Danceteria opened on West 37th Street in May 1980; by June, it had enough club-scene cachet that the Rolling Stones hosted a party there (pictured) to promote their “Emotional Rescue” album.
The original, three-story Danceteria was unlike anything else on New York’s club circuit. There were other venues that featured DJs, live bands, and video screenings, but none that offered all three at the same time. The walls were plastered with 1950s-style wallpaper and Xerox art by a young Keith Haring. There were intimate spaces with kitschy furniture and console TVs, and a basement dance floor where two DJs played simultaneous 12-hour sets. There was no air conditioning, but no one seemed to care. According to music culture historian Tim Lawrence’s 2016 book “Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980-1983” (via Electronic Beats), 2,000 scenesters packed Danceteria every weekend night. New York’s Daily News called the atmosphere “hard-edged, smoky, and menacing — in a cartoon sort of way.” The club was, according to that outlet, “a punk version of Disneyland.”
It was also completely illegal. The day after the paper published its glowing review of the club, it ran a short news item announcing that the venue had been raided by police and the State Liquor Authority for “allegedly selling liquor without a license.” Thirty-five employees were arrested, 500 club-goers were “chased off the dance floor,” and first Danceteria was no more. “Danceteria had absolutely no permits whatsoever,” club co-founder Rudolph Piper remembered in Lawrence’s book. “Then we got busted and said ‘Okay, next!'”
