Xenon

Overview

The $2 million Studio 54 challenger (named after element 54) built in the former Henry Miller's Theatre by concert promoter Howard Stein and European club operator Peppo Vanini, with a Douglas Trumbull-designed spacecraft as its centerpiece and a fashion-world dancefloor that Tony Smith held seven nights a week until it closed in 1984.

Xenon opened in June 1978 at 124 West 43rd Street in the former Henry Miller's Theatre, a 1918 Broadway house that had cycled through a prestige run in the Noel Coward era, a stint as the Avon-at-the-Hudson pornographic cinema, and a brief stint screening Federico Fellini before its disco incarnation. Its founders were Howard Stein, a New York concert promoter who had routed the Who, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, and Rod Stewart into American venues, and Peppo Vanini, who operated Régine's and other major European clubs; the two had met at Studio 54 and spent $2 million converting the theater. The name was chosen precisely: xenon is the 54th element of the periodic table, the reference to their Midtown competition unmissable. The centerpiece of the redesigned room was a spacecraft built to order by Douglas Trumbull, the visual-effects designer responsible for '2001: A Space Odyssey' and 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' The room's moving sets and backdrops were designed to shift the environment every thirty to forty-five minutes, a borrowed logic of theatrical transformation applied to the disco format. Opening night drew approximately 2,500 guests including Peter Frampton, Tony Curtis, Paul Simon, and Mariel Hemingway. The resident DJ from 1979 was Tony Smith, who played seven nights a week and extended sets until 4 a.m.; part-time DJs included Louis Martinez (known professionally as Louis Orlando) and John 'Jellybean' Benitez, who split his schedule between Xenon and the Fun House during his peak years. Observers positioned Xenon as Studio 54's 'Fashion Crowd' counterpart — fewer Hollywood celebrities, more models, designers, and professionals, with a door policy regarded as more inclusive. Xenon closed in 1984. The building was subsequently restored as a Broadway house and reopened as the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. Howard Stein died in October 2007, age 62.

Oral histories & archival media

Archive plates

Plates fill in as scans clear rights

Sonic profile

Cultural role

DJs, promoters & people

Follow a name to see other rooms they connect to

Parties & residencies

Tags

Related rooms