Wednesday Marks 40 Years Since Opening Of Studio 54

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/CBS News) -- Wednesday marked 40 years since the famed nightclub Studio 54 opened in Midtown Manhattan.

Nightclub impresarios Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager were behind the nightclub, which opened on April 26, 1977, at 254 W. 54th St., between Eighth Avenue and Broadway.

The studio was built as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, and served for many years as CBS Studio 52 – home to several TV shows including "Captain Kangaroo," CBS News recalled.

The studio was glitzed up and renumbered to match the street upon which it stood. It soon became the New York celebrity hot spot – attracting the likes of Liz Taylor and fashion designer Roy Halston, Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall, Liza Minnelli and Mikhail Baryshnikov, Elton John, Muhammad Ali, and Magic Johnson.

The disco's giddy sex-and-drugs-fueled heyday was depicted in the 1998 film, "54," starring Mike Myers in the role of Steve Rubell, CBS News recalled.

"The hype was there," former Studio 54 busboy Richard Notar told CBS News in 1998. "It was exciting. Once the doors opened, everyone wanted to come in from the get-go. We didn't have the (velvet) rope when we first opened up."

But CBS News recalled getting chosen by Rubell to enter Studio 54 became a difficult task. Sometimes, someone would get in on a Monday and would not be allowed in on a Tuesday, CBS News recalled.

The club closed in 1980, when Rubell and Schrager were convicted of tax evasion. They were released from prison the following year and went on to other ventures such as the hotel business.

Rubell died in 1989.

Studio 54 reopened in 1981 under new owner Mark Fleischman, and closed for good in 1986 -- except for a brief revival in 1994, according to a New York Post report.

Studio 54 has now returned to its roots as a stage theater, serving as home to the Roundabout Theatre Company.