studio 54 basement photos
From the looks of it, he seemed to enjoy his time there, too! Studio 54 was a safe space for groups who would have been marginalised in the late 70s. We were entertaining the hell out of ourselves. The party went off without a hitch, save for a minor incident. Thats why Sylvester Stallone decided he needed to pay a visit to the most famous disco in the United States. The doormen regularly had to be escorted home at the end of the night for their safety. Suddenly the IRS were interested in going clubbing. Whats more, theyre almost all true. We kept saying, Gee, I wonder where everybody is? After Lowen uploaded digital versions of the photographs to a secure vault, POBA staff helped crop and curate the material, highlighting the value of his artistic eye. Schrager was released on $50,000 bond and the disco was open the next night. If you wanted to dress in next to nothing and wear lots of makeup, you were encouraged. We knocked on the door. The horse was granted entry. Enjoy these Studio 54 photos? McCarthy, who happened to frequent Studio 54 on occasion, was amazed by his access to the notables in attendance. This kind of debauchery came to be expected of the venue and marked its no-holds-barred approach to nightlife. A couple relaxes next to a comatose man, 1978. It wasn't just animals that were taken advantage of. Unfortunately, Studio 54 came up against some problems during its successful run. Studio 54 was a safe space for groups who would have been marginalised in the late 70s. Throughout its three-year lifespan under Rubell and Schrager, Studio 54 served as a lab to experiment with everything from illicit drugs to gender. This potentially dangerous display marked the end of the nightclubs first year open. While Studio 54 traded in nightly excess, the elaborate themed parties held on special occasions allowed Rubell, Schrager and their team to bring VIP guests most vivid fantasies to life. A cheetah might be sitting at the bar. A look back at the epicenter of NYC nightlife, presented by Getty Images. (This was before the AIDS crisis hit, so people were much freer with their bodies.) Neither the way he captured it nor the period is replaceable., Lowen says she hopes to exhibit the work at some point, to share it with a wider audience and expose his legacy. I dont know what Im going to do without Studio! And everyone was crying and weeping.. America in 1977 was ripe for something fun, glamorous and a bit risque. Here we see one of those notable moments where an elderly woman is dancing with a young man. Extreme Record Collecting: Confessions of an analog vinyl snob, A long, rambling blog post about my Nico obsession (+ some astonishing, seldom seen TV performances). People were waiting in lines with the most fantastic costumes on, each one trying to outdo the other one so that they could be pointed to and get in. One Halloween, two women, perhaps recalling the famous Bianca Jagger photos, took out a $500 loan to rent a horse, which they rode nude to the velvet ropes as twin Lady Godivas. After all, you have so much money that you have to find some way to spend it, right? According to friends, Warhol said it was the best present he had ever received. But the party was wild.. Here he is enjoying an anniversary party for Andy Warhols magazine, Interview. Steve went all out for that, Michael Musto remembered in the E! We were like the first. The theater was designed by Eugene De Rosa for producer Fortune Gallo and opened in 1927 as the Gallo Opera House. It wasn't that unusual for people to rappel down the neighboring building using full climbing gear, trying to get into the courtyard over a 10-foot wall with barbed wire on top. Oddly, one of the first people ever in the club was Donald Trump. The gift caused some tension a year later, after the IRS raided Rubells office and seized his financial records, including a catalogue of gifts dolled out to celebrity friends and clients. My Studio 54 Story. Unlike most businesses who are fiddling the books, Studio 54 kept detailed records of their illegality. In 1977 the club made millions yet reportedly paid just a paltry $8,000 in taxes. Known for its raucous parties and A-list guests, the first three years of Studio 54's existence were the most exclusive and enticing and that was by design. Less exclusive was the balcony area, upholstered in rubber because it was deemed easy to clean. In the very, very far left you can see me I didnt know that I was in the picture., Persson on this photo: "I think this is the same horse Bianca Jagger turned up on for her birthday in 1977. The agents entered the office seeking links to organized crime and arrested his partner Ian Schrager after reportedly finding cocaine among some papers he was carrying. So they would send limos to pick them up, making sure there was plenty of cocaine in them first. Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager opened Studio 54 40 years ago, and it soon became the epicenter of New York Citys nightlife for nearly three years. When a large hanging spoon. Despite spending only $400,000 on preparations for the nightclub, owner Rubell indicated Studio 54 made over $7 million in profits in the first year. He used to joke, If I wasnt the owner, I wouldnt be allowed in. It wasnt just the celebrities known to enjoy partying who indulged in a night out at Studio 54. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time She was later presented with a life-size portrait of herself made of cake. The owners were always trying to top themselves, and it led to some ridiculous events. One second the light bulb went on and I sang Aaaaahh, freak out! Dolly came and was completely freaked out at the number of people there. Originally opened as an opera house in 1927, Studio 54 became a popular nightclub in 1977. Doormen didnt let just anyone inside, but if you were lucky, you could get into the club without having connections in high places. Studio 54: heady daze of disco decadence in pictures, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. A party was staged the night before their sentences began. So we got to Studio 54 and there was nobody there. At the Purple magazine party, a naked couple in a clear bathtub perform for an audience in 1977. The Studio 54 Glory Years When CBS sold the theater, various parties from the worlds of fashion and art began to express interest in seeing it transformed into a nightclub. Bodily fluids and coke dust can be hard to remove under normal circumstances. She made appearances at the nightclub more than once throughout the years and was there on its last day of operation under Steve Rubell in 1980. For that reason, his photos are not only fine art, they are history. One guy fell and had to be stretchered away. In this picture, Robin Williams is with his then-wife Valerie Velardi and Studio 54s own Santa Claus. While it lasted, many photographers flocked to the bacchanal to capture the celebrities and other lucky denizens as they danced and snorted and frolicked under that iconic Man in the Moon with the coke spoon sculpture. as well as behind-the-scenes exclusives from renowned photographers and our hard-hitting photo stories. In 1978, Rubell told New York magazine that only the mafia does better than us. So we ended up having to pay for new seats. The nightclub threw an annual Halloween party and expected guests to wear the most shocking, over-the-top costumes that you could think of. It wasnt until he was gone, and I had brought everything home and put it in storage, that I began to open up these envelopes and discover his work.. According to him he actually took the trash out and swept up while his co-workers partied. You were also welcomed with open arms if you were a drag queen. It was Halston. We want to hear it. If a regular night at Studio 54 was crazy, it was the special parties that were totally unacceptable. They were known to turn away some seriously well-known people. They were like queens on the dancefloor.". A favorite of the cast of Saturday Night Live, it was covered with easy-to-clean surfaces. Four women in shimmery dresses sit in the club's lounge area. The setting is quite a departure from his most famous work, but Papageorge's keen eye for detail and fascination . You can find instructions here as to how. If he liked you enough, he'd give you a little something. Full of rollerskating Wall Street Bankers, tabloid fixtures and postwar frivolity, a new documentary reveals the social backdrop of the famous club. But if you were really famous, there was the basement. Left: A topless woman in a peacock feather headdress dances at Studio 54's Halloween party in 1977. By . Judge Richard Owen shocked the court by imposing the maximum penalty: three-and-a-half years in prison and $20,000 fines. A pair of topless women parade across the dance floor during Folies Bergre night, circa 1977. Right: People wait in line outside of Studio 54 in 1978. Part of the lure of a nightclub like Studio 54 is that you went home with plenty of stories to tell about the wacky things you saw go down inside. It peaked just about a decade after the Summer of Love - how far the Baby Boomers had come since their anti-materialist, hippie days! Studio 54 The Ultimate Den Of Vice Photography Guardian. Studio 54 had arrived. But that picture started the ball rolling. There were "horses and donkeys and mules running through the club," as well as chickens in a pen. Its immersive atmosphere and coveted location on West 54th street in Manhattan made the spot an instant hit. A man dangles a cigarette inside Studio 54, 1977. Mick Jagger and his then significant other Jerry Hall entering the club. Messed Up Things That Happened At Studio 54. Id go there a lot with dates and with friends, and with lots of people, he told The Washington Post in 2016. About fifteen minutes later we were just getting ready to leave, and they opened one of the doors. Oh, I knew I should have counted it, wrote Warhols colleague Bob Colacello in his memoir. According to Rolling Stone, people would offer him anything to get in. And all of a sudden the guy starts choking me., That was a minor inconvenience compared to the trials of security chief Chuck Garelick, who tells Haden-Guest that a man once tried to literally crash the VIP entrance in his Oldsmobile. Photos of Studio 54 Uncover The Degeneracy Behind the Glitz 97 Hasse Persson Ben Shapiro 16 Feb 2015 In the late 1970s, the glitterati worshipped at the altar of Studio 54. The owners knew they needed celebrities to keep coming, and they knew celebrities liked free drugs. Left: A clubgoer dressed as Jesus carries a large cross onto the dance floor in 1977. Reynolds, who had tracked down livestock with ease, had a more difficult time finding vintage cars for hire. Behind The Velvet Rope Line Of Studio 54 S Short Sordid Life. For most of his life, though, co-founder Ian Schrager has wanted to forget it. He had a kind camera. I have not seen a picture that Gene took that would have embarrassed anybody even though he was with people doing very strange things.. Costing tens of thousands of dollars, these one-night-only productions put the neighboring Broadway shows to shame, only to vanish by the time the club opened the next day. For 33 months, Studio 54 was the American bacchanal, an unprecedented mix of glamorous sophistication and primal hedonism. Not having alcohol wasn't a problem, of course, because this was the 1970s. IRS agents raided Studio 54 on December 14th, 1978, seizing garage bags of cash, financial documents and five ounces of cocaine. Up above the balcony, there was the rubber room, with thick rubber walls that could be easily wiped down after all the powdery activity that went on. If you came on a white horse, with almost no clothes on, you were guaranteed to get in. A woman dances near the Studio 54 light towers in 1977. Trans women were welcomed, while eccentrics such as Rollerina, a Wall Street banker by day who. Those who were turned away often returned night after night, changing their outfits, hairstyles and company. The couple had been enjoying dinner a short time earlier with socialite Nikki Haskell and her date at the iconic Upper East Side eatery Elaines. This meant the doormen had huge amounts of power. Each vehicle had to be taken onto the street, where its tank was emptied, and then pushed back inside by hand. For more New York drama, be sure to check out what the city looked like in the 1970s. New York Daily News Archive / Getty Images. But nothing . This was taken in the ladies room. This type of thing wouldnt have been allowed in just any nightclub. Tank was emptied, and they knew celebrities liked free drugs in shimmery dresses sit the. Woman is dancing with a young man his time there, too heady daze of disco decadence in pictures Original... New York magazine that only the mafia does better than us outfits, hairstyles and.. Cocaine in them first 54 was crazy, it was covered with surfaces. Anniversary party for Andy Warhols magazine, Interview who indulged in a clear perform! Running through the club a Wall Street Bankers, tabloid fixtures and postwar frivolity, New... 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