Discovering 54
I have this slight obsession with Studio 54. I wasn't young enough to remember it but I still remember hearing about it in the 80's. Studio 54 is something that everyone vaguely knows about, even if they don't know much. I had a boyfriend who remembered his parents getting dressed to go to Studio 54 in the 70's and that's about as close as I've ever come to the club, until now.
I recently acquired a Studio 54 folder with a guest list inside. The folder has Studio 54's logo and address on the front and written at the top is "The Islanders." Inside are around 20 pages with type-written pieces of paper taped on them. On the type-written pieces of paper are names and addresses, mostly of men, and at the top of the first page is again written "The Islanders." I was curious about who these people could be, they lived all over New York and most of the names are men, with an occasional women. Their addresses ranged from the prestigious to ghetto and some were listed with their place of work.
So I bought a book about Studio 54 and inside I discovered just who "The Islanders" were. They were a group of gay Fire Island Disco devotees who were regulars at Studio 54. The list was one used to decide who got in the door and who didn't.
Knowing the toll AIDS took on the gay male population of New York City I doubt many of them are alive, but still I sit and wonder who each person was and imagine them dancing the night away in the most famous club in history with no concerns in the world except how to be more fabulous than the next guy. I bet not a single one of them imagined that in 2004 a guy who wasn't even 6 years old in 1977 would own a list of their names, and be discovering their story 27 years after they lived it.
7:37:42 PM 
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