While not as famous as Studio 54 in New York City, Odell's nightclub was certainly the Baltimore disco venue during the 1970s and 1980s and a forerunner of the club venues of the '90s in the city.

Just as disco music was sweeping the nation, Odell Brock, who had owned the Carousel in the 1800 block of N. Charles St., opened Odell's in the first block of E. North Ave. in 1976.

With a $5 cover, Odell's was jammed with the 18-to-40 age group.

“During the Depression, people jumped out the windows. Now they go to the disco … go to the racquet club … go jogging,” Brock told The Evening Sun in 1979. He sold the club in 1984.

Diva Ultra Nate, who was a regular at Odell's in the 1980s, told The Baltimore Sun in a 2012 interview that “Odell's wasn't just a club. It was a culture and a lifestyle, and if you were a part of it, then you felt like you were a part of something special. Not many clubs these days try to capture the emotional connection.”

Time has not been kind to the famed club. After Brock died in 1985, the club was purchased by co-owner Philip A. “Phil Boy” Murray, who two years later was arrested and charged for his involvement in one of West Baltimore's largest heroin rings. The club was then sold in 1989 to Milton Tillman Jr., who was later sentenced to 27 months in prison for attempting to bribe a city zoning board member. Odell's was finally closed in 1992 by the zoning board because of complaints of violence and noise.

frasmussen@baltsun.com