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 "pointy-toed hipsters, girls in rockabilly petticoats, spandex pants, and thrift-store stiletto heels...suburban refugees who had run away from home to find a new family...who liked the things we liked - Devo, Duchamp, and William S. Burroughs - and hated the things we hated - disco, Diane von Fürstenberg, and The Waltons." Magnuson describes a "Punk Do-It-Yourself aesthetic" which inspired events such as:
A theatrical remake of "The Bad Seed" by andy rees
Dany Johnson was the resident DJ of the club. Guest DJs included Johnny Dynell and Afrika Bambaataa. Tom Scully and Susan Hannaford ran a Monster Movie club on Tuesday nights. Drew Staub remembers at 9:00 Tuesdays “they’d show the really worst monster movie that they could find. And everybody would scream and drink and carry on. I was the house critic of the movie… I was known for that, and it used to gain me free admission.” Hannaford has relocated to Berlin and opened the Berlin Tea Room in August 2006. Keith Haring used to perform from inside a fake television set, and read his "neo-dada poems" at the Club 57 Wednesday night poetry readings, and later put on evenings and exhibitions there. He curated the Black Light Show there, an early show of his own works, and an exhibition of Kenny Scharf's hand customized appliances. Besides Magnuson's input, the main contribution to the Club 57 style was from School of Visual Arts undergraduate students, who used it as a playground. “At Club 57 there were drugs and promiscuity—it was one big orgy family. Sometimes I’d look around and say, “Oh, my God! I’ve had sex with everybody in this room!” It was just the spirit of the times—and it was before AIDS" remembers Scharf, "Everybody there was either living together or sleeping together." Drew Staub agreed. Scharf recalls that "Ann Magnuson may have been twenty-four, but she was like our mom." Jean-Michel Basquiat fell out with Kenny Scharf, in part over Club 57: "esthetically I really hated Club 57. I thought it was silly. All this old and bad shit. I’d rather see something old and good.” Other contributors included Shawn McQuate the Great aka AMMO, dancer, performance-artist and designer. Stacey Elkin and Shawn were known as the fashion designers of the club, and made costumes for many of the Club 57 performers, like Magnuson, Scharf, and model and artist Kitty Brophy. McQuate the Great/Shawn AMMO was John Sex's boyfriend for two years during the early club days. McQuate did several happenings, including having 50 performance artists performing at the same time, in Universal Interaction 1981. Also, Ande Whyland, Photog., Robert Carrithers, photog., Minn Thometz-Sanchez, dancer/personality, and so many others played a vital role in the clubs aesthetic.
Later years, closure and legacy
Ann Magnuson left her position as manager of Club 57 soon after forming the band Pulsallama, and just before being cast in The Hunger with David Bowie." Andy Rees took over bring Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. In 1981 Steve Mass of Mudd Club began showing up at Club 57, and began hiring Club 57 crowd to help acquire part of that scene. Keith was later hired to curate shows at the Mudd Club. Club 57 closed in the early 1980s – "around 1983", according to Magnuson – after the community of artists moved on to larger and more expensive venues, and many concurrently began to suffer from AIDS. The club is the subject of "Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978–1983", a show held at the Museum of Modern Art in 2017.
