Before Utah changed its liquor laws in 2009, every bar in the state was technically a "private club for members." Most venues treated it as a bureaucratic inconvenience. Area 51, which opened in 1998 at 451 S. 400 West in Salt Lake City, made it a philosophy.
The club operated on two floors, each with its own identity. Upstairs ran the '80s flashback and new wave nights — electroclash, alternative, trance. Downstairs was something else entirely. That's where "Sanctuary" and "Subculture" nights lived: old-school industrial, EBM, darkwave. If you were in SLC and into Manufactura, Attrition, or Icon of Coil, this was the only room in the state built for you.
Two Floors, Two Worlds
The venue hosted national touring heavyweights — Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Manufactura vs. Terrorfakt, UK darkwave pioneers Attrition — and staged the Dark Arts Festival in June 2008, a three-day event headlined by London After Midnight. Monthly Fetish Nights drew regulars in full attire. The City Weekly Slammys held their Goth/Darkwave Showcase here.
The door policy that built the scene
Utah's old private-club law forced every bar to operate as a members-only venue. Most rooms saw it as red tape. Area 51 treated it like a door policy — and used it to carve out a room for the music nobody else in the state would book.
What Stayed
When the liquor laws changed in 2009, the private club model dissolved. Area 51 adapted. The club is still running at the same address, still open on weekends, still holding the dark alternative room that SLC's underground built over two-plus decades. The "Sanctuary" night series still has its own website. Not every venue that survives changes. Some just hold the line.
Unlike most venues in this archive, Area 51 is still active as of 2026. This is a living history.
Were you a regular? Do you remember Sanctuary nights or the Dark Arts Festival?
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