What year did Studio 54 first open its doors?

The answer is: 1977

Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager spent $400,000 transforming an old CBS TV studio into Studio 54 in April 1977. The moment they opened those doors, it became the most insane party spot in New York. The line wrapped around the block every night while their notoriously picky doormen picked out who was cool enough to get in.

Inside Studio 54, reality just stopped existing. Bianca Jagger casually rode through the club on a white horse for her birthday. Cher hung out with shirtless bartenders while Andy Warhol snapped Polaroids of Michael Jackson and Liza Minnelli tearing up the dance floor together. The rules? There weren't any, unless you counted "be fabulous enough to get past the door."

The club made $7 million that first year, but Rubell got cocky about their sketchy bookkeeping. He actually told reporters that "only the Mafia does better" than Studio 54's profits. The IRS basically heard "please come audit us," and raided the place in December 1978. They found cash stuffed in the ceiling and garbage bags full of drugs. Rubell and Schrager landed in prison for tax evasion, and Studio 54's last wild night was February 4, 1980.

The space is just another Broadway theater now, but for 33 months, Studio 54 was the most outrageous party in human history. The drugs flowed like water, every celebrity imaginable showed up to dance, and getting in meant either having the right look or knowing the right people. No one ever figured out exactly what the doormen were looking for, but that was exactly the point.