 The 500 Club | |
  500 Club Location in Atlantic City | |
| Former names | 500 Cafe |
|---|---|
| Address | 6 South Missouri Avenue Atlantic City, New Jersey United States |
| Coordinates | 39°21′24″N 74°26′16″W / 39.35667°N 74.43778°W |
| Owner | Paul "Skinny" D'Amato |
| Type | Nightclub |
| Capacity | 700 |
| Opened | 1930s |
| Closed | 1973 |
The 500 Club, popularly known as The Five,[1] was a nightclub and supper club at 6 South Missouri Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. It was owned by racketeer Paul "Skinny" D'Amato, and operated from the 1930s until the building burned down in 1973.[2]
The main bar was large and black, with black and white zebra-patterned wallpaper on the walls of the room. An indoor waterfall surrounded by imitation exotic vegetation stood in the back. The club's main showroom, the Vermilion Room, often featured the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and the slapstick comedy duo of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.[3][4]
The club and bar were destroyed in an electrical fire in June 1973, resulting in $1.5 million worth of damage. Subsequent plans to rebuild or reopen the club in a megaresort hotel in Atlantic City amounted to nothing in the years leading up to D'Amato's death in 1984.
- ^ Sokolic, William H. (29 October 1992). "At The Sands, High Rollers To Help Re-create A.c.'s Legendary 500 Club: The 50th Anniversary Of The Club Will Be Celebrated". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
- ^ Sokolic & Ruffolo 2006, p. 77.
- ^ "Early Atlantic City Nightclubs". Monopolycity.com. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
- ^ Wilson, Earl (25 August 1958). "Atlantic City's 'Night People' on Prowl". The Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 21.