By Jane Feehan
Note : Richard "Dick Cami" Camillucci, Jr., quoted below, died July 28, 2020 at age 86.
One of Miami’s hottest night spots in the early 1960s was the Peppermint Lounge, a place where old and young, rich and famous danced their nights away to the latest gyrating crazes, including the one that launched the club, the Twist.
Ernest Evans, known forever after as Chubby Checker, recorded Hank Ballard’s rhythm and blues tune, The Twist, in 1959. The record did not sell well so Checker went on tour across the nation to sing the tune and demonstrate a dance that went with it. Some say he lost 30 pounds in just three weeks of performing. The tune – and the dance—finally caught on 14 months later as a fad that swept the world.
It proved to be a draw at the Peppermint Lounge on West 45th Street in New York where people waited in line to get through its doors. The popularity of the club spawned a few others, including the Peppermint Lounge on the 79th Street Causeway in Miami.
The Miami club opened Dec. 1, 1961 at the former site of Colonel Jim's. The Miami News reported Lee Ratner and Morris Levy of Roulette Records were its backers but according to Dick Cami (in his mid 20s at the time), he ran the place. Cami was repotedly married to the daughter of New York mobster Johnny “Futto” Biello.
An impressive roster of big name entertainers played at the Miami club.
"Major rock and roll acts worked at the Peppermint Lounge like the Coasters, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty ... and more," said Cami.
Miami’s Peppermint Lounge, with its mirrored ceilings and fenced-in dance floor attracted locals, tourists—and the famous.
Nat King Cole asked Cami if he could play the piano there a few nights to get the feel of the rock ‘n roll thing his daughter Natalie liked so much. He was at the piano when singer
Sam Cooke, who recorded his own top-of-the-chart tune,
Twistin' the Night Away, came in one evening.
The Beatles visited Cami's place to pay homage to rock n' roll
—the inspiration for their music
—three times when they
 |
Lenny Bruce, frequent visitor.
Domita Jo on his left, photo courtesy of Dick Cami |
were in the area to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Politicos ventured fearlessly into the club to be part of the action. Gov. Grant Sawyer of Nevada was at a Governors Conference in Miami when he found the Peppermint Lounge. He visited the club each night with his wife; a large crowd gathered as the governor climbed the dance floor fence and twisted the night away.
And the Twist kept raging “round and round” Miami, Miami Beach and the rest of the country. “How long will the Twist epidemic last?” asked columnist Herb Kelly as he listed all the Miami Beach hotel lounges bowing to the fad. “It’s spreading so fast nobody knows.” Gray-haired matrons were shaking their hips on the same dance floor with green-haired girls and bearded young men, “all shaking like there was no one else in the world, not even their partner,” mused Cami.
The Twist was invented by chiropractors, quipped comedian Bob Hope. “The whole world’s sacroiliac is going to be out in about three days.”
Actually it took a bit longer than three days.
Things began to slow down about a year later. That’s why the Peppermint Lounge started featuring a dance revue, the “Crazy Crazes,” a history of dance fads. Four dancers—two male, two female—and singer Regina Rae highlighted the show presenting dance crazes from the 1920s to the Twist.
Other dances caught on at the Peppermint Lounge as they had elsewhere in the U.S.: the Hully Gully, the Mashed Potato, the Fly, Bird, Dog, Frug, Slop, and the Continental. The Legends provided the music at the Miami lounge for all the crazes and so did a band from Jamaica, Freddie Scott’s Blues Busters. Their claim to fame was blending calypso and rock ‘n roll, known then by another name.
"We were the first to bring Ska, the precursor of Reggae, to America, " reminisced Cami.
Lights went out on the dance floor by 1964 or early 1965. In late ’64, Cami sold the lounge to Joe Camperlengo of Fort Lauderdale; Camperlengo owned the 4 o’Clock Club in that city. The Peppermint Lounge reopened shortly after the sale and soon became the Inner Circle. By 1965, the place was razed to make way for a new steak house.
Lucky for South Florida, Dick Cami remained but moved on to other endeavors in the area. He said he opened Applause, a nightclub at the Omni Center in Miami. Some reported that he wanted to go into construction but he (and later with his two sons) became the driving force behind several restaurants: Cami’s Seashells in Dade and Broward counties; Grumpy Dick’s in Plantation, Crabby Dick’s in Key West, and Islamorada Fish House in Dania.
The restaurant closest to Cami's heart was his Top of the Home in Hollywood, FL. For 26 years it stood acclaimed for its fine Continental dining, outstanding wine selection, and stunning panoramic vista of Broward County. His popular lounge featured two singing bartenders and piano player Sonny Gambino.
Today, Cami no longer owns a restaurant but with a wealth of experience accumulated over the years he serves as chief operating officer of food and beverage for Excelsior Hospitality Management International, a consulting and asset management company.
There is more to Cami's past —and present—than the restaurant biz.
He said he stepped into the boxing world for a time, managing a few fighters who the late, great Angelo Dundee trained at his Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach.
Cami also mentioned he manages affairs for his friend, Sandi Lansky*, daughter of reputed mobster, gambling kingpin and former Miami resident, Meyer Lansky. Cami has served as advisor during the compilation of her memoirs by William Stadium. The book, Daughter of the King, was released March, 2014.
The former restaurateur said he is currently in discussions with Fox about a TV pilot series, The Twist, and has teamed up with a former colleague to produce an animated musical feature, The Dog Show, a story about a mutt who wins the Westminster Dog Show.
Cami lives in Oregon today but memories of those sizzling Miami Beach days and the jumping Peppermint Lounge nights loom large. I wonder if he ever asked anyone to do the Twist.
* Sandra Lansky, daughter of Meyer Lansky wrote a memoir, Daughter of the King, in 2014.
Copyright ©2013, 2014, 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan
Sources:
Miami News, Dec. 5, 1961
Miami News, Nov. 29, 1961
Miami News, Aug. 17, 1962
Miami News, Nov. 27, 1962
Miami News, Aug. 7, 1963
Miami News, Oct. 8, 1964
Miami News, Sept. 19, 1965
Beaver County Times, Aug. 19, 1964
Lakeland Ledger, Feb. 29,1988
Reading Eagle, May 20, 1965
Rome News-Tribune, Mar. 14, 1972
Richard "Dick Cami" Camillucci, Jr.
Tags: Miami history, Miami dance clubs, Peppermint Lounge, the Twist, Chubby Checker, Sandi Lansky, Meyer Lansky,Fort Lauderdale historian, Miami historian
