US photographer Bill Bernstein writes exclusively for PORT about capturing the offbeat venues and colourful characters of New York’s disco scene in the 1970s
I never danced, took drugs, drank or had any other dalliances during my months of photographing the NYC disco scene in the ’70s for my project, DISCO. Not that I don’t do those things, but for this particular period, even with those temptations all around me, I stayed focussed and true to my art form: photography. Although I was never really swayed by the music – I was much more of a rock ‘n’ roller, although I did like some of it – I was fascinated by the people and imagery all around me.
I decided to try to hit as many clubs as I could in ’79. Of course Studio 54, Xenon, Paradise Garage, but also 2001 Odyssey out in Bay Ridge Brooklyn – home of “Saturday Night Fever” where the “craze” all began. I remember this club being in the middle of nowhere in Brooklyn. A small building with a tacky movie poster from the film hanging between the restroom doors. Cutout figures of John Travolta Scotch-taped to the mirrored walls. And that illuminated dance floor… I spoke with the manager of the club for a while and he complained that he had never been paid his location fee for the movie, but nonetheless, it brought in traffic from all over the world.
One of my favourite places was GG’s Barnum Room in mid-town Manhattan. It was a transgender male and female haven, and the only club with an acrobatic show above the dance floor. And of course, Paradise Garage, the downtown club with the world’s best Dj, Larry Levan. I loved how Larry worked the crowd. He played whatever he thought would keep the momentum going. He loved Pat Benatar’s ‘Love is a Battlefield’ and would play it over and over again. He didn’t care. He just did his own thing, and that’s what made him, and the club so great.
Disco: The Bill Bernstein Photographs was published on 16 November 2015 by Reel Art Press. RRP £40 ($60)
The book’s release will coincide with an exhibition running 3 December 2015 – 24 January 2016 at Serena Morton Gallery, 343-345 Ladbroke Grove, London W10 6HA
