Today I decided that the number 19 Routemaster bus from Highbury Corner to Victoria has an air very similar to Studio 54, the legendary 70’s New York club on W. 54th St. Though I have never seen Liza Minelli on the top deck with a bus pass, the ethos of the Routemaster is very much of the same ilk as The Hottest Disco in Town.
Studio 54 was founded on April 16 1977 by Steve Rubell and Ian Shrager in an ex-CBS television studio; the expensive make-over included a huge silver man-on-the-moon over the dance floor. When a large hanging spoon came to rest under its nose, the man-in-the-moon lit up like a Buddhist monk.
The much loved Routemaster was designed in the 1954 and, despite not having a large illuminated coke-snorting man-on-the-moon on the upper deck, paraded the streets of London till the late ’60’s. Sadly the desire to make buses a 1 man operation meant production ceased and the number of Routemasters in service dropped. Today most are privately owned leaving Route 19 and a few other services run by LT.
Meanwhile back in the decadent 70’s Rubell guarded Studio 54�s door like a SAS sniper, only letting in those he deemed glam and beautiful enough. He also strove to find the perfect combination of black and white, straight and gay � what he called �mixing the salad.�; whether this is at all related to “tossing the salad” we may never know. Yet the imagery of Rubell standing above these beautiful things orchestrating his ideal disco mix still sits in people’s minds today.
Strangely even now the same event occurs, but this time on the number 19 bus at the Angel bus stop. The Conductor would stand at the top of the stairs, quite aware that the top deck has 30 empty seats and pass his gaze upon the baying crowd at the entrance to the bus. He hold his breath for a moment, pause thoughtfully and then start picking in his lisping North Indian accent:
‘I can only take 6 and you all better want to party’
‘Baby, baby, wow - love you. You’re in’
‘Child is that a wig? - too ugly, go home.’
‘You’re beautiful babygirl, you definitely but leave your man. You’re going home with Big Jonny tonight’
‘1,2,3,4, and 5. You’re all in. Make it for me’
Once he’s made his pick, he rings his bell and the bus swings away abandoning a mass of disappointed revelers standing at the bus stop in the pouring rain. As I lounge upstairs in the ‘VIP’ floor, I smugly think about the poor people I’m leaving behind and even look down upon the throng standing in the ‘Corridor’ downstairs. The Conductor swans past and I absent-mindedly wave my Oyster card at him like a black Amex. Truly the disco magic lives on today; albeit in a post-war mass transit vehicle passing through North London.
PS -Note the Routemaster are only guaranteed in service till 2004, coincidentally it’s 50th anniversary.
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