In the twilight years of the USSR, artists, party functionaries, and even criminal figures congregated at the coastal resort city of Jurmala, twenty-five miles from the capital of the Latvian Soviet Republic, Riga. The major draw was a restaurant-club, Jūras Pērle, or “Pearl of the Sea” — a decadent, glitzy retreat with the best bartenders, variety dancers, and entertainers the perfunctory Soviet nation had to offer, including singer Laima Vaikule.

Soviet politician Leonid Brezhnev’s daughter and East Germany’s Erich Honecker were both known to have visited the venue, which had a strict dress code; men without a tie were not allowed in, even with a booking. Queues for the nightclub were rumored to start at 6 AM and the lights under the glass floor flashed in time with the music as scantily clad dancers entertained the clientele.

Activities inside the building gave it a certain notoriety, but the building itself was an oddity. The modernist structure was designed and built by local architect Josifs Goldenbergs in 1964–65 and opened to the public in 1969, a massive glass-windowed concrete structure jutting ambitiously out over the beach. Goldenbergs was a pioneer of modernism in the region, having also designed the department store Bērnu Pasaule (Children’s World) in the center of Riga, incorporating elements of the International Style into his work. After the USSR collapsed in 1991 — and following two mysterious fires — the Jūras Pērle club was demolished in 2001.