While everyone in Hollywood might be six degrees away from Kevin Bacon, he’s been a fixture on the Upper West Side since he moved to New York City at the age of 17. Back then, he was crashing on his sister’s couch while he was in an educational program at Circle in the Square. During those early years as a struggling actor, he would go to Studio 54 by himself.
“I loved Studio 54, but I didn’t go famous, because I wasn’t. I was just a guy,†he told the crowd at Vulture Festival. “I got in. I learned quickly how to do it. I always went alone; I never brought a friend or brought a date. It was tough as a single guy to get in, but I remember one time seeing Steve Rubell out there and he was looking over the rope and was looking down at someone’s shoes and then asked him or her to come in, so I realized the shoes were really important. I got the shoes that would get me into Studio 54.â€
Vulture’s Hollywood Editor Stacey Wilson Hunt asked if once he was inside he would see famous people, but Bacon doesn’t really remember. “I would have a great time by myself; I would try to pick somebody up but I didn’t have enough coke,†he joked.
These days Bacon’s life is much more low key. He lives with his wife of 30 years Kyra Sedgwick on the Upper West Side, even though he says that every few years they have a mid-life housing crisis and wonder if their lives would be cooler if they lived downtown. “We go and try to look in Soho or TriBeCa, and then we come home and I go, ‘Why would we want to move?’†He might not be as cool, but at least he’s consistent.