Hospitality Design - November 2018 - 23

perspectives memoir
Photography by Peter Gould, Rose Hartman, Anton Perich, Photofest,
Neal Slavin, Russell Turiak, and courtesy of Ian Schrager Company
The massive crowd outside of
Studio 54, which Schrager ran
with Steve Rubell from 1977
to 1980, until a police raid led
to their conviction of income
tax evasion, a result of Rubell
bragging to the press about their
success, saying "Only the mafia
does better."

MAN, MYTH, LEGEND
Ian Schrager tells his incredible story

Growing up in Brooklyn, my parents had good
taste. [Our house] was modest, but it didn't look
like anybody else's house. They made an effort
to do something stylish. So, I grew up with this
very discerning-but not ostentatious-taste. It
impacted me. My father was also an impeccable
dresser.
At Syracuse University, [my business partner]
Steve Rubell was a few years older than me, and
we became friends. He wound up doing a failing
restaurant chain based on the notion of $5.95 allyou-can-eat steak, salad, and wine.
After graduating, I didn't have any idea what I
was going to do, so I thought if I go to law school,
it would benefit me in some way. I learned that

trying to determine what you want to do is a
process of elimination. You get out there and do
things, and cross things off the list.
When I graduated from law school [at St.
John's University in Queens, New York], I was in
culture shock. I couldn't get a job because I didn't
have any experience. Through a recommendation
from a friend of the family, I went to work for
DiFalco, Field and O'Rourke (a powerful firm) for
$14,000 a year. Like architecture, being a lawyer
is one of those professions where you get better
later, and I wasn't willing to pay my dues. I was
always in a hurry. After a few years, I went out
on my own. Steve was my first client for $1,000 a
month retainer. I kept the creditors off of his back
because he was undercapitalized. I rented an
office and practiced for six or seven months.

all hours, all over the city. The gay movement
was emerging in New York, and it was setting
the cultural tone. When we went to gay clubs, it
was [the wildest party]: let your hair down, let off
steam, party and dance until you drop-and sex
everywhere. It was this tribal energy. The straight
clubs at that time were kind of pretentious and
disingenuous. I didn't feel comfortable there.
Nightclubs were still in their garage phase.
Computers went through a garage phase, rock
'n' roll went through a garage phase, and so did
nightclubs. There was no barrier to entry. All
you had to do was have an idea and like to throw
a party. You rolled up the rug, painted the space
black, and you had a nightclub. It seemed like a
good business: People were waiting in line to pay
money to go into a place.

Then, this opportunity with the nightclub
business came up. It was the 1970s and the last
golden age of nightclubs in New York; there
were nightclubs for every shape and form, open

We opened a club in Queens called Enchanted
Garden. We were there for about eight months
(just in time to catch the full impact of Son of
Sam), and then we started Studio 54 in 1977 in

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