Absinthe nightclub turns back time, moves into original home on King East

What's old is new again for the once-and-future King Street East basement nightclub Absinthe.

The music venue announced it was leaving its longtime home at the beginning of the month.

Now, after all the goodbye parties, 38 King William St. is done, but Absinthe lives on.

The venue, known for live music, events, drag and dance nights - especially a weekly Motown night on Wednesdays - is moving back into its original home at 233 King St. E.

Absinthe originally opened in that International Village location in 2003. It was a two-floor space with a bar and music venue upstairs and nightclub below. They held down that spot just east of Ferguson Avenue until New Year's Eve 2011.

As Hamilton welcomed 2012, Absinthe staff picked up the bar and all of its furnishings, moving into the empty club at the corner of King William Street and Hughson Street North.

The site, a building called the Right House, was previously vacated by Pepper Jack Cafe in 2009 and decades before that was Hamilton's first department store.

A spokesperson from property management company Aragon, owners of the Right House, said a restaurant was moving into the space. That eatery will feel right at home as King William Street continues to become a restaurant hub.

Now is a new era for Absinthe. They're working into the new space with some beautiful updates and new weekly line up," they said in a Facebook post.

Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com