1996 – The Opening of the First Giusto

Dmitry Shalya:
«Clubs «for insiders» have always existed in Moscow. The tradition was set way back by the «White Cockroach» – getting into that basement on Karetny was no simple matter. Back then it was explained simply – the place was private, almost domestic, and outsiders would have simply looked out of place there. An ordinary intelligentsia quirk, nothing more.
«011» operated on practically the same principle. There, admittedly, they had their own reasons for it. The place was run by a tight-knit Yugoslav diaspora, and they didn't like outsiders either. Into their circle they admitted only pretty Russian girls – those definitely wouldn't spoil the party. No special ideological foundation was laid under the «strict face control» back then – at «011» they simply let in only people they knew.
The ideologue of Moscow's bohemian establishments turned out, unexpectedly, to be Andrei Kobzon, who in 1996 opened the «closed» club «Giusto». At the time it was located near the «Metropol» and consisted of a well-concealed dancefloor with a bar. It was the first fashionable spot in the city that literally everyone was eager to get into. But 90 percent of the hopefuls ran up against a strict bouncer who turned them away. Andrei Kobzon explained the reasons for such a strict policy to the magazine «Ne spat!» like this: «The club is meant for me and my friends. When a person is in a closed club that no one knows about, he immediately feels at home».