Fireside Chat – Robert Williams: The Story of the Warehouse and Music Box

Without Robert Williams, there would be no Chicago house music. Originally from New York, Williams attended the seminal after-hours discos, including David Mancuso's Loft, and met Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles when they were mere club kids. When he moved to Chicago in 1974, Williams and his fraternity brothers threw riotous after-hours parties that later became the Warehouse, the highly influential black and gay disco, at 206 South Jefferson Street. Convincing his friends from New York’s hottest dancefloors to help him build his dream, Williams lured Frankie Knuckles to the Warehouse to be his resident DJ; then he got Richard Long and Associates to install a custom sound and light system. After a few glorious years, the Warehouse literally and figuratively fell apart, so Williams went onto create the Music Box. With Ron Hardy as his DJ, Williams’ vision became a reality: The Music Box was a notorious and magical club, with drugged-out debauchery and all-night dancing.