He looked up and saw all these people (our group) looking at him. Kyle: It has a window with LED lights around it, and a tourist was in the window and seemed to be making a humping motion. There's always a striking contrast to what it was and what it is now. That's an interesting thing about the tourists-you're hearing these great stories. Kyle: The writer Allan Gurganus wrote, "It was the Warhol factory, Studio 54, and the Algonquin roundtable all rolled into one." It was at 643 Broadway near Bleecker. But when the local press talked about the bar, it was in the salacious category of bars. Michael: It was a bohemian bar, so we don't have the language to put it in "gay bar" explicitly. Whitman has an unfinished poem called "The Two Vaults" about the bohemians in the place. It was an underground space, a beer cellar. The ones that really surprise people are the most historic ones-like the Vault at Pfaff, where Walt Whitman went.
Some favorites are the Roxy, Crisco Disco, and the Mine Shaft, and we always end with Stonewall. And we try and have a guest speaker to talk from a first hand account. We try to cover different types of places-gay dance clubs, leather scene, piano bars, Rose's Turn, the old Duplex space. It's more of a walking conversation than a tour. Michael: The point of the walk is to share memories. What are your 'Gay Bars That Are Gone' walks walks like? Are they like séances? I think there's a resurgence to build relationships with people who were there at the time or with younger people who share an interest in that time. Word spread that if you want to experience what the community was like, go there. I love older spaces and things from a different time. I heard, "It's for the older crowd." But I was curious. Michael: Yes, the oldest currently operating.
Julius (in the Village) is the oldest place, right?
GAY BARS NEW YORK ADS FULL
Kyle: My favorite is probably the Ninth Circle (a fab West 10 th Street steakhouse-turned-gay-bar full of leather clones, twinks, hustlers, and celebrity drop-ins, all either cruising, playing pool, doing drugs, or rubbing against each other.) The location was so great-Mapplethorpe, Warhol and Lou Reed were all there in the late '60s. Once a year-for three years in a row-they've done Gay Bars That Are Gone, an informative walk as part of Jane Jacobs festival, in May. By day, Kyle does comedy, historic restoration, and works for Wilsonart, while Michael is involved with TED (as in TED Talks). To learn more about the places we miss, I turned to Kyle Supley and Michael Ryan, who specialize in documenting the formative days of bar hopping. There will always be gay bars, but will they be as vivid, sexy, and subversive as the haunts of yore? The history of NYC nightlife is studded with the memories of fascinating boîtes that attracted gays in desperate need of connection, then ultimately fell away as newer spots and trends emerged.