David DePino interviewed by Marsha Stern The Heartbeat Of The Dance Floor # 005

David’s introduction to the New York club scene began in 1968 with his first job in 1970 at Club Sanctuary, one of New York’s premiere underground after-hour clubs. David’s friendship with Larry Levan began at Reade Street, owned by Michael Brody and where Larry was the DJ. After Reade Street closed, David took Larry and Michael to an empty space at 84 King Street. When Michael and Larry entered the building and saw the ramp to the second level Larry turned to David and said, “thank you, this will be our new home.” And so began the 10-year reign of the Paradise Garage. From the beginning David worked a variety of jobs at The Paradise Garage, including monitoring the door of the VIP room/DJ Booth. A few years later he added For The Record with Judy Weinstein to his resumé. This was New York’s largest record pool, which consisted of 125 top DJs. In 1985 David began opening for Larry at The Garage which in turn was the beginning of his own prolific DJ career.