In the movie “Studio 54”, Steve Rubell was lecturing his new hires about how to behave while serving the customers of his exclusive NYC disco (Studio 54). At the end of his spiel, he warns them…“and if you can’t make here, you go to Xenon”.
Clearly, this was no idle threat-Xenon was much less prestigious, and as a bartender or waitress, you made a lot less money there.
But for those of you who lived through the Disco Era…was Xenon all that different (from Studio54)? Could you get drugs, hook up for casual sex, etc. just as easily in Xenon?
And-was it just as hard to get into?
I had been to Studio 54 only once, and Xenon 3-4 times, though my memories are getting kinda vague. I remember that Xenon felt much more fun to me, there wasn’t the “put on an act because there are celebs watching” attitude, although there definitely were celebs at Xenon. As far as getting drugs and “hooking up for casual sex” were concerned: at that time (pre-AIDS) you could get drugs and sex virtually wherever you looked for them, and if that’s all you were looking for, you didn’t need to go to a club for them.
As a New Yorker of a certain age, I went to both of those places (probably only once or twice each, as discos weren’t really my thing). I don’t remember there being much difference between them, but maybe that’s because I hated them both. I don’t remember any difficulty getting in – just walked up, nodded at the doorman, and entered.
As Panache45 says, you didn’t need to go to Studio 54 or Xenon for casual sex or drugs. New York being what it was in the 70s, pretty much all you had to do was step outside your door.
Plato’s Retreat?
Did you go there?
I did several times. [female, they would let in couples and single females but not single males at the time. I was there with my boyfriend of the time.] I remember wistfully when drugs and sex were fun and thought to be safe. I miss the sexual revolution. Though I am glad I got out alive.
Plato’s wasn’t a disco, it was a sex club for straight or lesbian couples or single women . . . mostly from the “bridge & tunnel crowd.” They went to great pains to keep gay men out.