Peppermint Twist: The Mob, the Music, and the Most Famous Dance Club of the 60s

Peppermint Twist: The Mob, the Music, and the Most Famous Dance Club of the 60s

(St. Martin’s Press, November 2012)

by John Johnson, Jr. and Joel Selvin with Dick Cami

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At a 1962 sixth-grade dance at the Riverside Park Clubhouse, I remember being 12 and trying to twist myself into being cool. I wasn’t alone. All my buddies and wanna-be girlfriends (the era of dog tags) were part of a national phenomenon, a craze that lit up all of America. The twist became a major catalyst to the sexual liberation of the ’60s.

The twist taught all of white America to loosen up, to shake your bootie. For once the girls did not have to follow their partners. Roots were planted for the women’s movement and the sexual liberation to come. The twist became a land mark in American music.

Ground zero for the “Twist Atomic Bomb” was the Peppermint Lounge, the center of its universe. The Peppermint Twist Lounge laid the blueprint for future night clubs. It was the first famous rock-n-roll club. Twisting waitresses were the prototypes of the 60s Go-Go Girls, who in white boots, pony tails and skimpy attire, were suspended in cages over the dance floor moving in the flashing strobe lights.

Johnny Otis discovered Hank Ballard and his gang The Midnighters (famous for “Work with Me Annie . . . give me all my meat”). In 1958, Ballard took his twist to the King record studio using a Jimmy Reed shuffle feel, and birthed his tune. King Records decided that a young chicken plucker named Ernest Evans should record Hank’s song. That young singer, Ernest, who needed a star’s name, sang a great Fats Domino impression. So his name was changed to Chubby Checker. The rest is music history.

Dick Clark dug the Twist and used his American Bandstand to fuel the fire of Chubby’s craze. “Just pretend you are wiping your bottom with a towel and putting a cigarette out with both feet.” His record zoomed to maximum popularity.

Joe Dee and The Starlighters became The Peppermint Twist lounge house band. They hit it big with the Peppermint Twist. The Starlighters packed-house-jive was fueled by the Peppermint Twisters which led to rail dancing and eventually to the Go-Go Girls at L.A.’s Whiskey A Go-Go.

Driven by the success in New York City, Peppermint Lounge Miami was next. Dick Cami brought his amazing success formula to the heart of the Chitlin’ Circuit. Miami Lounge became stops for Sam and Dave, The Coasters and other black entertainers.

Celebrities from JFK to the Beatles, Frank Sinatra toting along his rat pack, Capote, Lenny Bruce, and many more all wanted to have fun under the candy cane ceiling. It was the coolest scene in the country. To say the Peppermint Lounge was ground breaking barely touches the influence of  this landmark in American culture. The twist loosened up the 50s and especially us white folks.

Although the music itself is reason enough to read John Johnson’s Peppermint Twist, you’ll be fascinated by cultural, historical, and business escapades. The cultural phenomenon that rose out of The Peppermint Lounge was never meant to happen. The lounge was actually created to be a front for the mob, place to hide their wheeling and dealing. This part of the story is also told in detail and makes this era’s tale Godfatheresque.

I’ve shared a few tidbits of info I gathered from this fine book. Treat yourself to Dick’s story, pull out your 45s and enjoy twisting the night away.