Illustrative image from the collection “Hidden Figures” · CMTK Archive — it is not a photograph of the subject; we are still looking for a portrait.

Figure · Hidden Figures

Antonio Ugas

The doorman of the Ice Palace

At the discotheque that came to take in a thousand people a night without a single guard, order was held up by the door — and the door was him.

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The trade of the door

Of all the trades that hold up a night, the doorman's is the one least talked about and the one most noticed when it fails. At the Ice Palace in Altamira —the discotheque with the largest sound system in Caracas— that post was held by Antonio Ugas, and he defines it himself without embellishment: he was the filter for the smooth running of the venue, meeting the parameters that Mr. Antoine had set him regarding the kind of clientele he wanted in his establishment.

The club was members-only and highly exclusive. When a member wanted to come in with someone who was not one, he was sometimes allowed to, but on an explicit condition: he was left responsible for his guest. If the guest caused trouble, the member's membership was suspended. The busy days were Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The result of that criterion is summed up by the house discjockey (now DJ), Frank Escalona, in the same testimony: eight hundred or a thousand people came through that door every night and there was never any security. “There was a good filter; the doorman knew what he was doing, he knew the scene, he knew the people.”

Why he is in Hidden Figures

Because the Ice Palace is remembered for its sound and for the artists who passed across its floor, and neither of those two things would have worked without someone deciding, every night and in a matter of seconds, who came in. In a room where the gay public and the open-minded straight public coexisted, and where any celebrity might sit down beside you at the bar, that criterion was not a formality: it was the condition for the atmosphere to exist at all.

His testimony forms part of the episode devoted to the Ice Palace by the channel La Historia del Refuerzo Sonoro en Venezuela, alongside those of the owner, the sound designer, the technician and the discjockeys. The full entry for the discotheque is in the “Legendary Discotheques” collection of this Archive.

Article in progress

Article in progress…… Still missing are his exact years at the door of the Ice Palace, whether he continued at Tiffany's after the 1996 change, his path through other venues of the Caracas night and a photograph of him. If you worked with him or have kept material, your contribution completes this entry.

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Credits and sources

· Testimony of Antonio Ugas in the episode “Discoteca Ice Palace y su sistema de sonido” from the channel La Historia del Refuerzo Sonoro en Venezuela (@lahistoriadelrefuerzosonor1061), verified by oEmbed. Transcription translated into Spanish for this article.
· Supplement on the absence of security and the criterion at the door: testimony of Francisco “Frank” Escalona in the same episode.
· Internal cross-reference: “Ice Palace” entry in the Legendary Discotheques collection of this Archive.
· Under documentary verification: exact years in the post, continuity at Tiffany's, other venues and a photograph.

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Source consulted on August 1, 2026

80s · 90s · Club · Discotheques