The History of Gay Nightlife New York Cy - Drag Ball Stonewall Inn Pri

Contents:

• THE HISTORY OF GAY NIGHTLIFE NEW YORK CY
• LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER
• MAN HELD FOR 1980 KILLGS OUTSI A GAY BAR SEEKS RELEASE FROM HOSPAL
• WHY BEG “GAY THE ’70S NEW YORK AND L.A. WAS MAGIC” — AND HOW HOLLYWOOD HAS CHANGED (GUT COLUMN)
• NEW YORK’S OWN ANTI-GAY MASSACRE, NOW BARELY REMEMBERED

THE HISTORY OF GAY NIGHTLIFE NEW YORK CY

New York's Lost Gay BarsWe've known for many years that too many of our cherished gay bars and clubs are shutterg, fallg victim to risg rents and the ubiquy of apps like Grdr and Scff.

There's a walkg tour New York to memorate beloved gay bars and clubs that have closed down. There will always be gay bars, but will they be as vivid, sexy, and subversive as the hnts of yore? The history of NYC nightlife is studd wh the memori of fascatg boît that attracted gays sperate need of nnectn, then ultimately fell away as newer spots and trends emerged.

LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER

Once a year—for three years a row—they've done Gay Bars That Are Gone, an rmative walk as part of Jane Jabsftival, May. What's your favore lost NYC gay bar?

Kyle: My favore is probably the Nth Circle (a fab Wt 10th Street steakhoe-turned-gay-bar full of leather clon, twks, htlers, and celebry drop-s, all eher cisg, playg pool, dog dgs, or bbg agast each other. What are your 'Gay Bars That Are Gone' walks walks like?

We try to ver different typ of plac--gay dance clubs, leather scene, piano bars, Rose's Turn, the old Duplex space. ")So Walt Whman was openly gay? Michael: Not he went to a gay bar.

MAN HELD FOR 1980 KILLGS OUTSI A GAY BAR SEEKS RELEASE FROM HOSPAL

Michael: It was a bohemian bar, so we don't have the language to put "gay bar" explicly. We were outsi the Me Shaft [a rnchy 1970s/'80s gay sex club on Washgton Street]. Michael: It's really the lack of the gay spac, wh real tate beg what is.

Now you n stay your hometown and live your gay life, you don't have to e to a metropolan cy and have that nnectn. A map was created of all gay bars and gay spac om 1859 to now.

WHY BEG “GAY THE ’70S NEW YORK AND L.A. WAS MAGIC” — AND HOW HOLLYWOOD HAS CHANGED (GUT COLUMN)

As you say, younger gays generally e apps for sex. Michael: It's great to see new gay bars open.

I've been gog out Jackson Heights a lot recently and that's a totally separate gayborhood. The gay bars are spac that seem a ltle more tertg to When I go to Boston or other smaller ci, the people are more open and willg to talk to each other. In fact, the people who were most at risk – this se, gay men who met for hook-ups at New York Cy bars that served the muny – were given no staed or amplified warngs by eher the thori or the media, creatg a safe space for the murrer to ntue to wreak havoc.

In fact, the se got so ltle attentn relative to s horror that today few remember , even wh the gay, three s after the murrs, journalist Elon Green has wrten a book tled Last Call: A Te Story of Love, Lt, and Murr Queer New York that go beyond the facts of the story to reveal the larger issu that surround them.

NEW YORK’S OWN ANTI-GAY MASSACRE, NOW BARELY REMEMBERED

Worse, that perd reprented the height of ignorance and fear about Aids, as well as the peak ath toll the gay muny the wt, greatly impactg how the muny was viewed.

“Aids took what was, at bt, a level of difference towards gay people and turned to revulsn, ” said Green. Between 1987 and 1994 the cy saw a greater number of killgs than any other stretch more than half a that benighted era, gay bars were often ‘the one refuge om the perils of everyday life’, says Green.

’ Photograph: Wonwoo Lee/Getty Imag/Image SourceI n speak to the equency of vlence the gay muny back then. In that same time ame, a close iend was gay-bashed to unnscns by a gang of young men, g a days-long stay the hospal, and I was punched so hard the stomach outsi a gay dance club I thought the guy mt have ed a hammer.