Studio 54

Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell took over an old New York theater, turning the space into a nightclub. Opening on April 26, 1977, the club was launched into fame (and infamy) by Bianca Jagger’s 30th birthday party, during which she rode a white horse. The club soon was known for the celebrities who frequented it, its long lines with aspiring partygoers wearing extravagant costumes hoping to win the attention of the bouncer, and its full embrace of excess.

Studio 54 and its culture of disco and excess was an embrace of the carefree attitude of the 1970’s and an escape from a grim reality for New Yorkers. While the 1970’s was a period of sexual liberation and drug experimentation, as the AIDS epidemic had not hit New York nor were the negative health effects of drugs known, it was also a period of instability in New York City. The city was crime-ridden and on the brink of financial ruin, with one newspaper famously declaring “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” after the President refused the city financial aid. Studio 54 embodied an escape from the harsh reality of living in New York, and the constant threats which faced New York City’s inhabitants.

Studio 54 closed by 1980, with its owners convicted of tax evasion. However, the club has had a lasting impact on pop culture as an iconic symbol of disco culture and an embodiment of a carefree attitude which has been lost with time.