“When Studio 54 opened in April [of 1977], there were always throngs waiting and wanting in. To stand out from the crowd, we’d design flamboyant costumes for Judith – a different one every night. We’d sashay up and she’d call out to the doorman, “Marc! Marc!” Then, as if by magic, the red velvet rope would part the crowd, and in we’d go to dance and photograph the night away,” explains photographer Meryl Meisler about her wild days of the 1970’s. Widely known in Bushwick  for her amazing and historically invaluable photography of post-Blackout Bushwick, her photography of the decadent disco era days of 1970s New York City will surely surprise you.

“Flash forward several decades and Bushwick is flourishing, with a booming art and nightlife scene. The ‘Bridge and Tunnel folk’ once barred from those velvet ropes and disco doors are now the hip crowd. Still there is a dichotomy, a tale of two cities, with great disparities of income and opportunity in New York, and Bushwick itself,” continues Meryl.

Her disco images have never been shown before, and especially not in juxtaposition with her iconic images of looted Bushwick.