THE door is set to open on a forgotten chapter in the life of Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate.

While he’s spent most of the past decade ruling the roost at the council, in a former life, Cr Tate was a leather-jacket-wearing nightclub/live music venue operator.

Curious locals will get the chance to take a peek inside the former Surfers Paradise venue once run by Cr Tate and known as The Troccadero when a host of properties open for inspection on October 27 for the 2018 Gold Coast Open House.

Jet rock The Troccadero in Surfers Paradise in 2004. Picture: Christine Tobia.

The Open House program opens the doors of interesting and architecturally significant buildings and locations to give the public a behind-the-scenes look at places they may have only seen from the street.

Located on the first floor of a highrise hotel at 9 Trickett St in Surfers Paradise, the famed live music venue owned by Cr Tate’s family operated as The Troccadero from 2002 to 2005.

The old Troccadero property in Surfers Paradise. Picture: Supplied.

Cr Tate was the secretary of the Licensed Venues Asociation during his time running what was then the primary venue for larger international acts playing the Gold Coast and a function room favourite for events including the Miss Indy grand final.

It was the era during which cheap drink promotions were stamped out, when Gary Baildon was Mayor, Jim Bell was president of the Licensed Venues Association, Peter Beattie was Premier and Merri Rose was the Minister for Liquor Licensing.

“We don’t want drunkenness in the streets, it’s quite inappropriate behaviour,” Cr Baildon said at the time.

Paul Allen, Billy Cross, Brett Pointing and Tom Tate at the launch of Gold Coast Nightclubs accord at Mano’s, in Main Beach.

Cr Tate, who had moved his family to the Gold Coast from Sydney in 1995, had become president of the Surfers Paradise Chamber of Commerce and already launched unsuccessful tilts for the mayoralty (in 2000) and Division 7 (2001).

It was the era during which Cr Tate famously called for Surfers to secede from Queensland in 2004 and before his second unsuccessful tilt at the mayoralty in 2008 (he eventually won the Coast’s ­mayoral chains on his third attempt in 2012).

It was also the era during which Billy Cross, who oversaw Orchid Ave’s nightclub scene, Paul Allen, who ran Melba’s, and police Superintendent Brett Pointing, who had yet to become deputy Commissioner, joined Cr Tate at Mano’s in Main Beach to launch the Gold Coast Nightclubs accord.

An under age disco at the Troccadero nightclub in Surfers Paradise in 2004. Picture: David/Clark.

A diehard live music lover, Cr Tate could often be found in the house at The Troccadero rocking out to shows by some of his favourites acts, including Powderfinger, Violent Femmes and yes, believe it or not, Frenzal Rhomb.

Home to two stages, the main room area was known as The Troccadero and could hold 1100 people while a smaller room known as The Clubhouse Bar provided a stage for scores of local acts.

Perfectly configured for a one-level live music venue with acoustics that allowed bands including Jet, Public Enemy and Midnight Oil to crank up the volume, The Troccadero had been previously known as The Palladium from 1999 to 2002.

When The Troccadero closed in 2005, Cr Tate initially flagged plans to turn the room into a “pokie palace”, a backpackers venue or a childcare centre but instead sold it for just over $3 million in February 2006.

Schoolies frolic in foam at The Troccadero in 2003. Picture: Adam Ward.

One of 14 new additions to the 43 buildings and places open for inspection as part of this year’s fourth annual Gold Coast Open House program, The Troccadero has been home to architectural firm DBI since 2008.

While DBI redesigned the space with signature flair, some items from the old club decor remain, including a desk made from materials salvaged from The Troccadero’s old sound booth.

The bars and stage areas have been demolished, the black interiors have been repainted white but canvasses of Jimmy Barnes, a Salvador Dali-inspired surfer and some neon signs remain as a nod to the venue’s colourful history.

The room now offers a bird’s eye view of work on one of DBI’s current projects, the Spirit development next door.

The old Surfers International building on top of The Troccadero. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

The Bulletin asked Cr Tate what his favourite memories and melodies from his Troccadero days were but he declined to comment.

Other buildings on this year’s free inspection program include the Gold Coast Desalination Plant, where visitors can book a berth on an hour-long tour that ends with a taste of drinking water made from sea water, Gold Coast Little Theatre, heritage buildings The Residence and Mr PP’s (1908) and the Southport Bathing Pavilion (1934), private homes at Tallai, Currumbin Waters, Broadbeach Waters and Paradise Waters and the Main Beach beachfront apartments designed by architect Virginia Kerridge.

Visitors will also be able to slip on a high vis vest and hard hat for a guided tour of the

ground floor podium at the Jewel development.

Visit goldcoastopenhouse.com.au for the full program.