The Peppermint Lounge was a popular discotheque located at 128 West 45th Street in midtown Manhattan that was open from 1961 to 1965.
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Original Peppermint Lounge
The Peppermint Lounge at 128 West 45th Street opened in 1958 and was the first rock and roll nightclub in New York City, it is also where Go-Go dancing originated in the early 1960s and where the Twist craze, that went around the world, was launched from. Sam Cooke immortalized The Peppermint Lounge in his hit song, "Twisting The Night Away". Adult women in dresses joined teenage girls in jeans to get up on tables and the bar to dance the twist.[1]
When the Twist craze hit, celebrities swarmed into the Peppermint Lounge: Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Liberace, Noel Coward, Frank Sinatra, Norman Mailer, Annette Funicello, even the elusive Greta Garbo. The Beatles caused a near fan frenzy in the club during first U.S. visit in 1964. The lounge was the home base of Joey Dee and the Starliters, who recorded their #1 hit "Peppermint Twist" at the venue in the early 1960s. When Joey Dee went on tour, he took a then unknown guitarist named Jimi Hendrix with him. Members of the Starliters later went on to form the Young Rascals. Artists including The Beach Boys, the Ronettes (who made their professional debut here in 1961), the Crystals, The Isley Brothers, Chubby Checker, Liza Minnelli, and The Four Seasons all performed at the Lounge.
In 1961, when the Peppermint Lounge became world famous, a sister club was opened in Miami Beach.
Both clubs were sold in 1965 and some speculate that associates of the Genovese crime family took it over, and that it was controlled by Matthew Ianniello who managed many gay bars and strip clubs in Manhattan. It closed when it lost its liquor license on December 28, 1965[2]
In the mid 1960s, the house band was The Wild Ones. The Denos, a traveling road house band that performed soul music with a dance beat were featured.
Later, the property was home to Ianniello's GG Barnum's Room, and then a rock oriented nightclub also called the Peppermint Lounge.
G.G. Barnum's Room
A gay bar called G.G. Barnum's Room opened in the same space at 128 West 45th St. in July 20, 1978, and continued until November 1980.[3] Male go-go dancers dancers performed on trapezes over a net above the dance floor. The room was a popular meeting place for transsexuals, drag queens and homosexuals. The "GG" was a reference to Ianniello's beloved Gilded Grape located at 719 8th Avenue, where reportedly he was fond of flirting with the young drag queens. Ianniello and some associates were convicted of skimming cash from the club.
Second Peppermint Lounge
In November 1980, a rock club nightclub called the Peppermint Lounge opened in the space after G.G. Barnum's closed. True to the original Peppermint Lounge, the club featured top international rock talent, mainly from the alternative rock and rap explosion of the 70s and 80s; and V.I.P. guests such as Mick Jagger and David Bowie. It soon become the premiere showcase for alternative music on the East Coast. Yoko Ono dropped by the club soon after John Lennon's death to bring in their new album for all to listen to. In 1984, The Peppermint Lounge moved downtown to 100 5th Ave. in 1982, changing its name to the New Peppermint Lounge before closing as many other such music venues did in NYC in the mid-1980s.
Some of the regular featured acts were the Cramps, X, the Raybeats, the Go-Gos, Marshall Crenshaw, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5, Billy Idol, Afrika Bambaataa, the Bangles, the Waitresses, and Joan Jett. During most of its best years, the club was run by Frank Roccio with Tom Goodkind. The club's DJ was David Azarc.
References
- ^ Video, The Twist (A film by Ron Mann) 1993
- ^ Peppermint Lounge Loses its Liquor License:
- ^ History of Gay Clubs in New York, with pictures of the outsides of the clubs:
External links
- Vanity Fair article on the Peppermint Lounge:
- Hear the song 'Modern Girls At The Peppermint Lounge' on the Low Slung Podcast
Coordinates: 40°45′26″N 73°59′0″W / 40.75722°N 73.983333°W
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