The Scene was a

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

on West 46th Street,

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

operated by

Steve Paul Stephen Neal Paul (April 28, 1941 October 21, 2012) was an American talent manager and nightclub owner. Paul was the one-time manager of Johnny Winter, among other related performers, as well as being the owner of The Scene, a popular New York ...

between 1964 and 1969. It was notable for historic performances by Tiny Tim,

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

, the

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1966 by Canadians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin (musician), Dewey Martin and Americans Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely know ...

and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

, among many others.

History

The Scene, also known as "Steve Paul's The Scene", was located in the basement of 301 West 46th Street, in New York's

Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing a city's theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences ...

. Steve Paul had started his entertainment career as a publicist for the

Peppermint Lounge The Peppermint Lounge was a popular discotheque located at 128 West 45th Street in New York City that was open from 1958 to 1965, although a new one was opened in 1980. It was the launchpad for the global Twist craze in the early 1960s. Many cla ...

. Paul opened the club in 1964, initially as a club for actors, musicians and theatre workers from

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

. At the time, the only musician in the club was a resident pianist. Regular musical acts commenced in 1966.Uncredited
Steve Paul's The Scene
NYC: The Official Guide. Retrieved 2011-02-18. The shift in focus to musical acts was quite popular, and involved such acts as

The Young Rascals ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

The Lovin' Spoonful The Lovin' Spoonful is a Canadian-American folk-rock band formed in Greenwich Village, New York City, in 1964. The band were among the most popular groups in the United States for a short period in the mid-1960s and their music and image influ ...

, and

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician. At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which t ...

Blood Sweat and Tears with

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s he was a prolific studio musician, including playing organ on the Bob Dylan song " Like ...

played some of their earliest gigs there. B B King played there for 2 nights and Jimi Hendrix sat in both nights. It also became a popular club with

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

and those associated with him, including

Edie Sedgwick Edith Minturn Sedgwick Post (April 20, 1943 – November 16, 1971) was an American actress, model and socialite who was one of Andy Warhol's superstars, starring in several of his short films during the 1960s.Watson, Steven (2003), "Factory Ma ...

.Steve Paul, retrospective article, ''Hullabaloo'' magazine, May 1967, as quoted i
It's All The Streets You Crossed Not So Long Ago
June 7, 2005. Retrieved 2011-02-09. The club's initial popularity waned, resulting in a period of closure until reopened with the assistance, financial and otherwise, of such persons as

Peter Yarrow Peter Yarrow (May 31, 1938 – January 7, 2025) was an American singer and songwriter who found fame as a member of the 1960s folk music, folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary along with Paul Stookey and Mary Travers. Yarrow co-wrote (with Lenny Lipton ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

and Tiger Morse. In its second incarnation, the club became particularly popular with Jimi Hendrix, who regularly performed there after hours, in jams with other notable musicians.Greg Shaw et al.
The Scene
''Waiting for the Sun: The Spirit of Jim Morrison''. Retrieved 2011-02-18. The first New York performances of the

Jimi Hendrix Experience James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

were at The Scene, on June 3 and 4, 1967, subsequent to Steve Paul seeing the band at the

Monterey International Pop Festival The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16-18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix E ...

. Other acts featured included

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionis ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

and

The Chambers Brothers The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1968 psychedelic soul hit " Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions ...

. Admission to the club was strictly controlled by Steve Paul, who was twenty-three years old at the time of the commencement of the club's second incarnation. Other regular attendees included photographer

Linda Eastman Linda Anne Eastman (July 7, 1867 – April 5, 1963) was an American librarian. She was selected by the American Library Association (ALA) as one of the 100 most important librarians of the 20th century. Eastman served as the head Librarian of ...

, who later married

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

, and Tiny Tim, who often opened the sets.Michael J. Weber
"My Life" by Linda Eastman McCartney
Retrieved 2011-02-14. In 1967,

played for three weeks at The Scene, their first east coast appearance, becoming the biggest draw in the history of the club. This led to an increase in their popularity in New York City, and the east coast in general. Much of the 1970 documentary ''Groupies'' was shot in and around The Scene. The club closed on 12 July 1969. According to

Sterling Morrison Holmes Sterling Morrison Jr. (August 29, 1942 – August 30, 1995) was an American guitarist, best known as one of the founding members of the rock band the Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and ...

, of the Velvet Underground, the closure was prompted by Steve Paul's refusal to pay

protection money A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...

to the New York

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

. This resulted in fights being started at the club, placing its liquor license in jeopardy.

Patricia Kathleen McGlone

The skeleton of a woman referred to as "Midtown Jane Doe" was found by construction workers at 301 W. 46th St. in Manhattan in February, 2003. Her identity remained a mystery for 20 years, until advanced investigative foresics were applied to the case, and it was discovered that she was 16 year old Patricia Kathleen McGlone. She is said to have died in 1969, corresponding to the closing year of "Steve Paul's The Scene", and that she was married to a man associated to the location, with Detective Ryan Glas stating "At this point in the investigation, what I can say is, he does have a connection to where she was found."

References

External links

Making the (Steve Paul) Scene

Profile of Steve Paul
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scene, The 1964 establishments in New York City 1964 in New York City 1970 disestablishments in New York (state) 1970 in New York City 1960s in Manhattan 1970s in Manhattan American companies established in 1964 American companies disestablished in 1970 Entertainment companies disestablished in 1970 Music venues completed in 1964 Nightclubs in Manhattan Former music venues in New York City