AD FROM THE 80'S - DA VINCI'S

This ad is dated 1983, when Da Vinci's was in it's prime.
It is actually advertising their "New luxurious ground floor Lounge Bar". The "Studio" however, was upstairs where the main action was - namely, the disco.
You can click on the image to enlarge it if you want a wee read, and spot the fact they spelt Barracuda wrong!
The squares in the illustration are a reference to the glass panels that were part of the main doorway design.
Also, a reminder that there are interior shots available to view in my August 2008 Archives.
Talking about the main door, I remember boss, Frankie Esposito ( who looked like Trevor Horn in his large 80's specs ) used to stand at the door throughout the evening deciding who would get in and who wouldn't! If you were really really drunk the night before sometimes you had to wait a week or two before he'd let you back in.
So then, 1983 sounds we queued up at Da Vinci's to hear blasting out the speakers would have included the likes of - Heaven 17 - Malcom McLaren - Police - The Icicle Works - SOS Band - Yazoo - David Bowie - Style Council - Herbie Hancock - Depeche Mode - Indeep - Tom Tom Club - Freeez - Michael Jackson - Level 42 - Echo & the Bunnymen - George Clinton - The Cure ....and I'm sure you'll be able to rattle off a few others!

DA VINCI'S - WESTPORT - 1980'S

Da  Vinci's in Westport was often viewed as a "posers" pub in the 80's, but I didn't find it too bad at all, it was quite trendy I'd say.

As the name suggests, they were referring to Leonardo da Vinci and so they had an artists palette as part of their logo as well as examples of his artwork on the walls (prints, not originals of course!).

The ground floor had a bar and a small lounge area on a raised floor.

Upstairs was the main attraction though, with it's small dancefloor with DJ's playing regularly. It could get really crowded at times, but there were some great lively nights to be had there.

A lot of revellers often ended up having it as the last pub on their pub crawl before hitting the nearby discos!.

The colour shot above shows the location of Da Vinci's - the double-roofed white building in the corner of the car-park. Pic taken in 1982.

The black & white images were both taken in the upstairs area in 1981.

Photos by DC Thomson.