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The club’s owners went on to open The Backlot, an adjacent live music and performance venue that attracted Hollywood A-listers. But the happy ending of gay men finding acceptance on the dancefloor was ripped away in the early 80s. Like any documentary about gay culture of that era, you are girding yourself for the arrival of Aids. The club’s longterm barman Michael Koth shares a staff Christmas photo from 1980, or maybe 1981. “There are 105 people in that picture, and only two of us are left alive.”

At the beginning of the film you might be a bit cynical about the mission to save the place. It’s not as if it’s possible to re-bottle the magic of a club in its heyday, so why bother? But listening to the survivors will completely change your mind about preserving its status as a cultural landmark, perhaps even a memorial to those who were lost so young. “This was the place where they were happiest.”

 Studio One Forever is in UK cinemas from 18 October.