Krasny Oktyabr Used To Be Hot

Hey Guys, I have decided to drop a couple of words about Krasny Oktyabr district that I visited a couple weeks ago. It used to be the place to go for the best Moscow nightlife during it’s early years! A great number of trendy night clubs and restaurant attracted a lot of people every weekend. These well known night clubs included Gipsy Bar and Rolling Stone.

Also there was Rai Club that resembled Moscow glamour associated with the 2000s.

Krasny Oktyabr was home for a number of other night clubs that used to be part of that 24 hours non-stop party cluster in the central part of the city. It was new and it was fun. Everyone wanted to be there 10 years ago.

Krasny Oktyabr is Abandoned by the Stylish Crowd

During my latest visit I saw a totally different picture. The whole area has significantly downgraded over time. Most of the night clubs at Krasny Oktyabr have lost their hype but continue to work with a more relaxed face control at the entrance that allows their owners to continue making money no matter what.

They reopened Gipsy several years ago but it was a total failure. Rai Club has been reopened with a new name (today it’s called Icon) hoping to see people start lining up at the main entrance on weekend nights again but it didn’t really work either. Another night club in the area called Artel Bessonnitsa got finally shot.

Another thing that really struck me was the ongoing criminal activity of selling so called Funny Gas Balloons along the main driveway by some strange looking young people from their cars with tinted windows. I was later explained that the substance that is pumped into these balloons is nitrous oxide that is inhaled by club kids and is known for a number of side effects including brain damage. Now that was really creepy…

I also remember taxi drivers that tried to reap us off when we tried to leave the place at night. You can’t use UBER or GETTAXI on the island because the main driveway around it gets closed by security at night and you have to make a long walk to catch a taxi…

Krasny Oktyabr has been abandoned by the cool crowd that made this Moscow nightlife mecca so exciting and fun in the beginning. There has to be a really good reason for me to come back here again…