The Peppermint Lounge was a popular discotheque located at 128 West 45th Street in New York City that was open from 1958 to 1965. It was the launchpad for the global Twist craze in the early 1960s, and also where Go-Go dancing originated.
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The Peppermint Lounge opened in 1958 at 128 West 45th Street in Manhattan, New York. It had a lengthy mahogany bar running along one side, lots of mirrors and a dance floor at the back, a capacity of just 178 people, and a gay clientele.[1]
As the Twist craze hit in 1960-1961, celebrities swarmed into the Peppermint Lounge: Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Liberace, Noel Coward, Frank Sinatra, Norman Mailer, Annette Funicello, even the elusive Greta Garbo, to dance to the house band Joey Dee and the Starliters. Jackie Kennedy was such an enthusiast that she arranged for a temporary 'Peppermint Lounge' to be mounted in the White House. One such event even took place at a meeting of the austere Council of the Organization of American States.[2]. A sister club was opened in Miami Beach.
During 1961 Paramount Pictures filmed the movie Hey, Let's Twist, a fictional story of Joey Dee and the Peppermint Lounge starring Jo Ann Campbell and Teddy Randazzo. At the end of the year the Starliters' "Peppermint Twist" became a hit, spending 3 weeks at #1 in January 1962. This brought the club wide recognition, re-inforced later in the year by Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away" which, while not mentioning the club by name, was about a "a place/Somewhere up a New York way/Where the People are so gay". The movie and soundtrack album also did their part in making the Peppermint Lounge a world-famous venue. Successful singles spawned from Hey, Let's Twist were the title track and "Shout - Part I". Other albums released during this time were Doin' The Twist At The Peppermint Lounge, which was recorded live at the venue, and All The World's Twistin' With Joey Dee & The Starliters.
The Beatles were filmed visiting the club during their first U.S. visit in 1964[3].
Artists who performed at the Peppermint Lounge include 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. In the mid 1960s, the house band was The Wild Ones. The Denos, a traveling road house band, were another featured act. Members of the Starliters later went on to form the Young Rascals.
Both the NYC and Miami clubs were sold in 1965. The New York club was run by Genovese crime family associate Matty 'The Horse' Ianniello who managed many gay bars and strip clubs in Manhattan. It closed when it lost its liquor license on December 28, 1965.[4]
The 128 West 45th St venue re-opened as a gay bar named Hollywood, most notable for the DJ residency in the 70s of Richie Kaczor, who went on to great success at Studio 54.[5]
The 45th St space re-opened as G.G. Barnum's Room on July 20, 1978, and continued until November 1980.[6] Male go-go dancers dancers performed on trapezes over a net above the dance floor.[7] G.G. Barnum's Room was a popular meeting place for transsexuals, drag queens and homosexuals. The "G.G." was a reference to the Ianniello-owned Gilded Grape located at 719 8th Avenue, a notorious gay bar which operated from the early 1970s until 1977.
In November 1980, after G.G. Barnum's closed, the Peppermint Lounge name was revived for a new music night club run by Frank Roccio and Tom Goodkind. The club's DJ was David Azarc. The club featured top international music acts, both from alternative rock and the burgeoning hip hop scenes. Some of the regular featured acts were the Cramps, X, the Raybeats, the Go-Gos, Marshall Crenshaw, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Billy Idol, Afrika Bambaataa, the Bangles, the Waitresses, and Joan Jett. V.I.P. guests such as Mick Jagger and David Bowie added to the club's cachet. Yoko Ono visited the club soon after John Lennon's death to deliver a copy of their new album.
In 1982, the Peppermint Lounge moved downtown to 100 5th Ave, changing its name to the New Peppermint Lounge, before closing in the mid 80's.