Fast Times at The Nines: Deep Ellum's Coolest Club Celebrates 10 Years

Deep Ellum nightclub The Nines has survived for 10 years in a constantly evolving neighborhood by evolving with it.

When the spot first opened under the name The Redlight Lounge, it was marketed as an industrial goth club, a place for the Church crowd at Lizard Lounge to come when it’s not Sunday.

“I don't know why, but the people from the church didn't want to come over here,” says Nines founder and owner Allen Falkner. “It just didn't work. So then the club got turned into an EDM club.”

The lounge continued to cycle through themes and formats over the years with varying degrees of success while undergoing extensive remodels. The rebrand to The Nines came about alongside new management.

“Corey Howe is my partner over at Charlie’s Star Lounge, but I hired Corey to be the manager here at Nines because we weren't doing well,” Falkner says. “He completely cleaned house. He revamped. He got rid of a lot of employees. We had a bunch of stealing going on. We had bad programming. We had a lot of issues.”

These issues were resolved, but the club’s evolution never ended. In fact, it kind of became their thing.

“We did live music here. We did performances here. We’ve had burlesque here. We had aerials in here,” says Falkner, who's known as the "Father of Modern Suspension." “Now on the weekends, we’re primarily hip-hop. That just sort of organically happened. And the way Nines is, we're kind of survivors over here. So we will continue to do hip-hop on weekends, but if that doesn't work out, we will evolve. We'll be something else.”

This revolving door of attractions is more than just high-quality entertainment. It’s the key to The Nines’ longevity as it turns 10 next month.

“I think Nines has survived as long as it has because we're able to pivot and to evolve,” Falkner says. ”Deep Ellum especially is constantly evolving, and if you're going to survive in Deep Ellum, you have to evolve with the neighborhood.”

Where to evolve from here is the name of the game at The Nines right now. Falkner just renewed the club's lease for five more years and the current state of the neighborhood (which he considers to favor retail and daytime outings) leaves him unsure of what those next few years will bring.

“Between the street closures and all the construction and the bad publicity down here, things are weird on the weekends,” he says. “But things are going to change. I really feel like starting next year, we're going to see Deep Ellum evolve again. Where exactly it's going to go, I can't predict.”

With the diverse array of events The Nines has hosted over the years come countless memories for its guests, but as the club’s “glorified janitor,” Falkner jokes that his most vivid memories are from times of crisis.

“When people are like, 'What are the defining moments?’ I'm like, ‘Oh, the time that the water backed up, the time that we had the massive roof leak, the time that the power went out,’” he says. “Those are things that always come to mind. But positive iconic things? Most of the time, it's just good, chill nights.”

On Oct. 3, The Nines will host a birthday blowout with regular DJs Imperial D and PapiWave and catering from Good Side Pizza Pub, a new spot in Deep Ellum. There will also be clothing popups from Jimmy’s Old Stuff and Found Hound.

“We're bringing out our friends. We’re bringing out our residents. We're bringing out local artists and bringing up local food,” Falkner says. “It’s just kind of like a mishmash of activities here in the neighborhood. We’re sort of bringing everybody together.”

In other words, The Nines is ringing in the next decade exactly how it spent the last one.

The Nines' anniversary party will take place at 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 3, at 2911 Main St. More information can be found on the event's Facebook page.