Summary
Overview
Documentarian Eric Goode discusses his remarkable multi-decade career spanning New York nightclubs, boutique hotels, turtle conservation, and acclaimed documentaries including Tiger King, Chimp Crazy, and his newest series Monsters of God. The conversation explores his unconventional path, from founding the legendary nightclub Area with collaborations from Warhol and Basquiat, to creating iconic hotels like The Bowery and Maritime, to becoming a leading voice in wildlife conservation and documentary filmmaking about the exotic animal trade.
Eric's Early Life and Unconventional Education
Eric grew up in an eccentric family with a naturalist mother and artist father who later came out as gay. His childhood was filled with new age experiences in 1970s Northern California, including attending EST with his brother at age 16. Despite struggling with dyslexia and getting kicked out of both his father's alternative high school and Parsons School of Design, his upbringing instilled a deep love for art and animals that would shape his future.
- Eric's mother taught him to love all creatures, no matter how small, creating an eccentric household filled with animals
- His father was an artist and professor who started his own alternative high school, and Eric later discovered he was gay
- Eric attended EST (precursor to Landmark) at age 16 in San Francisco, where participants were asked to 'relive their birth' on the floor
- He got kicked out of both his father's school for cheating and Parsons after foundation year while pursuing nightclub culture
" Everyone has crazy families. I always think mine's the craziest, but it's not. I had an eccentric mom who taught me to love creatures no matter how small. If someone squashed a bug in school, I would tell them to eat it because don't kill something unnecessarily. "
Founding Area: The Legendary New York Nightclub
In 1983, Eric co-founded Area, a groundbreaking nightclub that fused nightlife with art, featuring collaborations with Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring. Operating during the post-Studio 54 era when his friends who owned Studio 54 were getting out of prison, Area became a laboratory for ideas and cross-pollination among young New York artists. Despite being wildly successful for about four years, Eric walked away with more confidence than money due to elaborate production costs.
- Area opened in 1983 after Studio 54's owners went to prison, and they helped promote Eric's new club
- The club featured collaborations with Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and other young artists
- Nightclubs were the only way to connect before cell phones and social media - it was 'sex, drugs, rock and roll, and art'
- Despite success, Eric walked away with little money but gained confidence that he could succeed, which he compares to Michael Jordan's college game-winning shot
" There was no cell phones, no internets, no social media, no nothing. The only way you could connect with people is go to a place where other people were, and it was sex, drugs, and rock and roll and art, and they were kind of like laboratories these clubs for ideas and exchanging ideas and cross-pollinating. "
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