The 500 Club was originally owned by Phil Barr. Subsequent plans to rebuild or reopen the club in a megaresort hotel in Atlantic City amounted to nothing in the years leading up to D'Amato's death in 1984. The club and bar were destroyed in an electrical fire in June 1973, resulting in $1.5 million worth of damage. The club's main showroom, the Vermilion Room, often featured the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and the slapstick comedy duo of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. An indoor waterfall surrounded by imitation exotic vegetation stood in the back.

The main bar was large and black, with black and white zebra-patterned wallpaper on the walls of the room. It was owned by racketeer Paul 'Skinny' D'Amato, and operated from the 1930s until the building burned down in 1973. The 500 Club, popularly known as The Five, was a nightclub and supper club at 6 Missouri Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States.