The Sat opened the old premis of the Fillmore East, a former theater turned classic rock and roll venue of the 1970s, on Send Avenue New York Cy's East Village. The Sat opened the weekend after Labor Day, 1980, as a gay nightclub wh a membership (returng the ia of a club to...
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The Sat dance club opened on September 20, 1980 New York's East Village. Its eight years of operatn paralled the early years of the AIDS crisis. In fact, the end of s first season cid wh the first news reports about the mystery ncer affectg gay men. * the saint gay club new york *
Referred to as the “Vatin of Dis, ” The Sat was a gay, members-only club loted the East Village that operated between September 1980 and May 1988. Wh s huge plaarium-style dome above the dance floor, legendary sound system, and massive light shows, is nsired by many to have been New York’s most spectacular dance club and one of the most expensive gay bs vtments ever attempted. A 1981 issue of After Dark, an entertament magaze aimed at a gay dience, referred to as the “Vatin of Dis.
[We] wanted to create a class operatn, a magil environment that uld provi gay men wh a sense of secury, a safe alternative. Durg this perd, showg the alarmg effect of the epimic on gay men, 700 membership renewals me back wh “Return to Senr.
As a club, The Sat phed the lims on the experience and archecture of the distheque, and s sign created an environment for gay men to live openly and fd a sense of muny. Entry by Ken Ltbar, project director (December 2019), wh some portns adapted om text Liam Nolan, “From the Church of Dis to Wateront Rus: An Analysis of Gay Space” (see below).
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“I always feel terrible when I talk to young guys who have no ia what The Sat was like, ” says San Tomk, former assistant to the ultimate gay dis’s prcipal owner Bce Mailman.
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” The Tim Smh Collectn about The Sat at the Fal Library / NYU From September 1980 to May 1988, The Sat fed gay nightlife New York durg s most tumultuo and lerally plagued .
Before the club opened, vatns were sent to Fire Island P hom owned by A-list gays who typilly danced at Flamgo, The Sat’s siarly exclive Manhattan precsor.
In the earlit ’80s, was hip NYC to be homo, and Sat dancers ranked among Manhattan’s handsomt, most talented and well-nnected. This was the fal and most extreme eratn of the “clone” era, when gay men ma themselv intifiable to each other by a of mascule prentatn – close-cropped hair, trim mtach, tight T-shirts, fad Levi’s 501s, leather vts or harns. The gay club gnoscenti knew what to take and when to take , and the night’s mic both reflected and rerced their llective trips.
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The synchronized tribal r were created by the first openly gay generatn one of the few ci which they were possible. “For those of who nstcted gay culture the 1970s, there was no blueprt or manual, ” explas Felice Pino, one of the ’s most endurg gay wrers. “I went to all the gay diss that preced, like The Tenth Floor, The Loft, Paradise Garage, 12 Wt.
Durg dis’s mercial apogee, his remixg creds graced many gay favor like Madleen Kane’s “Rough Diamond” and “Forbidn Love, ” as well as rock crossovers like Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Thk I’m Sexy? He also dropped dialog snippets om vtage films beloved of gay viewers, like the 1942 Bette Davis vehicle Now, Voyager, which ntaed the oft-quoted le, “Don’t let’s ask for the moon; we have the stars” – an apt one for a plaarium dis. Gay men New York were the arbers of dis, right om the get-go.
In 1981, The New York Tim reported that dozens of gay men had been mysterly fallg ill om Kaposi’s Sara and other opportunistic fectns; this outbreak was tagged “gay ncer. Marks Baths – remembers that what 1982 was lled GRID (gay-related immune ficiency) and later that year AIDS was first nicknamed “Sat disease” by some bee so many who me down wh had danced there. “I was actually nvced that you uld get om drkg at the water founta at The Sat, ” remembers Andrew Holleran, whose 1978 novel Dancer om the Dance fictnalized his own immersn unrground gay clubs like The Tenth Floor and The Loft.