Pontiac Trail, one mile t north of Maple Road, in Walled Lake. The phone number is (810) 926-1000. 39