{"id":104466,"date":"2026-01-19T08:32:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T08:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/104466\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T08:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T08:32:21","slug":"scenes-from-discos-heyday-on-long-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/104466\/","title":{"rendered":"Scenes from Disco’s heyday on Long Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you used to feel like hot stuff wearing your best leisure suit and partying hard at Uncle Sam\u2019s in Levittown? Or maybe you\u2019d put on your boogie shoes and head to Cherry\u2019s in Glen Cove? <\/p>\n

Sure, in the 1970s the bigger and harder-to-get-into clubs were in Manhattan. But those looking for a more relaxed (but still funky) time found ample places to catch night fever right here on Long Island. Haunts like Decameron in Levittown, 2001 in East Islip and LGBTQ refuges like Club Swamp in Wainscott offered spaces with rhythmic sounds and a respite from the real world. Disco began as an escapist subculture born out of Black and Latino music, but had become full-blown suburban mainstream by the late 1970s. <\/p>\n

Nowadays, it\u2019s hard to find a decent dance hall to blow off steam on the weekend. But, as Donna Summer said in a 1978 interview published in Newsday, \u201cIn a disco, people are free to be whatever they want to be after being cooped up in an office all week.\u201d Scroll\u00a0to see our archival images from a time when you didn\u2019t have to travel far to shake your groove thing. <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2014 Vera Chinese, LI Life\/Act 2 editor \"\"<\/p>\n

Credit: Newsday\/Karen Wiles<\/p>\n

1976 A well-dressed crowd takes to the dance floor at Decameron in Levittown, which was one of the first discos on Long Island, known for its over-the-top lighting<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Credit: Newsday\/Don Norkett<\/p>\n

1978 The Trammps (think \u201cDisco Inferno\u201d) perform to a packed crowd at Cherry\u2019s in Glen Cove.<\/p>\n

Credit: Newsday\/Gerald S. Williams<\/p>\n

1978 Clubgoers at Bubbles in Huntington. A\u00a0Newsday story from the time said clubs\u2019 drink prices ranged from $1.50 to $2.50.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Credit: Newsday\/Ozier Muhammad<\/p>\n

1980 At Fearn\u2019s in Roslyn, some of the clubgoers sport surgical scrubs, a fashion trend of the time. From left, Steve and Linda Ruden and Debbie and Elliott Siegel.<\/p>\n

Credit: Meryl Meisler <\/p>\n

1979 The restroom lounge at Uncle Sam\u2019s in Levittown, a giant disco with seven bars. A Newsday story called it \u201ca place to see and be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Credit: Newsday\/Gerald S. Williams<\/p>\n

1979 Roller skaters glide to disco music at the Commack Roller Rink on Veterans Highway.<\/p>\n

John Colaneri, left, and Tim Doyle dance to disco music at Club Swamp in Wainscott on July 5, 1979. Credit: Newsday\/David Pokress<\/p>\n

1979 Roller skaters glide to disco music at the Commack Roller Rink on Veterans Highway.<\/p>\n

Credit: Meryl Meisler <\/p>\n

1977 Two clubgoers are head and shoulders above the competition in a dance contest at Wilson\u2019s Garage in Westhampton<\/p>\n

Credit: Newsday\/Paul Bereswill<\/p>\n

1983 A couple\u00a0shakes it\u00a0at Zachary’s Dance Club in East Meadow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Did you used to feel like hot stuff wearing your best leisure suit and partying hard at Uncle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[42495,9,11,10,49,51,50,5406,38754],"class_list":{"0":"post-104466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-lilife","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news","12":"tag-new-york-state","13":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-state-news","15":"tag-nostalgia","16":"tag-togetherli"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}