Original Peppermint Lounge
The Peppermint Lounge opened in 1958 at 128 West 45th Street in Manhattan, New York. It had a lengthy mahogany bar running along one side, lots of mirrors and a dance floor at the back, a capacity of just 178 people, and a gay clientele.
As the Twist craze hit in 1960–1961, celebrities swarmed into the Peppermint Lounge - Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Liberace, Noël Coward, Frank Sinatra, Norman Mailer, Annette Funicello, even the elusive Greta Garbo - to dance to the house band, Joey Dee and the Starliters. Jackie Kennedy was such an enthusiast that she arranged for a temporary "Peppermint Lounge" to be mounted in the White House. One such event even took place at a meeting of the austere Council of the Organization of American States. A sister club was opened in Miami Beach.
During 1961, Paramount Pictures filmed the movie Hey, Let's Twist, a fictional story of Joey Dee and the Peppermint Lounge starring Jo Ann Campbell and Teddy Randazzo. At the end of the year the Starliters' "Peppermint Twist" became a hit, spending three weeks at #1 in January 1962. This brought the club wide recognition, reinforced later in the year by Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away" which, while not mentioning the club by name, was about a "a place/Somewhere up a New York way/Where the people are so gay". The movie and soundtrack album also did their part in making the Peppermint Lounge a world-famous venue. Successful singles spawned from Hey, Let's Twist were the title track and "Shout – Part I". Other albums released during this time were Doin' the Twist at the Peppermint Lounge, which was recorded live at the venue, and All the World's Twistin' with Joey Dee & The Starliters.
The Beatles were filmed visiting the club during their first U.S. visit in 1964.
Artists who performed at the Peppermint Lounge include The Beach Boys, The Ronettes (who made their professional debut here in 1961), The Crystals, The Isley Brothers, Chubby Checker, The Younger Brothers, Liza Minnelli, and The Four Seasons. In the mid‑1960s, the house band was The Wild Ones. The Denos, a traveling roadhouse band, were another featured act. Members of the Starliters later went on to form the Young Rascals.
Both the NYC and Miami clubs were sold in 1965. The New York club was run by Genovese crime family associate Matty "The Horse" Ianniello, who managed many gay bars and strip clubs in Manhattan. It closed when it lost its liquor license on December 28, 1965.
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