As times change, so do tastes. The site of Studio 54 was built for a rather different form of entertainment, as the name “San Carlo Opera House” would suggest. Half a century later it would be the site of the fledgeling television studio of the Columbia Broadcasting . Tastes changed again in the 70s, when the anti-Vietnam fervor died down, and the youth was ready to go out and have fun again. That was the spirit that the Steve Rubell and Ian Shrager, former college roommates wanted to capture when they opened their anything-goes establishment.

On this day, April 26, in 1977 the studio that became synonymous with the heady days of youth in the 70s and 80s opened to the New York’s hip crowd.

Rubell and Shrager had a chain of restaurants in the less glamorous sections of the city, and considered Studio 54 not only a better proposition, but their ticket to respectability. A strict door policy ensured only the creme de la creme of society could enter: a diverse mix — gays and straights of every ethnicity — of the most beautiful the city had to offer, and celebrities that included Liza Minnelli, Mick Jagger, the painter Salvador Dali and dance Mikhail Baryshnikov. “Cast a play” when deciding who to let in, Rubell instructed his doorman.