Often regarded as the birthplace of topless bathing and beach clubbing, La Voile Rouge is being entirely dismantled this week in St Tropez.
Its illustrious devotees over the years include Robert De Niro, Cindy Crawford, Roger Moore, Paris Hilton, Kate Hudson and Sylvester Stallone. It has been the place for beach party-goers since it opened 45 years ago.
After decades of putting up with the din of corking champagne bottles, banging music and helicopters depositing clientele, the locals snapped and the beach club has closed after repeatedly violating noise limits.
Jean Roch, the owner of the St Tropez nightclub VIP-Room, was horrified: "It's a holy site, not just for St Tropez but for the whole world."
Since it opened in 1966, it was the first beach club to allow topless guests, setting the tone for decadence and hedonism. By night it would turn into a fully-functioning nightclub.
In high season 500 billionaires, celebrities and wannabes packed in around the beach mattresses, the makeshift catwalk and the bar daily.
The club was seen as an ideal haunt for the super rich to flaunt their wealth. It was the scene of a legendary cake and champagne fight between Sylvester Stallone and his friends in the 1980s. Paris Hilton reportedly spent €300,000 in one afternoon of debauchery, as she also opted to pass the afternoon with a champagne fight. The bar does not even accept credit cards, so Ms Hilton would have had to have it to hand in her wallet.
The family who owned the club lost their appeal against the council, and this week French authorities began removing the furniture before the whole site is demolished.