Around 1978, the Tobacco Company Restaurant in Richmond, Virginia, was turning its basement into a disco lounge. The owner had a design for the wall behind the dance floor, 40 feet long and 9 feet tall, of a Victorian restaurant and couples dancing. The only reason I can think of for him selecting this design is that he liked to decorate with stained and bevel glass from the period, and he thought it would fit right in.

Sometimes, a design may not seem appropriate for the occasion, but it makes the customer feel more “High class” and willing to spend more money.

I used a regular 1/8″ mirror for the silver and spray-painted clear sheets of glass gloss black to resemble a black mirror.

We cut all of the glass with a regular glass cutter. There was no grinding or edging, so accuracy was of the utmost importance. We wanted a “clean cut” because we wanted the light from the disco lights to run along the edges of each piece of glass.

We placed each piece on the plywood support wall with two dabs of mirror mastic. This project took several months with five of us working on it.

For the next several years, I made considerable money repairing broken pieces from disco dancers who accidentally or intentionally broke pieces.