To dodge strict rules about serving alcohol, the club didn't actually have a permanent liquor license for a long time. Instead, they would just apply for a temporary one every day they were open. Amazingly, this worked, until it didn't. According to a New York Times article from the time, one night they were finally figured out and told they couldn't serve booze. They put up signs apologizing, and everyone enjoyed juice instead.
Not having alcohol wasn't a problem, of course, because this was the 1970s. Alcohol was not the main thing people were after. It wasn't subtle: Hung from the roof of Studio 54, dangling over the dance floor, was a giant crescent moon with a face, a cocaine spoon moving to and from its nose.
MSN called the drug-taking "endemic." It was just as much a part of the Studio 54 experience as the dancing. People openly took poppers on the dance floor, and less openly shot up heroin in dark corners. Not only was this accepted, but one of the biggest suppliers was the co-owner Steve Rubell. He infamously walked around wearing a padded coat that hid his stash of cocaine, Quaaludes, and poppers. If he liked you enough, he'd give you a little something. The owners knew they needed celebrities to keep coming, and they knew celebrities liked free drugs. So they would send limos to pick them up, making sure there was plenty of cocaine in them first.
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