Johnny’s Hideaway Founder Remembered

Almost 400 friends, fans and family gathered Wednesday at Buckhead’s Christ the King Cathedral to honor the man who founded Johnny's Hideaway. Johnny Esposito, who in 1979 created the Buckhead nightclub that became a cultural landmark, died at age 79 on April 4.  The crowd was filled with former waitresses, bartenders, musicians, a former Atlanta mayor (Sam Massell) and regulars who have danced at Johnny’s Hideaway for decades.

John Esposito Jr. spoke briefly at the funeral service about his father. They reluctantly planned for this day together.  The younger Esposito said Esposito, Sr. – always the jokester – advised him to ”make sure it’s a full house and be sure you charge a cover charge.”

Esposito came from a generation of Italians who had hearts of gold. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for his inner circle of friends, according to comedian Jerry Farber, another longtime Buckhead nightclub owner who was proud to be among Esposito’s inner circle. “You can’t make it in this business that long without that level of integrity,” Farber told Patch.  “If he liked you, you could do no wrong.” 

Former WXIA-TV sportscaster Art Eckman, who hung out at Johnny’s Hideaway “in the good old days,” was there to honor Esposito for all the times he helped Eckman out with his charity work. “Johnny never said no. He always made a room available to throw a party.”

Ron Hudspeth, former Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist, comments on the AJC website, “In more than 25 years of covering Atlanta, I’ve never met a nicer man with a bigger heart than Johnny Esposito. He was the classic tavern keeper greeting everyone at the door and helping countless souls when they were down. One night Jack Loersch, out of work after managing the legendary Harrison’s on Peachtree for years, was approached by Esposito in a Buckhead bar. Esposito shook his hand then passed on by into the crowd. Loersch felt something in his hand. There were five fresh one hundred dollar bills.”

Farber still marvels at a simple marketing strategy Esposito devised 32 years ago to build an audience for his new club, a strategy Farber believes would still work today. The entrepreneurial Esposito got to know every one of Atlanta’s cab drivers, paying them $5 in cash every time they brought someone to Johnny’s Hideaway.  “Five bucks meant something back then,” Farber recalls. Word spread quickly around the Southeast that this was the place to go when visiting Atlanta. 

When Esposito moved here from Coco Beach, Fla., he had already run a huge dance club there. He tried at least five club concepts in Buckhead before striking it rich with Johnny’s Hideaway. One was The Left Bank on Pharr Road featuring a replica of the Eiffel Tower on top. 

As Farber puts it, Esposito instinctively knew how to connect to the vital pulse and sexual energy people were looking for. Farber says, “For years, Johnny owned the city with it.” Eckman adds, “A lot of marriages began there, and a lot of doors were opened too.”

In recent years, Farber and Esposito attended a handful of funerals together as their mutual friends passed on. Esposito told Farber, “We haven’t been to one funeral where they say anything about the person having good manners” – something that mattered to Mr. Nightlife. 

Immediately after the memorial, Johnny’s Hideaway opened at 4:30 pm where the party started early and lasted late into the night, celebrating the life of Johnny Esposito with the friends and music he loved.