[citation needed] The Roxy hosted a party for the famed Olympic gold medal-winning USA Ice Hockey team in 1980.
Hip hop pioneers such as Grand Mixer D.ST Jazzy Jay and Afrika Bambaataa began DJing there and Kool Lady Blue sponsored breaking or b-boy/b-girl competitions featuring the Rock Steady Crew, Graffiti Artist Murals, Emcees like Fab 5 Freddy hosting the nights and she even had the genius idea to book [3] Double-dutch exhibitions by The Fantastic Four local American Double Dutch League champions and added Double Dutch to the Hip Hop equation at Negril and The Roxy.
[2][4] Artists such as Madonna, Run DMC, Kraftwerk, Shannon, Malcolm McLaren, New Edition, Kurtis Blow, The Beastie Boys, Yello, Dead or Alive, Cher, Bette Midler, Whitney Houston, Liza Minnelli, Chaka Khan, Donna Summer, Cyndi Lauper, Jorge Perez Evelyn,Grace Jones, Yoko Ono, LL Cool J, Lisa Marie Presley, Gloria Gaynor, and George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars all performed at the Roxy.
The Roxy hosted one of New York City's largest weekly gay dance nights, Roxy Saturdays, promoted by John Blair Promotions, which featured many famous DJs including Junior Vasquez, Manny Lehman, Hex Hector, Victor Calderone, David Guetta, Frankie Knuckles, Paul van Dyk, Offer Nissim, Hector Fonseca and Peter Rauhofer.
During the late 1980s, it was operated under the name 1018, and was closed down in 1989 by the New York City Office of Midtown Enforcement as a nuisance, based on allegations of underaged drinking, drug sales, and violence.
[9] As of September 2017, the building is undergoing demolition to make way for high-end residential condominiums overlooking the adjacent High Line Park.