Leviticus

Overview

The first Black-owned disco in Midtown Manhattan (opened November 1974 by the eight-member cooperative The Best of Friends, Inc.) drawing a primarily middle-class Black professional clientele at 45 West 33rd Street for fourteen years.

Leviticus opened in November 1974 at 45 West 33rd Street, making it the first Black-owned nightclub in Midtown Manhattan, a designation confirmed by its founders across multiple published accounts. It was built, owned, and operated by The Best of Friends, Inc., an eight-member cooperative whose principals were Tony Cooper, Danny Berry, Charles 'CP' Perry, Mal Woolfolk, Harry Felder, Wayne Scarbrough, Andre Smith, and Noel Hankin. The group went on to own several other rooms: Justine's on West 38th Street, Bogard's on East 48th Street, Orpheus on Washington Avenue in Brooklyn, and Lucifer's on Linden Boulevard in Queens, a multi-venue ownership model unusual in any segment of the New York nightlife economy of the era. Leviticus attracted a primarily middle-class African American clientele, many of them Midtown workers, and operated as a disco from its opening through the late 1970s; live musical acts were added as interest in pure dancing shifted. In doing so, the club occupied a social and economic position (affluent, professional, predominantly Black, Midtown-anchored) that neither the downtown disco narrative (Garage, Loft, Saint) nor the Bronx hip-hop story comfortably accommodates. Celebrity visitors documented in the club's history include Andy Warhol, Elizabeth Taylor, Stevie Wonder, the fashion designer Valentino, and members of the New York Knicks; radio personalities including Vaughn Harper, Frankie Crocker, G. Keith Alexander, and Ken 'Spyder' Webb were regulars. Leviticus ran continuously for fourteen years, closing in October 1988.

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