Today April 26, 1977 Studio 54 located at 254 54th St NYC, opened. A former Broadway theater turned CBS studio was ripped up and blinged out to usher in decadent pleasures and bad fashion.
The now infamous Steve Rubell and partner Ira Shrager shook of Queens disco The Enchanted Garden to open up the club that held all the secrets.
Royalty from Calvin Klein, Mick and Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnelli, Jerry Hall, Diana Vreeland, Halston, Pat Cleveland, Kevin Arpino, Margaux Hemingway, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Salvador Dali, Brooke Shields, Francesco Scavullo, Janice Dickinson, Martha Graham, Debbie Harry, Robin Leach, Billy Amato-Smith, newlyweds Donald and Ivana Trump, attended…and that was opening night alone.
Getting past the evil doorman almost became a sport. But I can tell you that if you were on the arm of the right person you were in like Flynt…so to speak, no ID checks either.
If you could inhale STD’s youd have been infected in there as sex drugs and ‘disco’ music pounded away like Sodom.
But..alas all good things come to an end and after numerous liquor license issues, raids and hush hush scandal. Rubell did jail time the lights came up and everyone awoke infected, bleary eyed and covered in vomit and glitter.
The club is now The Roundabout Theater I believe. Someone can fact check that Im unsure.
I steer clear of that block, its haunted.