Located at 254 West 54^th Street, what started as a Broadway theatre, later serving as a CBS TV & Radio studio, played home to the most famous discotheque in world history. Serving as the uninhibited party headquarters for Manhattan’s elite, Studio 54 was characterized by its high profile guest list, anything goes atmosphere and ultimately questionable financial practices. The club’s opening on April 26, 1977 was an epic success, drawing in a who’s who of celebrities including Mick Jagger, Brooke Shields, Salvador Dali, Cher, the Trumps, the Hiltons, Liza Minnelli, among many more.Only a month after its grand opening, Studio 54 would see its first encounter with law enforcement as it was raided for improperly serving alcohol without a liquor license. Amounting to little more than a misunderstanding (the club had been using daily caterer’s permits while its license processed when the state chose to deny its license the day of the raid), the incident would foreshadow more serious events to come with Studio 54 often finding itself on the opposite side of state and federal authorities. Studio 54′s hedonistic culture is well documented, with sexual promiscuity and heavy drug use among patrons thinly veiled if swept under the rug at all. As most lewd or illegal practices occurred away from the central dance area, the shadowed balconies, corners and recesses, including bathrooms, were often a hodgepodge of scenes more closely resembling a brothel back-alley than the most exclusive club in New York.Though exclusive it certainly was. Studio 54 was notorious for handpicking its guests at its peak of popularity, mixing the hottest celebrity names with gorgeous regular folks selected out of the long waiting line, in a purposely superficial judgment process. Flamboyantly decorated amid cascading glitter and flashing lights, the club was the disco of all discos, catering explicitly to the desires of the rich, famous and/or beautiful. The dcor centered around the famous image of the Man on the Moon with a cocaine spoon, in no way hiding the club’s pleasure-driven underbelly.In 1980 the club was shut down for skimming 2.5 million dollars through deceptive bookkeeping, ending Studio 54′s glory years, and though it would reopen to a list of A-list celebrities in 1982, the sensationalism and mystique that surrounded Studio 54 would never be the same.