White Rabbit Tee (SOLD OUT)

ORDERS OPEN: 9/25/25
ORDERS CLOSE: 9/30/25
TO PRINT: 9/30/25

PRINTED ON LAA GD1801 BLACK TEES WITH BLACK INK.

ALL ITEMS TAKE BETWEEN 3-4 WEEKS TO PRODUCE AFTER THE ORDER PERIOD ENDS. You will always receive your item unless otherwise contacted. All items are final sale. We are not responsible for lost, stolen, or misplaced packages.

In the 1990s, Neo earned a reputation as a dyed-in-the-wool goth cave, but by that point the club had already hosted DJs whose expansive tastes included any style of music that could be called “alternative” (which, while never an especially precise category, did at least indicate a degree of subcultural affiliation in the 90s). Depending on the night, you could hear industrial, house, hip-hop, or grunge; Scary Lady Sarah, the DJ and Chicago goth eminence who cofounded the long-running series Nocturna at Neo in 1988, recalls DJs spinning “Smells Like Teen Spirit” twice in a single set at the song’s peak.

Sarah was a Neo regular before she began working there, as were many of the DJs I spoke to for this piece. Most look back on their time at Neo with a sense of belonging that verges on ownership, and that sensibility extended to many of the club’s patrons. “One of the defining characteristics about Neo that I love the most: the people that came there were regulars,” says Jeff Pazen, who began DJing at Neo in the 1980s. “Like, Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I’m willing to bet that 60 percent of the people that were there were there every single one of those nights. That was their home. That was their living room. They get together with friends, they’d all come in.”

Thirty-six years was long enough that some of the earliest Neo diehards could introduce their children to the club. “It probably happened a dozen times—twentysomethings coming up with their sixtysomething parents,” says Neo bouncer Brian James Dickie, who worked at the club from 2002 till its closure. “It’s physically the same place, but it means so many different things to both of those people. It’s really cool, seeing that one place can be a thousand different things.” Dickie saw at least one teenager’s birthday party at Neo, along with weddings and funerals. The club was usually 21 and up, but it could open its doors to everyone when rented during the day.

As influential as Neo was, the most famous mark it’s supposedly left on pop culture is actually just an urban legend. The club was allegedly the inspiration for the name of Keanu Reeves’ character in The Matrix, Neo. 

There’s no deliberate connection between the two Neos, but the attraction of the idea is easy to see. The Matrix films capture the seductive and sinister allure of industrial music, and Neo first meets Trinity in a dark club while a dance remix of Rob Zombie’s “Dragula” throbs in the background. The collective hallucination of a deeper bond between the character and the club became part of Neo’s evolving story.

- Leor Galil