Yet, Studio 54 was not the only club that used exclusivity to boost its appeal, as such is a trick as old as time.
While Andy Warhol described the door as a dictatorship, one half of his quote remains: Studio 54 was a “democracy on the dancefloor.” In short, the group controlled the flow, and nothing — and no one — was off-limits.
Everyone was given the freedom to express, with the unspoken knowledge that the club was a sanctuary — a loud, bopping, drug-ridden, dance-crazed “safe space,†before those two words came to mean what they do today. Â
The exclusivity at the door was largely in place to guarantee the inclusivity behind the gate —which was the energy that kept the club popping…until its very last day