In loving Memory of a Dear Friend, Thank you, Bruce.

My favorite Photo of Bruce Chambers, taken inside Club 5 and published in the "Jacksonville Folio Magazine."

Dear Friends;
      Some of you know the story of how The Underground got its start, but others are new, it is an interesting tale.... 

     On April 17, 1999, I scratched my cornea removing a contact lense and an infection developed that did not respond to treatment.  Since then I have had three corneal transplants and 10 major surgeries on that eye and have not been able to work in my former field.  I was very lonely and isolated.  I joined AOL on January 21, 2000, and even though my eye did not allow me to be online for longer than a few minutes, I found the local chatrooms.  I wasn't interested in the "M-4-M" room, and the "over 30" room was always full and I could never get in.  I kept looking and found the "Jacksonville Fl Cpls" room, not so many people in there, and they were all nice!  They were having weekly "Meet and Greets" at an area nightclub or sports bar on a rotating schedule.  I started attending them, and quickly found myself carrying vases of Yellow Roses around with me on Saturday nights so people could find our group!  Wanting to arrange a special night out for the group, I made arrangement with my friend of many years, Bruce Chambers, who was Owner/Manager of Club 5 in Riverside, to bring a Group of friends to see his famous "Saturday Seduction" show. 
       On February 26, 2000, I brought a group, 21 Couples, of Internet friends with me to Club 5 and what a fun night we had!  Near the end of the evening I was thanking Bruce for making our night so special and he asked me: "Maggie, where did you get all these people who are following you around like you are the Pied Piper?"  I told him "From the Internet."  He asked "Do you think you could do this every week?" I remember laughing as I told him, "I already do!"  Bruce told me to think up a name for my group, and he would help put a club together down at another club of his, Xanadu, 128 W. Adams St., in downtown Jacksonville.
       Since the nightclub, Xanadu, was literally in the basement, the name, "The Underground" had an obvious appeal, plus our club has spread through word of mouth, much like an "underground" movement.  We opened the club on July 22, 2000, with about 120 people who really wanted to see the Club succeed.  Unfortunately the air conditioning system broke the week before our opening.  Being in Downtown Jacksonville in the basement of a nightclub with NO Air Conditioning during the hottest months of the year prevented the club from being a fun place and our numbers dwindled, so in September I closed the UG until the A/C could be fixed, or I found a new location.
       On February 24, 2001, I reopened at The Fat Kat.    While there I learned a lot about what not to do and whom not to trust, and sought a better home.  On July 21, 2001, we held our first incredible "Masquerade Ball and Grand Reopening" at The Ramada Inn on Arlington Expressway.  The Ramada Inn closed their doors permanently on June 30, 2002, so on the 29th we celebrated the closing by having our Wildest Wet T-shirt Contest ... there were over 300 Friends with me that night! 
       We moved to our next nightclub, DaCapo's -- Days' Inn Neptune Beach, FL, and had a wonderful three years, the happiest of my life.  The hotel was sold in February of 2005, and it has taken us months to find just the perfect fit -- and now we are in The French Quarter Complex on Philips Highway.  A very attractive space, centrally located in a safe neighborhood.  Our numbers are growing, and we are still having fun!  
       I kept a list of the people who attended Club 5 that FIRST Saturday, February 26, 2000. Some of them have become dear, wonderful friends and supporters for what we are trying to create; a broadminded nightclub where people, especially Ladies, feel safe,  sexy and good about themselves.
        Look how far we have gone in six years.   From just a casual conversation to a prospering Nightclub in a great location.   Wow.  I am proud of each and every person who contributed to this successful growth.  Without the help of Bruce and our friends who have pitched in to do the work my eye injury will no longer allow, there would be no Club. 

*     *      *     *     *      *     *     *      *     *     *      *
       I send Special Thanks out to my dear friend, Bruce Chambers.  Bruce gave me the inspiration, the start, the initial financial backing, the place, and his on-going friendship, and I will always be grateful.  Sadly, Bruce was killed September 30, 2001, as a result of a senseless, random act of violence.  A tragic waste of a fun-loving, charismatic, vibrant and handsome man and loving father.   I hope he would be pleased with what I made out of the opportunity he gave me.  I was in the right place, at the right time, knowing the right people.   Isn't fate incredible. 
       I miss Bruce very much and think of him every day when I turn on my computer to check email for The Underground.  He always made me laugh, and I can still hear him say, "What's up with that!"  Thanks Bruce, I owe you.

Maggie Barrington~

Jacksoville, Florida  

     Most of the photos were provided by his amazing family with my Thanks. At the bottom of this page you will find some of the newspaper articles that were published about Bruce's death.  To this day no arrests have been made.

A Young Bruce, when he was Voted the "Hottest DJ In Atlanta!"

Bruce with his Mother, Diane, and sisters Julie, Donna and Jamie

Photos on stage with Bruce, and Blyxx, Raven and the Club 5 Dancers of "Saturday Seduction."

Tuesday, October 2, 2001

Times-Union Story last updated at 12:17 a.m. on Tuesday, October 2, 2001

Chambers, former operator of Club 5, dies
Controversial promoter hurt in apparent fight

By Dana Treen
Times-Union staff writer

A controversial promoter whose tenure at Jacksonville's Club 5 in Five Points invigorated the downtown district as much as it drew the attention of police died Sunday after an apparent altercation in front of a Jacksonville Beach club.

Bruce Allen Chambers, 43, died at Shands Jacksonville hours after he was punched in the head and fell on a concrete sidewalk outside the Attic nightclub in the 200 block of First Street North.

Police said he was found bleeding from the head.

Police said they were told Chambers had just arrived at the club in a Gator City Taxi cab about 1:30 a.m. Sunday and was paying the cabdriver when two men started climbing into the cab and arguing with him.

The cabdriver told the two men that he wasn't going anywhere until Chambers finished paying his fare.  Chambers paid the cabdriver and was talking with the older of the two men when the other man stepped around the cab and punched Chambers in the face, police reported.  Chambers fell back and struck his head on the concrete sidewalk. The two men got into the cab and left.

Jacksonville Beach Police Sgt. Bobbi Schlatterer said it was not clear why the driver took the men to a corner in Ponte Vedra Beach and dropped them off before calling police.

The men had not been located last night.

Schlatterer said Chambers died later Sunday.

"We're trying to ascertain if Mr. Chambers knew the assailants," Schlatterer said. "He might have known these thugs."  She said the incident is being investigated as a homicide.

Chambers was well known as the operator of Club 5 for several years until this spring when he and partners sold the business.  Admired for his promotional savvy, Chambers was sometimes characterized as aggressive.

"A lot of people didn't like him," said Tim Hall, who bought the club with investors and renamed it Marquee Theatre. "Not many people who met him forgot him."

Jeremy McDonald, a disc jockey who worked at Club 5 with Chambers for about four years before the club was sold, said Chambers "wasn't by any means perfect" but had changed entertainment in Jacksonville.

"He definitely revolutionized the night life in Jacksonville," he said.

McDonald said Chambers brought in nationally and internationally known disc jockeys for shows called Divine Fridays.

"It was the first time in two or three years we had lines around the corners," he said.

McDonald said Chambers was surprised when police raided the club and charged Chippendale dancers had violated adult entertainment codes.

As far as Chambers was concerned, the male dancers were an accepted entertainment nationwide, McDonald said.

"They get canceled here in Jacksonville," McDonald said. "He was just shocked by the absurdity of it."

Chambers also ran into trouble with the law when undercover police said they bought drugs in the club and that alcohol was sold to minors.

But Chambers was also praised for popular shows including Friday Night at the Fights, a boxing night for patrons, and Saturday Night Seduction, described as a "fetish experience" on a Web site tribute to Chambers.

Laura Bryant, a promotor at Marquee Theatre, worked with Chambers during his time at Club 5.  "He did a lot if things in that club that were legendary things," she said. "He knew talented people who were very creative."

Times-Union staff writer Caren Burmeister contributed to this report.

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Former Night Club Owner's Death Under Investigation

Jax Beach Police Looking For Man Who Fought With Victim

Posted: 12:36 p.m. EDT October 2, 2001
Updated: 12:53 p.m. EDT October 2, 2001

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. -- Jacksonville Beach police said Tuesday that they plan to release a sketch of a man who they believe got into a fight with the former owner of a Five Points nightclub shortly before he died.

Bruce Chambers formerly owned Club Five, which is now called the Marquee Theater.

Police said that Chambers took a taxicab to a bar called The Attic early Sunday morning, and as he was getting out, he reportedly had an argument with two men.

"He was let out of the cab. At that time he got into an argument with two patrons that were trying to get into the same cab," Detective Sgt. Mark Evans, of the Jacksonville Beach Police Department, said. "He was hit one time in the face, at which time he fell and he was lifeflighted to Shands hospital where he was pronounced dead about 16 hours later."

Police said that Chambers hit his head on the sidewalk.

Eyewitness News' Jennifer Waugh said that police are concentrating their investigation on the person that they said actually hit Chambers.

The cab driver dropped the two men off at an intersection in Ponte Vedra Beach, so police said that they don't have a specific address to begin a search.

According to police, the cab driver described the man who hit Chambers as being Hispanic, with a very large build, in his late 20s, wearing a Hawaiian T-shirt and jeans.

Waugh will have more on this developing story beginning Tuesday at 5 p.m.

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CHAMBERS Bruce Allen Chambers, 43, of Atlantic Beach, Fl. passed away on September 30, 2001. Our beloved was born January 9, 1958 and is survived by his parents, John & Diane Chambers; wife, Rentia Chambers; daughters, April & Crystal Chambers; sons, John, Christopher and Allen Chambers; two grandchildren, Beth & Cody; grandmother, Sylvia Chambers; and sisters, Donna, Julie, and Jamie. Memorial services will be held 2:00 PM Wednesday, Oct. 3rd in the Chapel of HARDAGE-GIDDENS FUNERAL HOME, 729 S. Edgewood Ave. Please sign the Guestbook at Jacksonville.com  Published in the Florida Times-Union on 10/2/2001.