THE PEPPERMINT LOUNGE...

As the Twist craze hit in 1960–1961, celebrities swarmed into the Peppermint Lounge: Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, to name only a few.  They all came to dance to the house band, Joey Dee and the Starliters.   Now Joey Dee & The Starliters were among thousands of other east coast bands playing in clubs and hoping to receive a recording contract.  Their big break came when they were playing at the Peppermint Lounge.  Dee and The Starliters wrote a song that capitalized on the popularity of the Peppermint Lounge and the twist.  “Peppermint Twist Part 1” was released in November of 1961.  Whenever a DJ played it on the radio, he would tell everyone what a swinging place the Peppermint Lounge was.  Even the Beatles were filmed visiting the club during their first U.S. visit in 1964.  

Originally, The Peppermint Lounge was a small club with a raised stage for the band.  The dance floor in front of the stage was about 20’wide by 30’ long.  There was a long bar on one side of the room.  All around the dance floor there was a wrought iron fence about 3 feet tall with gates at the front of the dance floor.  Iron filigree decorations hung down from the ceiling.  Large tables and chairs were placed between the iron fence and the bar and between the fence and the wall on the other side.  It was a great place to take a date.  The idea of the fence and the wrought iron on the ceiling was that it gave the effect of eating on a fancy porch and looking out at the dancers.  That all ended with their new found popularity.  

Suddenly the Lounge was remodeled.  All the tables and chairs were removed.  Everyone had to stand up so they could pack in as many people as possible.  Two bouncers were out front and only 200 people were allowed in.  If 2 left – another 2 could go in.  After about six weeks, their plumbing in the men’s room started to let go.  The basement was flooding.  The hotel next door was being affected too – their men’s room in the lobby was also having problems.  

A friend of mine worked as a plumber in NYC and his company was called in to find the problem and fix it. The water was coming from above the ceiling in the basement.  My friend cut a hole in the wall in the men’s room, about 2’ wide and 3’ high.  The sewer lines were broken and leaking.  He also cut a hole in the wall to the men’s room in the hotel. 

On Thursday, he spoke to the doorman at the hotel and asked if he would be on duty Friday night – he was.  He explained to the doorman that he had 4 football players in town for the big game on Sunday and they wanted to see the Peppermint Lounge – but they had heard it was almost impossible to get in.  He told the doorman that one really big guy was called OX and he would definitely recognize him when he saw him.  Now the doorman just assumed we were professional football players – we did play football, and one of our guys actually tried out for the NY Giants and was the last guy cut – but this was his assumption.  Coincidentally, the Giants were playing a home game that Sunday, but we weren’t.  That was just another assumption.  In the Spring and Summer, this assumption usually worked with local club bouncers.  They wanted to believe that we were professional baseball players because of the jackets and caps we wore – again, just their assumption!!!  It did get us in to where we wanted to go.

Anyhow, my friend asked the doorman if he could show them where the men’s room was so they could go through the hole and into the men’s room in the Peppermint Lounge.  He gave the doorman $5.00 and said that his friends were big tippers and they would take good care of him.  

Drinks were $5.00 in the Lounge, so we would stop at an old Irish tavern - the “Good Time Bar” on the way.  A shot and a beer was 50 cents and the bartender would buy #4.  We would leave him $1.00 each and we were all happy!  As a side note, this bar was later sold and became the original “Fridays.”  It was on a corner and the sidewalks were about 8 feet wide on two sides.  They added striped awnings and tables outside.  Eventually, this also became “the place to go.”  

Back to the story – my friends and I went into the hotel, tipped the doorman $5.00 each, and made our way through the holes and into the Peppermint Lounge.  It was so crowded and the band was so loud, you couldn’t hear anyone talking.  We pushed our way up to the iron fence and then climbed onto it.  We grabbed onto the iron filigree hanging from the ceiling and started dancing.  Some girls started to extend their hands up to us and we pulled them up onto the fence.  It took no time before there were people all around the dance floor dancing on the fence.  We only stayed for one set – it was just too noisy and hot.  We made our way back through the hole in the men’s room and into the hotel lobby and on to our next club of the night. 

The Lounge was later taken over by a famous New York crime family until it lost its liquor license in December of 1965.  But we can always say we were there back when...