After opening in 1979, the Pyramid helped define the East Village drag queen, gay, post-punk and no wave art and music scenes of the 1980s.

[3] On Labor Day 1985, Pyramid performer Lady Bunny hosted the Wigstock Festival in Tompkins Square Park.

[8] From 1992–95, Blacklips Performance Cult, a collective founded by ANOHNI, presented plays at Pyramid every Monday at midnight.

Many visual artists, such as Keith Haring[9] Jean-Michel Basquiat,[10] and Jack Smith[11] were frequent patrons of the club.

[15] However, in the spring of 2011 the LPC proposed a new historic district in the East Village focused around lower Second Avenue and encompassing 15 blocks and 330 buildings.