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?
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. New owners of the Dorilton Apartments building closed the cafeteria and bar in 1956.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. This court decision was cited in many subsequent cases, but in reality, the SLA and the police mostly ignored it, and harassment of establishments attracting a gay clientele continued for another two decades. In the future, the SLA was required to prove that the gay men or lesbians present in a bar had engaged in conduct that was actually disorderly (not simply their presence), and that the establishment had acquiesced in that behavior. O’Connell officially limited the SLA’s definition of a “disorderly” bar. The court was leery of the SLA’s action, given the “excellent reputation” of the cafeteria and the financial investment it represented (approximately a quarter of a million dollars), and it rebuked the SLA on its inadequate evidence. He reported about fifteen men acting in a “female way,” some grabbing each other “indecently,” and accused one man of making an “indecent proposal” to him.
The SLA, at the time avidly closing bars associated with the gay and lesbian community, revoked the bar’s license based on a plainclothes policeman’s observations for half an hour during the early morning hours of February 4, 1953. It apparently opened around 1940, primarily as a restaurant, and reportedly made about twenty percent of its business from the bar. One of the largest establishments on the Upper West Side, it could accommodate 350 to 400 people. Gaedicker’s 1949 “Sodom-on-Hudson” guide stated that “for the upper west side, the Stanwood Cafeteria… occasionally flourishes, especially near bar-closing time.” Located near the busy intersection of Broadway and West 72nd Street, the cafeteria and bar extended along the Broadway frontage of the Dorilton Apartments, with clear visibility from the street through large windows.