It had a lengthy mahogany bar running along one side, many mirrors and a dance floor at the back, a capacity of just 178 people, and a gay clientele.
[2] As the Twist craze hit in 1960–1961, celebrities swarmed into the Peppermint Lounge – Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Liberace, Noël Coward, Frank Sinatra, Norman Mailer, Annette Funicello, even the elusive Greta Garbo – to dance to the house band, Joey Dee and the Starliters.
During 1961, Paramount Pictures filmed the movie Hey, Let's Twist!, a fictional story of Dee and the Peppermint Lounge starring Jo Ann Campbell and Teddy Randazzo.
Other albums released during this time were Doin' the Twist at the Peppermint Lounge, which was recorded live at the venue, and All the World's Twistin' with Joey Dee & the Starliters.
[5] The 128 West 45th Street venue reopened as a gay bar called "Hollywood", most notable for the 1970s DJ residency of Richie Kaczor, who went on to great success at Studio 54.
In November 1980, after G. G. Barnum's closed, the Peppermint Lounge name was revived for a new music night club sparked by Rudolf Pieper and Jim Fouratt[9] and run by Frank Roccio and Tom Goodkind.
The club featured top international music acts from both alternative rock and the burgeoning hip hop scenes.
In March 1981, Yoko Ono visited the club in one of her first public appearances after the death of John Lennon, personally delivering a copy of their last single, "Walking on Thin Ice".
In 1986, Judge Edward Weinfeld sentenced Ianniello to six years in prison on a racketeering charge that involved skimming over $2 million from bars and restaurants (including Umberto's Clam House, the Peppermint Lounge and a topless bar called the Mardi Gras, all in Manhattan) secretly owned by Ianniello, his business partner Benjamin Cohen and seven associates.