Club 57

Club 57 was a nightclub located at 57 St. Mark's Place in the East Village, New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was originally founded by Stanley Zbigniew Strychacki as well as Dominic Rose. Then enhanced by nightclub performer Ann Magnuson, Susan Hannaford, and poet Tom Scully. It was a hangout and venue for performance and visual artists and musicians, including The Cramps, Madonna, Keith Haring, Cyndi Lauper, Charles Busch, Klaus Nomi, The B-52s, RuPaul, Futura 2000, Tron von Hollywood, Kenny Scharf, Frank Holliday, John Sex, Wendy Wild, The Fall, April Palmieri, Peter Kwaloff (Sun PK), Robert Carrithers, The Fleshtones, The Fuzztones, Joey Arias, Lypsinka, Michael Musto, Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Fab Five Freddy, Jacek Tylicki, and to a lesser extent, Jean-Michel Basquiat. Creation It was started in the basement of the Holy Cross Polish National Church on St. Mark's. Ann Magnuson, who managed the club and hosted events, described it as home to: Magnuson describes a "Punk Do-It-Yourself aesthetic" which inspired events such as: A theatrical remake of "The Bad Seed" by Andy Rees Erotic Day-Glo art shows Theme parties (or "enviroteques") Putt-Putt Reggae Night (miniature golf played on a course made of refrigerator boxes designed to resemble a Jamaican shantytown) Model World of Glue Night (New York's hippest built airplane and monster models, burned them, and sniffed the epoxy) People involved Dany Johnson was the resident DJ of the club. Guest DJs included Johnny Dynell and Afrika Bambaataa.