New York, 1980s

New York, 1980s

In the 1980s, New York was a city of light and shadow, where glamour and grit coexisted in an intoxicating dance. It was a decade of opulence, where power deals were sealed over champagne at The Plaza, while downtown, the countercultural elite were rewriting the rules of art, music, and fashion. The city pulsed with energy—at times thrilling, at times scandalous—its nightlife a heady mix of decadence, creativity, and rebellion.

On Madison Avenue, The Helmsley Palace stood as a bastion of unbridled wealth. Leona Helmsley, the self-styled "Queen of Mean," presided over her empire with a manicured fist, hosting magnates and moguls in gilded suites. The hotel's grand lobby, decked in crystal and marble, was both a meeting ground for the city’s elite and a stage for high-society drama. For the upwardly mobile, a night at The Palace wasn’t just an indulgence—it was a declaration of status.

Named after The Helmsley Palace Hotel, first luxury hotel in New York.

If The Helmsley Palace was power, The Plaza was fantasy. The iconic hotel at the edge of Central Park was a playground for the rich and famous, where Hollywood royalty rubbed shoulders with Wall Street titans. The Oak Room hummed with whispered affairs and ambitious plots, while The Palm Court’s afternoon tea hosted gossip-laden tête-à-têtes. Some of the era’s most notorious scandals had their origins here—extravagant parties spiraling into front-page headlines, as excess tipped into infamy.

Named after the Plaza Hotel, 1980s haunt for society partygoers.

Meanwhile, in the East Village, Webster Hall thrived as an epicenter of unrestrained revelry. It had seen Prohibition-era masquerades and anarchist rallies, but in the 1980s, it transformed into a den of pure hedonism. New Wave, punk, and early hip-hop acts played to frenzied crowds, sweat-soaked and hypnotized by strobe-lit debauchery. The venue pulsed with a wild energy—an unfiltered, electric celebration of subversion.

Inspired by an image of an early 60s reporter.

Even as the city surged forward, The Waldorf Astoria remained a steadfast monument to old-world grandeur. Here, black-tie galas persisted, and presidents still found refuge in its stately towers. Beneath the chandeliers of the Grand Ballroom, the whispers of the political elite mingled with the clinking of crystal flutes. But even within these hallowed halls, the city’s shifting pulse could be felt—the next generation waiting to shake off the old order and redefine luxury on their own terms.

But if you wanted the real pulse of 1980s New York, you had to go downtown, where The Mudd Club reigned as the gritty, glamorous nerve center of the avant-garde. Unlike the polished decadence of Midtown, this was a different kind of elite—Basquiat, Warhol, Debbie Harry, and David Byrne, all part of a scene that blurred the lines between art and life. With its graffiti-covered walls and punk ethos, The Mudd Club was the city’s rebellious heartbeat, a temple to those who found beauty in chaos.

The spirit of 1980s New York—its energy, excess, and allure—lives on in a new, limited-edition collection of sunglasses exclusive to Cubitts, West Village. Twenty-five exclusive frames, each named after a hallowed site of merrymaking, pay homage to a decade that defined audacity. Oversized silhouettes with decadent thick temples, sumptuous recessed details, and tinted lenses perfectly suited to revelry (and what comes after).

Available in Cubitts, West Village - in store only.