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Recently while sifting through Getty Images’ archives, an activity I often do, I came across a scene that took my breath away: Kate Moss sitting with hair stylist Sam McKnight, the late actress Anita Pallenberg, and singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull. After getting over the initial shock of seeing such an iconic grouping, my eyes focused in on the walls behind them, which appeared to be glass cabinets filled with bottles of colorful drugs.
Whose secret supply had this foursome broken into? I instantly thought of Damien Hirst’s infamous “Pharmacy” series and wondered if the contemporary artist had had anything to do with the foul play before our eyes. The caption informed me that I was correct… kind of. Moss and crew were photographed at the now-defunct Pharmacy Club. Legendary in its time, the London restaurant-cum-bar was started by the artist, who curated the venue’s interiors, along with his friend Matthew Freud, the great-grandson of the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund.
I found the Pharmacy Club’s Aspirin-shaped bar stools particularly clever. It opened in Notting Hill in 1997, and was an instant hit with celebrities and the fashion sect. In addition to Moss, regulars like Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow could be found on any given night enjoying the view, so to speak.
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When things are hot, they’re on fire, but when they’re not, they burn out, and the Pharmacy Club closed suddenly in 2003. The following year, 150 lots of its fixtures and fittings were auctioned at Sotheby’s for a total sale of £11.1 million. Hirst tried to revive the experiment in 2016 by launching Pharmacy 2 in his Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall, South London. Again, the decor was inspired by the artist’s works, but like its predecessor the club’s story ended with an empty bottle.
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I’m still waiting for the third iteration of the pharmacy to come around—everyone knows the rule of thirds—but until then I’m debating taking a sandwich to my local drugstore and eating it while I wait for my prescription to be filled. As I drift off into the cabinets before me, I’ll imagine I’m there with Kate, Sam, and the rest of my friends.