Peter Gatien (born August 8, 1952) is a Canadian club owner and party promoter. He is best known as the former owner of several prominent New York City nightclubs, including Club USA, The Limelight, Palladium, and Tunnel.

Life and career

Gatien was born in Cornwall, Ontario, the third of five brothers. His first business venture was a jeans store in his home town, which he opened with a $13,000 settlement after he lost an eye in a hockey accident. After that, he turned a former country western bar into a rock club called Aardvark and booked the band Rush to perform. In 1976, he read about a bankrupt nightclub in Florida known as Rumbottoms. The space became the first incarnation of The Limelight. Limelight Atlanta followed. The longest period of time in which The Limelight remained closed was from 1996 to 1998. It reopened from 1998 until Gatien sold it in 2001, to a real estate developer. Gatien produced the film A Bronx Tale (1993), starring Robert De Niro, after having produced it as a one-man play starring Chazz Palminteri. A 1996 federal investigation attempted but failed to link Gatien to the sales of party drugs, especially ecstasy, in his clubs. His acquittal in 1998 left him with huge legal fees. He was later arrested on tax evasion charges after a series of club raids. He was acquitted of most of the charges. He pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 1999. He was fined $1.6 million and given a 60-day prison sentence, with 5 years' probation. In 2003, he was deported to his native Canada, under the Department of Homeland Security immigration laws which order the removal of any alien (non-citizen) convicted of a felony. Because of his partial Indigenous ancestry, Gatien has since been able to visit the United States again. Gatien relocated to Toronto, where he opened a 55,000 sqft entertainment venue, Circa. By 2009, he was no longer involved with Circa and has been out of the nightclub business since that time. Circa was forced into bankruptcy and closed in March 2010.

In popular culture

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