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Let's All Remember The Good Old Days Of Chelsea, NYC

What happened? It's all gone. But, it was so alive and so much fun! "Memories light the corners of my mind... Misty water-colored memories of the way we were..."-- Oh, sorry... Anyway, share your favorite spots! Talk about the good or the bad, but ESPECIALLY the good! Let's make Chelsea NYC live again if only through 600 posts on DataLounge!

Food Bar

The famed Food Bar, where more men have had sex in the bathroom, been on dates, than probably any other restaurant in the world. This place was a total meat market and cruising scene for GAY MEN! You wouldn't bring your boyfriend to this sausage fest. Gosh, even the women who came there wanted to be male and gay because it was so...! Hunty, it was quite amusing to watch all those Chelsea boy's prancing around with Madonna blasting like it was a club and not a dining establishment. The food was really good too and not that expensive. It would be great if someone found an old menu.

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by Anonymousreply 485May 5, 2021 12:09 AM

18th and 8th -- diner fabulosity

by Anonymousreply 1May 30, 2019 10:19 PM

Big Cup

by Anonymousreply 2May 30, 2019 10:21 PM

💦Splash💦

by Anonymousreply 3May 30, 2019 10:25 PM

You would go to the Food Bar for action and fun. You wouldn't take your father or brothers there, (unless they were very curious and interested in experimenting), and therefore you would take parents and guests to the Viceroy.

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by Anonymousreply 4May 30, 2019 10:30 PM

[quote]Big Cup

C'mon guys! Share some memories!!!

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by Anonymousreply 5May 30, 2019 10:32 PM

Maryann's, bitches

by Anonymousreply 6May 30, 2019 10:34 PM

^YES!!!!

by Anonymousreply 7May 30, 2019 10:36 PM

I honestly don't remember what was on either side of the Food Bar (Food Bar is now Chipotle Mexican Grill--BOOOO!!!) Oh, but that oh so familiar flag of Food Bar!

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by Anonymousreply 8May 30, 2019 10:37 PM

But alas, it's gone for good reason:

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by Anonymousreply 9May 30, 2019 10:37 PM

Well I ate crickets in South America.

by Anonymousreply 10May 30, 2019 10:41 PM

Sample Viceroy menu. This must have been when it was on the decline because I remember the menu selection being more elevated than this.

"If you like Calamari, get it! If you don't like Calamari get it and see if it changes your mind!"

"The Fried Green Tomato Sandwhich: a unique menu item and delicious"

"Steak salad full stop"

"Très bonnes frites et asperges grillées."

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by Anonymousreply 11May 30, 2019 10:43 PM

Viceroy had hopping weekend brunch.

by Anonymousreply 12May 30, 2019 10:44 PM

a hopping

by Anonymousreply 13May 30, 2019 10:44 PM

What about the steam room at the 17th Street Gym?

by Anonymousreply 14May 30, 2019 10:46 PM

Used to run into my brother at the Big Cup. At the time I was living in DC and he in NYC

by Anonymousreply 15May 30, 2019 10:47 PM

Rocking Horse Cafe

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by Anonymousreply 16May 30, 2019 10:48 PM

I moved to NYC in 1983. I lived on 25th between 7 and 8th Ave.

So many Puerto Ricans to cruise. They all lived with their families and had no place to go for sex.

This was the time when a Norwegian student went missing and his picture was plastered all around the area. I think that sleazy art dealer Andrew Crispo was involved somehow.

Anyway, 8th Avenue was very dangerous to walk around. You had to take a taxi to the front door of where you lived. The gays started to come in the early 90s.

by Anonymousreply 17May 30, 2019 10:50 PM

La Chinita Linda Cuban Chinese restaurant, great Chinese Cuban food that was cheap, big portions and delish. We always had the chicken leg quarter which was enormous with Cuban rice and black beans.

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by Anonymousreply 18May 30, 2019 10:54 PM

I never realized how much I would miss this place. GAY! GAY! GAY!!!! I haven't been able to find Brian Nolan's clothing since! I actually think that he has gone back to selling his stuff out of his house/apartment. There were just so many interesting tchotchkes here.

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by Anonymousreply 19May 30, 2019 11:00 PM

Chelsea Gym a gay gym on 17th & 8th, you could see every gay porn star in NYC working out there and sometimes sample the goods in the steamroom in the basement.

by Anonymousreply 20May 30, 2019 11:04 PM

Wow R17 - Andrew Crispo! There’s a blast from the past! You’re correct, he was involved in some sorted sex, drugs, and s&m, murder. If I remember there was a leather mask involved that was actually made by some artist at the time. There was an interesting novel that mashed up the Crispo and von Bulow scandals, Privileged Lives.

by Anonymousreply 21May 30, 2019 11:05 PM

GOOD ONE, R18! I LOVED eating there. It was such an interesting fusion--Cuban & Chinese. I really miss that place... and the short Asian guy who was like the maitre d. I saw her get angry once at somebody and THAT was a show!!! It was better than Madame Butterfly!

Below, is a sample of Brian Nolan's clothing

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by Anonymousreply 22May 30, 2019 11:06 PM

I never ate at Rocking Horse, R16. But, wasn't there a french restaurant right next to it?

by Anonymousreply 23May 30, 2019 11:07 PM

Trés Canards

Rawhide

by Anonymousreply 24May 30, 2019 11:09 PM

All the supermarkets were cruisey as was 23rd st. I lived on 23rd st near 10th ave. and would go out Saturday night to pick up the Sunday Times and usually got laid on the way home.

by Anonymousreply 25May 30, 2019 11:09 PM

There was another Cuban restaurant near Rainbows and Triangles that was very good, the name escapes me.

by Anonymousreply 26May 30, 2019 11:11 PM

Just call the undertaker....

I have YET to recover from the closing of Rawhide....

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by Anonymousreply 27May 30, 2019 11:14 PM

I live down the street from Chelsea Square Diner, went there for breakfast on the weekends.

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by Anonymousreply 28May 30, 2019 11:15 PM

I loved La Chinita Linda! They'd always ask at the end of every meal "you want the flan?"

There was another similar type place a little more south on 8th ave -I think it was Tara del oro - , but one of the cooks was SO fucking hot. He was like this 50-ish Puerto Rican daddy withe hugest hairy arms.

I also used to go to Bendix for the pad Thai and that Mexican place across the street for really good burritos.

And The Break for their dollar frozen margarita night. OMG. You'd get crazy brain freeze wasted on a Tuesday and then call in sick to work the next day.

Big Cup was my stomping grounds - I picked up so many guys there. Rawhide for the coldest Stellas on tap - best time was a blazing hot Sunday afternoon in the summer - it was almost pitch dark, the AC was cranked and the grossest people were in attendance. It was fab!

Sigh. I miss all that.

by Anonymousreply 29May 30, 2019 11:16 PM

^La Taza de Oro on 8th ave.

by Anonymousreply 30May 30, 2019 11:24 PM

For years, Chelsea was just what you picked through on your way to Greenwich Village. As stated above, it did not become a gayborhood until the early '90s. Gay community roots are not too deep there. Of course, if your gay roots are there, that is enough. It never had the warmth and sense of community found in the Village. Chelsea was always a good place to score drugs. That's about it.

by Anonymousreply 31May 30, 2019 11:24 PM

I lived around the corner from the Empire Diner I would go there for breakfast on Sunday, you would see people who had stayed out all night stumble in to feed their hangover from booze and drugs plus the hungover drag queens with their makeup smeared. They had an upright piano in the corner and a piano player occasionally.

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by Anonymousreply 32May 30, 2019 11:25 PM

The 90s in Chelsea were amazing. Now it is old queens who got in early and can still afford to be there. The young gaylings are elsewhere.

by Anonymousreply 33May 30, 2019 11:27 PM

[quote] but one of the cooks was SO fucking hot. He was like this 50-ish Puerto Rican daddy withe hugest hairy arms.

Yep! If you were a straight man over there your days were numbered. Them boys over there were like the Borg; "Resistance is futile." ALL men like their dicks sucked (and more) and either the straight guy would fall into line or would have quit the area due to their own internal stresses and pressure.

by Anonymousreply 34May 30, 2019 11:29 PM

R31 It was this way in the 80's too we always joked that GV was the city and Chelsea was the suburbs.

by Anonymousreply 35May 30, 2019 11:31 PM

I always recall this porn store with this sleazy, unwashed Israeli guy who had gorgeous eyes.

by Anonymousreply 36May 30, 2019 11:31 PM

[quote]The 90s in Chelsea were amazing. Now it is old queens who got in early and can still afford to be there. The young gaylings are elsewhere.

MMPH! We couldn't even get to the 50th post before the old, "I only love youthful twinks" queen descended upon us! BE GONE, you wicked queen! Start your own thread about how "happening" it is in Hell's Kitchen and how all the 20 somethings--but under 28 year olds, are busting down your door trying to get at you!

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by Anonymousreply 37May 30, 2019 11:35 PM

Who was the guy who used to go home with guys and attack them? There used to be signs up warning people about him. Was it Billy something?

by Anonymousreply 38May 30, 2019 11:37 PM

R6, Maryann's was closed by the Department of Health, reopened, a few months later closed forever by the DOH.

by Anonymousreply 39May 30, 2019 11:40 PM

[quote]La Chinita Linda Cuban Chinese restaurant

Someone REALLY needs to reprise this! Or, tell me where I can go to get it.

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by Anonymousreply 40May 30, 2019 11:41 PM

[quote]Chelsea Gym a gay gym on 17th & 8th,

I never heard of this place. I've heard of the Chelsea Piers gym. Was this pre-David Barton and Steel gyms?

by Anonymousreply 41May 30, 2019 11:44 PM

This was in the late 90s/early 2000s

by Anonymousreply 42May 30, 2019 11:44 PM

Cola's, Eighth and 18th, owned by Nicola who opened Tavola on Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen when Cola's closed. He and life partner owned a pizza place on Seventh Avenue, still there. When they broke up, Nicola gave him the business, Anyone remember partner's name?

by Anonymousreply 43May 30, 2019 11:46 PM
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by Anonymousreply 44May 30, 2019 11:53 PM

That Swedish student's burned remains were found in the smokehouse on Crispo's estate. I think he had been tortured.

by Anonymousreply 45May 30, 2019 11:54 PM

R44, that was BS. They had not been paying their bills for months. I was there one morning when the milk vendor came in with some thugs, took all of the milk and dumped it in the gutter. There were a couple of owners to the Big Cup. The one who actually had a soul died. The remaining owner(s) ran it into the ground. I believe for a while, the employees were not being paid.

by Anonymousreply 46May 30, 2019 11:57 PM

I was a manager for at the time celeb hairdresser on 8th av. that dealt Swarovski Crystal T-shirts as well. John Galliano was at Roxy one night, saw one like this on a muscle boy and I got a “cease and desist” from the House of Dior’s law firm Monday morning.

I could also tell you what Donatella pays for a bleach retouch, it’s priced just north of an IMac.

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by Anonymousreply 47May 31, 2019 12:01 AM

There was a Cuban restaurant near Rainbows and Triangles that had counter seating near the front with tables in the back. The owner must have gotten a box of bath slippers the type you find in hotels. He put up a sign that said :"Free sleepers with your dinner"

by Anonymousreply 48May 31, 2019 12:03 AM

I remember seeing this place. I never patronized it. But, I guess it was my first becoming aware of upscale grooming salons that catered to men.

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by Anonymousreply 49May 31, 2019 12:03 AM

I opened the front door grate showed up one day for work and there was drugs and money scattered all over the floor. I gently rolled the grate back down, went home and called out sick.

Gotta love those Brazilian hairdressers!

by Anonymousreply 50May 31, 2019 12:05 AM

Seemed like Chelsea was kind of a flash in the pan. Percolated in the 90s with its apex being Splash, Big Cup and Food Bar. Because the hypergentrificatiion started to happen at the same time as well as mainstream gay acceptance, the gay-ification of Chelsea was quickly overwhelmed by gentrification by straights and gays. By 2000, it felt like it was becoming straight. And by the 2000s, the gay scene was moving north to Hells Kitchen. Chelsea’s place as the center of the gay universe was brief.

by Anonymousreply 51May 31, 2019 12:29 AM

I'm confused. What was Food Bar? A restaurant or a bar? And you had sex in the bathroom?

by Anonymousreply 52May 31, 2019 12:36 AM

NYC itself is fucking over. FI Pines and Cherry Grove are still fun for the gays though, nothing else.

by Anonymousreply 53May 31, 2019 12:40 AM

^It was both, R52. And, YES! MANY PEOPLE had sex in the bathrooms.

by Anonymousreply 54May 31, 2019 12:41 AM

Food Bar was a restaurant with a bistro-ish menu. It was eternally lively and the people who worked there were very nice. The food was good too. It seemed reasonable to think it would be there forever. My friend Kenny was the maitre d. He was a sweet guy but died of the AIDS like so many.

by Anonymousreply 55May 31, 2019 12:41 AM

[quote]La Chinita Linda Cuban Chinese restaurant

Copied from (so are a lot of these pics) "Kenneth In The (212)

Sam Chinita and La Chinita Linda were the result of their predecessor (Mi Chinita, above) splitting apart due to an apparent family feud (or so I was told). Mi Chinita (in the old diner) had the best Cuban-Chinese ever. The good ole days...

Interesting linked article

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by Anonymousreply 56May 31, 2019 12:49 AM

Cafe Havana, I believe, R48.

by Anonymousreply 57May 31, 2019 12:53 AM

I remember the muscle queen daddy who owned Food Bar - Joe Fontecchio. He was SO hot. We both worked out at the same gym - Better Bodies and he'd always be skipping crazy rope like a boxer.

He now lives in Erie PA and runs a restaurant there. Ouch.

by Anonymousreply 58May 31, 2019 1:04 AM

whoops. meant to include this link - Joe on the cover of Genre in 1997.

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by Anonymousreply 59May 31, 2019 1:06 AM

What was it about Food Bar that made guys decide they could turn the restrooms into sex dens? I mean, I love the idea, believe me, but it just seems....odd?

by Anonymousreply 60May 31, 2019 1:06 AM

[quote]What was it about Food Bar that made guys decide they could turn the restrooms into sex dens?

Testosterone

by Anonymousreply 61May 31, 2019 1:10 AM

Food Bar was part of a trend of hip gay restaurants. First wave of restaurants designed specifically for gays. As such, became a gay “scene” similar to gay bars.

by Anonymousreply 62May 31, 2019 1:17 AM

I moved to Chelsea in 1992 just as it was really taking off. For nice dinners there was just Intermezzo and Man Ray. But within a few years it went wild. Restaurants and coffee shops everywhere. The Big Cup was so so gay it almost hurt. Then there was that neighborhood gay bar on 22nd off 8th, can't remember its name but it was the friendliest gay bar around. All of 8th Ave from 14th to 23rd, on the east side of the street, was a pick-up bar.

Went back a few years ago and it was mostly young straight couples and a gaggle of Googlers.

by Anonymousreply 63May 31, 2019 1:26 AM

[quote]We both worked out at the same gym - Better Bodies

...or as it was called then, "Bitter Beauties".

I was at Food Bar all the time, this "sex in the men's room" is severely over-stated. I never saw any shenanigans there.

Where that huge ugly black marble looking building is between 15th and 16th streets and 8th Ave there was a restaurant. It was a one-story building with a white stucco front. What was the damn name of it? They had a cheap fun brunch with live music.

by Anonymousreply 64May 31, 2019 1:27 AM

Was Food Bar previously Rogers & Barbero?

Same owners?

by Anonymousreply 65May 31, 2019 1:27 AM

Oh, look what I found;

Food Bar

By Hal Rubenstein

Most gay dining establishments share one vital trait. You’d swear all the chefs were graduates of the Pat Robertson Cooking School: if the food doesn’t scare you straight, Aesthetic Realism doesn’t stand a chance. Joe Fontecchio didn’t think it had to be this way. That’s why he and his partners opened Food Bar in 1992. Not only did the place jettison the stereotypical New Hope kitschiness of the time for a look as sleek as a fresh body-wax, but for once, you didn’t have to get plastered on seabreezes to eat the food.

In less time than it takes decadurobolin to make a muscle grow, Food Bar became gay Chelsea’s ground zero. But management seemed to lose focus, the kitchen’s output became as unsavory as a party boy in a K-hole, and the fickle clientele decamped. A handsome face-lift and a dumb new name (Che 2020) raised prices but not quality in 1996. Still, everyone liked the pretty new face, and the boys came back, smiling. Save one.

Fontecchio, with a resume that includes Cafe Luxembourg (where we worked together and became friends) and Chanterelle, recently bought out his partners, locked the doors, decorated yet again (guess that stereotype still holds), and reopened with the old Food Bar logo repainted on the window.

The name may be the same, but it’s a new restaurant. Damned likable, too, whatever your orientation. Strategic changes in lighting, wall color, and upholstery have heightened the intimacy and shifted the emphasis onto dining, not schmoozing. And the new staff readily accepts that it wasn’t invited to this party, it’s just working it.

The biggest alteration comes in Fontecchio’s kitchen. Roasted-apple-slathered potato pancakes can distract one from returning that all-important glance across the room; the solid country salad, bristling with frisee and chicory, is thick with Roquefort and lardons; and a Caesar with either grilled shrimp or chicken is Zone-diet perfect. There’s an agreeably balanced salad of grilled eggplant, tomato, spinach, and chevre. The guacamole offers a big hello. And any Baltimorean would be delighted to serve these crab cakes.

For under $15, you can have iron-pumping calf’s liver, grilled lamb leg worth its weight in floss, meatloaf dense enough to deserve a ketchup glaze, thick blush-pink salmon in a lively pool of gumbo, small but juicy bass wrapped in a golden-potato crust, or rosy sliced duck breast in braised winter fruit. Fontecchio is famous for his pies, and the blueberry, peach, pumpkin, and cherry are honeys. His apple-walnut crisp and pineapple upside-down cake ain’t shabby either. Feeling more socially expansive now, are you?

Food Bar is a happy joint these days. It’s nothing to do with gay pride, really. It has everything to do with feeling proud about what you do, period. If you haven’t returned since its rebirth, it’s time to head back. If you’ve never been, give it a shot – if only to be proud of yourself for knowing a good deal, and being big enough to walk in. But if someone should ask you “just how big?” you’re on your own.

Food Bar, 149 Eighth Avenue, near 17th Street (242-2020). Open daily 11 a.m. to midnight. Appetizers, $3.50 to $7.95; entrees, $9.95 to $15.95. All major credit cards.

by Anonymousreply 66May 31, 2019 1:27 AM

Not as much of a scene as Food Bar but I just loved having lunch at 18th & 8th and flirting with all the hot young waiters, many of whom were straight but......flirty.

by Anonymousreply 67May 31, 2019 1:29 AM

I just spent a few nights in Chelsea on 23rd at a friend's place and ate at the Empire Diner. I want to go back and explore other neighborhoods. Since I know Chelsea somewhat I was thinking of staying at the Colonial House Inn on 22nd. Can anyone recommend it?

by Anonymousreply 68May 31, 2019 1:30 AM

Roaches closed Mary Ann's. I saw them when I ate there. Boy they were big. Never went back after I saw that. So I wasn't surprised when they were shut down by the NYC health dept FOUR TIMES.

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by Anonymousreply 69May 31, 2019 1:40 AM

r64 Cajun

by Anonymousreply 70May 31, 2019 1:43 AM

What “celebrity” hairdresser was on 8th Avenue? I don’t remember any. Or I’d hardly call Taylor Dane a celebrity.... and those horrible bedazzled t shirts....I always liked Galaxy diner and Moonlight diners.

by Anonymousreply 71May 31, 2019 1:45 AM

Wednesday night gay roller skating at the ROXY. Patrons would be warned to be careful coming and going. NYC at its most exciting.

by Anonymousreply 72May 31, 2019 1:46 AM

I forgot that there was a Vinyl in Chelsea too!

"This is probably the gayest spot to dine in Chelsea. With the hanging rubber ducky decorations, the memorable "Justin Timberlake restroom", sexy male-bartenders, it is what a pop culture-theme restaurant would look like. Not to mention a great place for brunch when the weather is nice. I had the Crab Cake Salad which was fresh, meaty and sweet. I felt it was light and done just the way i want it. And of course for brunch, i always get the $4 Mimosa. Now i'm fabulous !"

(What did women do over in that area?)

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by Anonymousreply 73May 31, 2019 1:48 AM

Threads like this are collective histories; they should be edited by some George Plimpton type and published in a gorgeous book with glossy photographs. I had a toehold in 90s Chelsea, my brother having lived there then; I went to Splash in the early 90s and Big Cup a bunch of times between 97 and the early 2000s, and reading this I feel like I'm finding hidden parts of my own biography.

by Anonymousreply 74May 31, 2019 1:50 AM

Another EXCELLENT article:

"The Death and Life of America’s Gay Restaurants"

I don't think gaylings understand the importance of gay restaurants and even now they would probably look down upon the behavior of many patrons of these restaurants. What? Kiss their boyfriend in public? Have an arm wrapped around your boyfriend while it rests on his chair? Some of the conversations the one could possibly overhear?

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by Anonymousreply 75May 31, 2019 1:56 AM

Barracuda is still around. A fun place to hang.

I liked East of Eighth and it was so weird how it closed overnight with no warning.

by Anonymousreply 76May 31, 2019 1:56 AM

I haven't been to Chelsea (or NYC) in years. What is left of Chelsea? You all talk like it was leveled to make way for some giant Wal-Mart.

by Anonymousreply 77May 31, 2019 1:56 AM

[quote] You all talk like it was leveled to make way for some giant Wal-Mart.

Isn't there a Wal-Mart there now?

by Anonymousreply 78May 31, 2019 1:58 AM

The 90's Chelsea gay explosion always felt shallow, pumped-up and garish compared to the East Village gay scene (hip, arty, scary) and the West Village gay scene (old school, established, the pier kids). But as a "brand" it really exploded and seemed to represent gay NYC there for a stretch, with the "Chelsea boys" who all seemed like Himbos with little individuality. But they were everywhere and I was all for gay visibility, so at the time I remember thinking, "Yay... for them?"

What was that 90's gym on the second floor right above D'Agostino's grocery? I think on 8th? I can't remember the gym name but the nickname was "Fags Above Dag's."

by Anonymousreply 79May 31, 2019 1:58 AM

YASSSS!!!!!

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by Anonymousreply 80May 31, 2019 1:59 AM

[quote][R64] Cajun

That's it! I thought it was a lost cause I've been trying to think of it for a week! I started going there in 1982, and the prix fixe brunch was $7.95 and that came with a drink AND coffee! It was considered a deal even in the olden days, lol.

by Anonymousreply 81May 31, 2019 2:00 AM

Fags Above Dag's was on the UWS in the 80s.

by Anonymousreply 82May 31, 2019 2:00 AM

We called Big Cup the Big Cock. I was pretty successful picking up guys there. I was young and handsome. Its the same old story - of every era. I was really pretty 10 years earlier, too, back in Mudd Club, CBGBs, Danceteria, Area times.

I miss that easy access. Time marches on.

by Anonymousreply 83May 31, 2019 2:01 AM

[quote]What was that 90's gym on the second floor right above D'Agostino's grocery? I think on 8th? I can't remember the gym name but the nickname was "Fags Above Dag's."

That was on Broadway and 75th.

by Anonymousreply 84May 31, 2019 2:03 AM

There is no Walmart in Chelsea, much less in New York City. And that's a good thing.

by Anonymousreply 85May 31, 2019 2:03 AM

....

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by Anonymousreply 86May 31, 2019 2:04 AM

R82 LOL, oops...

by Anonymousreply 87May 31, 2019 2:04 AM

R17 & r21, the guy who Crispo killed was Eigil Dag Vesit (spelling?!?!) and somehow Rick’s Lounge played into it. Rick’s was in 7th and 21st or so. Great drinks there.

by Anonymousreply 88May 31, 2019 2:05 AM

Camouflage was an island of style as far back as 1979 in the midst of absolutely nothing, well maybe a bodega or 20. The best men’s store ever.

by Anonymousreply 89May 31, 2019 2:08 AM

[quote]I never ate at Rocking Horse, [R16]. But, wasn't there a french restaurant right next to it?

La Belle Vie

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by Anonymousreply 90May 31, 2019 2:15 AM

The West Side Club was a popular spot in Chelsea.

by Anonymousreply 91May 31, 2019 2:15 AM

Was the West Side Club every really "popular". For a city of millions,

by Anonymousreply 92May 31, 2019 2:18 AM

My girlfriend Elsie used to live there....she was a drunk/addict and died....but man, did she have a great life

by Anonymousreply 93May 31, 2019 2:33 AM

There is still Elmo's

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by Anonymousreply 94May 31, 2019 2:43 AM

(GASP!) The liquor store is gone????

Between 18th and 19th there was a corner liquor store, recently replaced by a high-end gelato shop.

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by Anonymousreply 95May 31, 2019 2:46 AM

There is still a Salvation Army Thrift store on 8th Ave. Full of crap

by Anonymousreply 96May 31, 2019 2:53 AM

At Rawhide in the 90s, there was a cute guy who work there named Lee. He was from California, Mexican background. Cute as hell. He also worked at The Monster in the Village I think. Always made me feel special when I would see him. Wonder what happened to him. Anyone know?

by Anonymousreply 97May 31, 2019 3:04 AM

Gay culture peaked in the 90s. After that, assimilation took over. I remember feeling The Gay 90s was an appropriate moniker. We went from closeted AIDS pariahs to hip mainstream families. Chelsea represented peak gay culture. All gone now. Assimilated and using Grindr for sex. Gay social life has died,

by Anonymousreply 98May 31, 2019 3:06 AM

R67 They're called whores.

by Anonymousreply 99May 31, 2019 6:47 AM

I can't believe ON A GAY SITE, it took 93 replies before someone said something like this.

You're all a disgrace. r93

by Anonymousreply 100May 31, 2019 8:10 AM

Does anyone remember Twigs restaurant on 20th & 8th? Lasagna is in that location now. It was originally a dive bar the owners saw the neighborhood changing for the better and dumped the dive bar and opened a wonderful Mediterranean restaurant. Several years later the owners had a falling out and one bought out the other and continued the theme but renamed the place.

by Anonymousreply 101May 31, 2019 10:30 AM

At the end of the 90s many of these joints installed near their bathrooms these great wall mounted free postcard racks that had cool looking advertiser’s cards and many with gay themes. Most prominent in my mind was one for an alcohol with a hunky cowboy hat wearing man sucking on a lime saying “Straight up with a twist.” I thought they were called Stax Racks, but I can’t find anything about them.

by Anonymousreply 102May 31, 2019 11:00 AM

I very vaguely remember Twigs, R101. I do know Lasagna. But, are you getting Nisos confused in all of this? And like, how many years has THAT building (Nisos) been vacant???

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by Anonymousreply 103May 31, 2019 11:08 AM

R103 Twigs was Italian/mediterranean restaurant from the mid 80s Nisos is recent and the food was Greek/mediterranean.

by Anonymousreply 104May 31, 2019 11:22 AM

I recall those ad cards, R102 and haven't thought of them until you brought them up here. I suppose it is "death by internet." But, as you got me thinking about them I'm thinking about all of the jobs and businesses that have been lost. You're right. Many of those particular ad cards were targeted towards gay consumers. Are there still advertisement agencies that specialize in reaching the gay markets? What about all of the models and photographers that were hired, etc?

by Anonymousreply 105May 31, 2019 11:31 AM

The Big Cup was interesting as the customers changed during the day: early morning was the after club crowd and the walk of shame crowd, mornings were professionals on their way to work, then it was primarily hustlers on the way/coming from the gym or working on their website, etc.

I wish someone had written something about the regulars. There were so many.

There was a cute pocket gay who was a school teacher. He had an identical twin brother who was a body builder. I never saw the two together; so, it was disconcerting to see the body type changing from bulked up to slim.

There was a Danish actor who was allegedly horse hung. Had a German sounding name and was only getting roles such as Nazi #4; so he changed it. He was on a Soap Opera reality show, but got cut early on. I think he does direct to video horror movies now.

There was an LA based porn star who would come in a few times a year for "clients". I can't remember his name, but he nicknamed his dick "the monster" and actually talked about it as if it was a separate entity.

Of course, Anderson Cooper making out with whomever he had met at the disco.

Michael Lucas who got very angry that some guy was knitting at the Big Cup.

There was a conceptual artist who did art using real stuffed squirrels

There was a corporate daddy type who one saw in a suit during the week, but would show in military drag. Someone said he was more "Maureen than Marine" and the name stuck. After 9/11 he disappeared. Everyone thought he had died in the attack. Turned out he stopped going because he found out he was called "Maureen"

There was a group of older guys who met every morning. They reminded me for my father and his friends at the donut shop.

by Anonymousreply 106May 31, 2019 11:36 AM

I sort of remember but then I don't remember... I vaguely remember that there was indeed more than one store similar to Rainbows and Triangles but I don't recall the name. Maybe, it was the one in the link?

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by Anonymousreply 107May 31, 2019 11:51 AM

Jesus, people. Does no one have google anymore?

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by Anonymousreply 108May 31, 2019 12:07 PM

The Big Cup was a really cool hang out place. I met all kinds of guys there. I miss it so much.

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by Anonymousreply 109May 31, 2019 12:09 PM

what was that German Austrian place near food bar? Still there? Delicious food but it sat heavy in your stomach for 2 or 3 days as i recall. Ah the schnitzel.

by Anonymousreply 110May 31, 2019 12:13 PM

There was a German/Austrian place near Food Bar? How the hell could I have missed that.

by Anonymousreply 111May 31, 2019 12:16 PM

semi famous porn star Johnny Hanson worked at the Big Cup. He was a hustler on the side and had a great place to meet new clients. He had a vacant look to his eyes which was sad to notice. I am not sure if he is even still alive. He was hot at the time, but over time I could see him going down hill

by Anonymousreply 112May 31, 2019 12:49 PM

R112, I remember him at the Big Cup, but I don't remember him actually working behind the counter.

by Anonymousreply 113May 31, 2019 12:56 PM

Google is your friend. Johnny Hanson did daddy porn fairly recently. He has a big hot cock and wrecked face.

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by Anonymousreply 114May 31, 2019 12:56 PM

Memories....

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by Anonymousreply 115May 31, 2019 12:56 PM

The opening of BARNEY'S in the mid-1970s is really what changed Chelsea and made it a desirable neighborhood.

I'm surprised I'm the first to mention it.

by Anonymousreply 116May 31, 2019 12:57 PM

10 years ago

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by Anonymousreply 117May 31, 2019 12:58 PM

most underwhelming porn I have seen in a long time

wonder what Johnny does these days? anyone know?

he really must look busted now.

by Anonymousreply 118May 31, 2019 1:04 PM

R63, the bar is/was Barracuda.

R89, I was too cheap and I balked at the prices.

I lived in Chelsea from 1981 until leaving NYC in 201, for 9 years in the Romanza next to Big Cup, then 25 in London Terrace Towers.

I'm loving this thread. Also, Sette was one of the best restaurants, and I remember the love fest that was its last day. Not particularly gay, but we went to Trailer Park on Saturdays. Also Tommy at Mare/Telos. Ans so far back I remember the Dandy Sue diner with Sol and Pearl (and the waitress Henrietta).

And, of course, Rawhide, where I picked up many a trick, one of whom has now been with me for 16 years.

by Anonymousreply 119May 31, 2019 1:15 PM

2014^

by Anonymousreply 120May 31, 2019 1:16 PM

[quote]And, of course, Rawhide, where I picked up many a trick, one of whom has now been with me for 16 years.

LOL!!!! (CLAP!)(CLAP!)(CLAP!)(CLAP!)(CLAP!!!!)

by Anonymousreply 121May 31, 2019 1:18 PM

[quote][R89], I was too cheap and I balked at the prices.

I thought it was too expensive also. My clothing store of choice, (where you get good quality clothing and design), Mardana. It's still there!

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by Anonymousreply 122May 31, 2019 1:57 PM

wasn't there a xxx bookstore somewhere near W 20th Street with a cruising area? so much is gone.

by Anonymousreply 123May 31, 2019 1:59 PM

Anyone remember the name of the Mafia restaurant in London Terrace near 10th ave? No one from the neighborhood ever went there but there were always big flashy cars parked outside the entrance. I think their specialty was money laundering.

by Anonymousreply 124May 31, 2019 2:19 PM

Do you mean the Unicorn, R123? That was on 22nd. I went there a few times. I don't ever remember having a good time there.

I also used to workout at Chelsea Gym. I remember LOTS of good times there. I saw Donny Russo there all the time. It was after his "heyday," so he was a rough-looking, guido type, but he was always really nice.

My ex & I used to ALWAYS hit 18th & Eighth. He knew the owner (one of the owners?). I didn't really pay attention - he was way more into who you know and how you know them, which seemed to be the lubrication for the Chelsea social scene.

Before I moved to NY, I lived in DC, where we had a Big Cup knock-off called the Pop Stop. When I moved to New York, I used to go Big Cup, since it felt like home.

I loved the go-go boys at Rawhide.

It's definitely not the same neighborhood. I'm glad I moved.

by Anonymousreply 125May 31, 2019 2:20 PM

Dagostinos supermarket on 23rd st. I went in there for groceries and often left with a hot trick.

by Anonymousreply 126May 31, 2019 2:28 PM

There has to be something v shady about the sex shops that remain on 8th Ave in Chelsea , they occupy massive spaces in a climate where rents are forcing out other business. The places remembered fondly here have been replaced twice and three times , such is the turnover. Google didn't bring the promised riches to the area, rather it seems to have drained it of personality.

by Anonymousreply 127May 31, 2019 2:30 PM

[QUOTE]Google didn't bring the promised riches to the area, rather it seems to have drained it of personality.

Tech-douches ruin everything.

by Anonymousreply 128May 31, 2019 2:54 PM

Google is the death knell for Chelsea. And now it’s comong to the West Village - St Johns Terminal building. As if everything isn’t insanely expensive already. I have no idea where young gays moving to the city are going. Seems impossible - and less urgent.

by Anonymousreply 129May 31, 2019 3:01 PM

Has no one mentioned John Blair yet -- he seemed to be the impresario of many of Chelsea's gay establishments, from clubs to gyms. Strange guy. Too many drugs. Have no idea what happened to him after he opened American Fitness, which we used to call American Princess. For obvious reasons. We also called the steam room at the Chelsea Gym, which during the day was filled with very hairy old men who just lingered there forever looking at the young guys, Gorillas in the Mist.

by Anonymousreply 130May 31, 2019 3:07 PM

[quote] I have no idea where young gays moving to the city are going.

Chelsea. They're salaries can afford the area! LOL!

But, you're right. Google was the death nail in the coffin for Chelsea. It's just so sanitized now. Banks, nail salons, Starbucks, and Duane Reade... Lots of families and baby carriages.

by Anonymousreply 131May 31, 2019 3:08 PM

Actually, American Fitness was known as "Mary can you lift this?"

Who was the midget body builder who opened a gym in the old YMCA?

by Anonymousreply 132May 31, 2019 3:11 PM

I would choose to live in the East or West Village before Chelsea or Hell's Kitchen.

Both of those areas are heavily trafficked thoroughfares.

by Anonymousreply 133May 31, 2019 3:11 PM

R130 no gym exists now with hairy old men. It's all waxed bodies littered with douchey tattoos.

by Anonymousreply 134May 31, 2019 3:15 PM

You cannot deny the munchkin's contribution to Chelsea.

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by Anonymousreply 135May 31, 2019 3:16 PM

R135, David Barton! Thanks. I had forgotten his name.

by Anonymousreply 136May 31, 2019 3:19 PM

This place is still a favorite of mine. It's still chugging...

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by Anonymousreply 137May 31, 2019 3:23 PM

[quote]There has to be something v shady about the sex shops that remain on 8th Ave in Chelsea , they occupy massive spaces in a climate where rents are forcing out other business.

How about the nail salons that are on every single block? How are they affording those rents?

by Anonymousreply 138May 31, 2019 3:27 PM

[quote]...death nail in the coffin...

Oh, dear.

Someone had to do it, or it wouldn't be DataLounge...

by Anonymousreply 139May 31, 2019 3:35 PM

Wow, this thread brought back lots of memories.

As I was coming out and exploring Chelsea, I discovered Big Cup. I loved the vibe and the leman squares. Sadly, soon after, it closed (when the rent increased substantially, I think). Its replacement was a weird Asian artifacts store/spa.

18th and 8th was great too. I never went into Food Bar— I was way too intimidated.

What was the name of the diner on the west side of 8th Ave that also served pretty good Thai food?

Once I met my partner (who lived in Chelsea), we moved to the UWS and rarely went back. I used to go get my haircut there and would marvel at all the changes (making it so bland and straight). My hair guy moved uptown so I followed.

by Anonymousreply 140May 31, 2019 3:37 PM

It was definitely all over when steroid capital closed down

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by Anonymousreply 141May 31, 2019 3:38 PM

Haha! R130 - I was one of the young guys at Chelsea Gym who liked getting ogled by older, hairy men, so that was my preferred workout location. Plus, the guys there were mostly really nice. Sure, I played around in the sauna (Gorillas in the Mist - DEAD), but I had a lot of conversations in the locker room and on the gym floor that had nothing to do with getting laid or partying. I was sad to see it go...

by Anonymousreply 142May 31, 2019 3:39 PM

I wish I had known about the gay scene in the East Village earlier.

When I was a young gay, all I knew was Chelsea and how I didn’t compare at all to the beautiful men there. It messed me up psychologically for years. Being ignored walking down 8th ave made me feel like nothing. It was very hard to make friends when no one would talk to you at the bars because you weren’t muscular and strikingly handsome.

It wasn’t until much later that I discovered the far less showy East Village. I also found that great gay club in Bay Ridge Brooklyn (Spectrum?) where people were so nice and welcoming. Of course just a few months after I discovered Spectrum, it closed.

Spectrum’s claim to fame was it had the original dance floor featured in Saturday Night Fever

by Anonymousreply 143May 31, 2019 3:55 PM

I hated Chelsea and Fire Island was the worst of Chelsea on a sand bar.

by Anonymousreply 144May 31, 2019 3:57 PM

R124, La Traviata? My partner and I went every Friday night for several years in the late 90s/early 2000s. It was a very good restaurant with a mixed gay/straight diverse crowd.

by Anonymousreply 145May 31, 2019 3:57 PM

...and it did have lots of neighborhood people in it as well as not.

by Anonymousreply 146May 31, 2019 3:58 PM

Fire Island was what you made of it. There were all kinds out there. Probably still are.

by Anonymousreply 147May 31, 2019 3:58 PM

The very Chelsea people you hated while in Chelsea became completely different when you went to fire island. They became far friendlier and so willing to have sex with you.

Oddly, the minute they returned to the city, they reverted to becoming prudes

by Anonymousreply 148May 31, 2019 4:04 PM

I remember one muscle god in the Chelsea Gym Steamroom named Steve (lived on W 22 St). He was early 40s and probably the most physically perfect male specimen you can imagine. Tall, built, great face and a huge fat cock. He could have anyone, but was so addicted to sex he let anyone have a go with him. Incredibly hungry bottom. Certain times he would ignore me and other times he would pursue me, it messed with my head in both directions. I imagine he was kept for money by some rich guy, but always found him both intriguing and very sad at the same time. He rarely conversed with anyone. He was a true gay mystery man. Does anyone recognize or know who this guy might be? I am sure he attended A list orgies with his beauty. I wonder if he is still around and what he looks like.

by Anonymousreply 149May 31, 2019 4:06 PM

Here's a mystery question--because I surely have forgotten its name. What was the name of the club/dance club that was on 17th or 19th St and near 6th Ave, I believe? That place became famous for hosting Ab-Fab Mondays. It was a rather large club too. It was in walking distance of Splash (17th) and G-Lounge

by Anonymousreply 150May 31, 2019 4:11 PM

[quote]"Yay... for them?"

That pretty much sums up my feelings for the gay "community" and everything good that happens for "us".

by Anonymousreply 151May 31, 2019 4:16 PM

Limelight was on W 20

by Anonymousreply 152May 31, 2019 4:19 PM

R119 - where did you move?

by Anonymousreply 153May 31, 2019 4:21 PM

Champs r150? Kind of a sports bar but like Splash had a dance floor.

The Sound Factory Bar was the most perfect club ever - west 21st off Fifth. To me, that was the epitome of gay dance clubs - all about the music and dancing and fun. No pretense, not hardcore like Sound Factory or Twilo. Nothing like it exists anymore. It was truly fun. And Frankie Knuckles was the house DJ on Friday nights. Truly blessed to have been there at that time and place.

by Anonymousreply 154May 31, 2019 4:24 PM

^ YES!!!!! CHAMPS!!!! Thank you, R154!

by Anonymousreply 155May 31, 2019 4:28 PM

R153, a terrific little town called Dunedin in Florida.

by Anonymousreply 156May 31, 2019 4:29 PM

r144 Same here. I tried to avoid 8th Ave in Chelsea because it was tacky and loaded with swishy queens over-doing everything, who relocated from fly over states. Nowadays 8th Ave is a wasteland of empty store fronts, thank god!

by Anonymousreply 157May 31, 2019 4:33 PM

The East Village in the 90s was the anti-Chelsea. Still is kind of an anti-Hell’s Kitchen. Smart, unmuscled, average looking guys who are perfect boyfriend material. Interesting and creative. Never fit in in Chelsea. But loved the East Village bars - Phoenix, Starlight, WonderBar, Boiler Room. Chelsea was for vapid muscle queens.

by Anonymousreply 158May 31, 2019 4:38 PM

Let's stay on topic, R158. We got your point. You were/are one of those skinny grungy gays that despised the gym and designer underwear.... Let's stay in Chelsea. We'll do an East Village thread soon.

by Anonymousreply 159May 31, 2019 5:00 PM

When I lived in Chelsea I would see Anthony Perkins in the Korean green grocers at 22nd & 9th. I think he lived on 21st St. near 10th ave. when he was on line at the cashier he would cower not wanting anyone to recognize him, we all knew who he was but we left him alone, very strange man.

by Anonymousreply 160May 31, 2019 5:08 PM

Omg are all these establishments gone? What's there left in Chelsea??!

by Anonymousreply 161May 31, 2019 5:10 PM

[quote]What's there left in Chelsea??!

......

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by Anonymousreply 162May 31, 2019 5:38 PM

[quote]What's there left in Chelsea??!

.......

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by Anonymousreply 163May 31, 2019 5:40 PM

[quote]What's there left in Chelsea??!

.....

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by Anonymousreply 164May 31, 2019 5:43 PM

[quote]What's there left in Chelsea??!

.....

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by Anonymousreply 165May 31, 2019 5:44 PM

[quote]What's there left in Chelsea??!

.......

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by Anonymousreply 166May 31, 2019 5:46 PM

I would see these two walking in the area all of the time. Either one of them lived in the area and they truly are friends. Or, they did their walkabouts on purpose to gin up publicity. Oz had long been off the air but there was always speculation about these two. I'm assuming that they just played it for what it was worth. Or....?

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by Anonymousreply 167May 31, 2019 5:54 PM
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by Anonymousreply 168May 31, 2019 6:00 PM

Vynl, y'all, not Vinyl and the original was in Hell's Kitchen. Both locations (18th Street and 51st Street) were best of the best for Happy Hour and weekend brunch, with the most personable staff in N.Y.C.; we all felt like family, regulars and staff alike. Owner has several other bar/restaurants: Therapy; 'ritas; B-Side; El Centro and others but I will save that chatter for the Hell's Kitchen thread.

I lived in Chelsea on 25th Street between 7th and 8th in the early 1980s; I wonder if the poster upthread was my neighbor; midblock five-story building with sunken entrance; 250 west 51st? Ah, the good old days.

Housing Works and Cafeteria are still at 17th Street.

RIP, Chelsea.

by Anonymousreply 169May 31, 2019 6:03 PM

Thanks again, R154. It would have drove me crazy trying to figure it out and name that bar.

CHAMPS (W. 20th St. between 5th & 6th Avenues)

This was the earliest sports bar, located a few blocks north of Splash. It had a bank of bleacher seats and a dance floor. It opened in 1994 (two years after Splash) and lasted only a few years.

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by Anonymousreply 170May 31, 2019 6:10 PM

Did Rupert Everett live in Chelsea back in the day? I used to see him wearing a little knit watchman's cap, scowling down 8th Avenue looking unapproachable (as if!).

by Anonymousreply 171May 31, 2019 6:16 PM

I need to hear more of these stories:

[quote]Dagostinos supermarket on 23rd st. I went in there for groceries and often left with a hot trick.

Especially this one;

[quote]I lived on 23rd st near 10th ave. and would go out Saturday night to pick up the Sunday Times and usually got laid on the way home.

by Anonymousreply 172May 31, 2019 6:25 PM

I used to go to Champs a lot in the 90s. Met zeroes of guys there. Or maybe one, once.

by Anonymousreply 173May 31, 2019 6:26 PM

[quote]Anyone remember the name of the Mafia restaurant in London Terrace near 10th ave?

In the late 80s it was called Chateau Ruigierro

by Anonymousreply 174May 31, 2019 7:52 PM

R163 and R164 is Greenwich Village not Chelsea

by Anonymousreply 175May 31, 2019 7:54 PM

Thanks, R175. I know. Just go with the spirit of it.

by Anonymousreply 176May 31, 2019 7:58 PM

+ R162 is not Chelsea

Are you posting from your parents basement in Alabama?

by Anonymousreply 177May 31, 2019 7:58 PM

R171 I don’t know if Rupert Everett lived in Chelsea, but for a time he worked out at Crunch Gym in the Archives building on Christopher Street. He wore tank tops and you could see the needle tracks on his arms.

by Anonymousreply 178May 31, 2019 8:10 PM

Rupert lived on Morton Street, he owned a place there.

by Anonymousreply 179May 31, 2019 8:19 PM

I had lunch today at Trailer Trash on W. 23rd Street....still the same cool vibe, less people during the day

by Anonymousreply 180May 31, 2019 8:23 PM

^ HMPH! I walked by that place for years but I've never been in. I have to make a stop real soon.

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by Anonymousreply 181May 31, 2019 9:19 PM

I used to see Ethan Hawk at TT he was always on his cell, I assume he lived in the neighborhood.

by Anonymousreply 182May 31, 2019 9:27 PM

[quote]Limelight was on W 20

I really like how they are reusing that structure. I went there when it was the dance club but I also went there when David Barton turned a major part of it into a gym. The other part was a mall. I don't know if that's still going though. I do know that another gym has taken the space that David Barton had--Limelight Fitness.

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by Anonymousreply 183May 31, 2019 9:34 PM

Is Claire's on 7th Avenue still there?

by Anonymousreply 184May 31, 2019 9:44 PM

R159 "Yes, Mrs Weatherby. Looking forward to next week's lesson on the East Village!"

by Anonymousreply 185May 31, 2019 10:04 PM

185 posts and no one has mentioned The BENDIX Diner?

8th and 22nd, also closed by the health board half a dozen times. Lots of all-night revelers having eggs.

Also, who do we have to fuck for you guys to remember The Break, the local 8th Avenue alternative to Rawhide and Barracuda, for those with milder sex drives, but not so mild that they were reduced to being poseurs at Uncle Charlie’s or Splash.

The Break and Champs bring me to the subject of the GOTHAM Volleyball League, which played every Wednesday and Thursday nights at the public school gym on 21st between 8th and 9th and which started a lot of friendships for me which o treasure to this day, even if I live thousands of miles away now in the tropics.

I also met BOTH Andrew Crispo and Billy the Gorgeous Homeless Cowboy Grifter. Both thanks to 550-TOOL (remember those sex hookup lines before Manhunt, etc.?). Also knew Hal Rubinstein well (my guest in Fire Island a few times), who wrote the article on the Food Bar and used to be a GMA correspondent. And many of my assorted volleyball friends were - from Splash’s Harry and Brian, to the guy who designed Food Bar, to countless restaurant and bar workers at Twigs, Viceroys, 23 and Eighth, etc, - all involved one way or another in the short-lived gayification of Chelsea.

But more about each topic later in other posts, because honestly, a lot of this is very overwhelming for me to handle in one sitting.

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by Anonymousreply 186May 31, 2019 11:14 PM

R184 Claire's is now Elmo

by Anonymousreply 187May 31, 2019 11:27 PM

Claire's was so chic when it first opened, a great place to take a date or out of town guest.

by Anonymousreply 188May 31, 2019 11:32 PM

Claire’s was magnificent, the site of my first date with the love of my life back in 1990 (after we had met and fucked practically anonymously in Fire Island of course).

And yes, FOOD BAR was the old Rogers and Barbera

by Anonymousreply 189May 31, 2019 11:35 PM

I would get takeout Chinese chicken salad from Charlie Mom at least once a week.

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by Anonymousreply 190May 31, 2019 11:35 PM

Bob Barbero who owned Rogers & Barbero was also the owner of G Bar.

by Anonymousreply 191May 31, 2019 11:45 PM

Seventeenth Street Salon was a great place

by Anonymousreply 192June 1, 2019 12:26 AM

Saloon, oops

by Anonymousreply 193June 1, 2019 12:26 AM

[quote]For years, Chelsea was just what you picked through on your way to Greenwich Village. As stated above, it did not become a gayborhood until the early '90s.

This is true. I lived there in the mid 80s. I barely remember where I went. There was an Army & Navy on about 16th Street and maybe Seventh. A few movie theaters.

Has anyone mentioned the gay restaurant called Claire?

Otherwise I think I went to The Village most the time and, once I discovered it, The East Village.

by Anonymousreply 194June 1, 2019 12:47 AM

I used to love this place.

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by Anonymousreply 195June 1, 2019 12:52 AM

where was Uncle Charlie's? When I lived in NYC in the 80's it was THE bar we all went to.

by Anonymousreply 196June 1, 2019 12:56 AM

The police were corrupt in Chelsea and very anti gay

by Anonymousreply 197June 1, 2019 12:56 AM

Uncle Charles was in the West Village.

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by Anonymousreply 198June 1, 2019 1:01 AM

[quote]Vynl, y'all, not Vinyl

Now, am I crazy, mistaken, or what, but I seem to remember that there were 2 Vynl locations on 8th Ave. One was like on 14/15th St. and the other was like on the corner on 20 something. I remember thinking even then how odd it was a the same restaurant would have 2 locations so near to each other. Maybe, I'm confusing it with a similar type restaurant?

by Anonymousreply 199June 1, 2019 1:26 AM

[quote]Also, who do we have to fuck for you guys to remember The Break, the local 8th Avenue alternative to Rawhide

I very vaguely remember it as The Break. But, didn't that become View Bar?

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by Anonymousreply 200June 1, 2019 1:37 AM

Yes it did, r200.

When it was the Break, it had two for one margarita nights on the same night the volleyball league played, so the bar got packed with post-game gay jocks getting drunk.

Fun times.

by Anonymousreply 201June 1, 2019 1:48 AM

Anyone have any stories about the car service that is on the left of this image? I never used it but I sure do remember the signage. I have no idea of what Typhoon was. I don't ever recall seeing that.

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by Anonymousreply 202June 1, 2019 1:50 AM

r186 was "Billy the Gorgeous Homeless Cowboy Grifter" the "Billy" that was attacking people in the late 90s?

by Anonymousreply 203June 1, 2019 1:59 AM

I'm so old I can remember my first year in NYC 1972-73, going down to Chelsea to see a double feature of The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes at the old Elgin film revival house, which was eventually renovated into The Joyce.

by Anonymousreply 204June 1, 2019 2:30 AM

Thank you r175 I knew those were the Village and not Chelsea. Though what I do miss the most in the Village is Adam West Hairstyling. Thanks a lot think pink.

by Anonymousreply 205June 1, 2019 2:53 AM

I remember the Break! It was great. We would go after classes at FIT. They had a pool table. The View was rather scandalous in the early 2000’s.

by Anonymousreply 206June 1, 2019 2:56 AM

Does anyone remember the guy that used to walk around and say he worked for Ridley Scott and had all the wardrobe for a film they were working on in his apartment uptown and needed $20 for a cab? He would say his wallet was in the apartment and the doorman would let him in to get it when he got there. You could even ride in the cab with him!!

He hit me up like three times in various places around Chelsea.

by Anonymousreply 207June 1, 2019 3:00 AM

R100 thanks! Yes, I was both surprised and disgusted myself.....I'm glad SOMEONE got the reference....

by Anonymousreply 208June 1, 2019 3:11 AM

Ahhh yes, 'BEWARE OF BILLY' posters plastered around Chelsea..aka 'Lee'...aka 'Lee Wingate'...etc.

Tricked with him once after meeting him in Riverside Park. He must have moved his act uptown at that point. Went back to my place. My bartender roommate unexpectedly came home early that night while we were still hanging out in the kitchen. Billy was a perfect gentleman the whole time and left early the next morning. Months later, I see one of those posters and got weirded out wondering what might have happened if my roommate hadn't unexpectedly come home early.

by Anonymousreply 209June 1, 2019 4:27 AM

The Break was one of the more successful bars for me. Average guys, not pretentious, friendly. Became less of those things when it became the View. The Break was a great bar. Think it was owned by the same guy as The Works on UWS.

by Anonymousreply 210June 1, 2019 4:55 AM

Yes r203

by Anonymousreply 211June 1, 2019 5:22 AM

I met Billy on 550-TOOL and he was basically a very hot lay who was looking to party all the time and had nowhere to live really.

He “immediately hit it off” with me and pretended that he got a job as a FedEx carrier so he could justify moving in with me. It was fairly evident, when he showed up to my place wearing the same clothes he had the day before and carrying a FedEx bag he obviously stole from the parcel station on 32 and Park (I lived on Park between 33rd and 34th!) that he was a drifter/grifter and I made sure to protect myself accordingly (one of those times when a doorman building comes handy).

Wild, weird times. But also the best of times (Fire Island, Clinton 90s prosperity, great local restaurants, pre-9/11, Gotham, The Roxy, and the great summer of 90 music).

by Anonymousreply 212June 1, 2019 5:29 AM

Limelight as a retail multi-plex is ike a set from Back to the Future 2.

by Anonymousreply 213June 1, 2019 5:54 AM

[quote]Hal Rubinstein well (my guest in Fire Island a few times)... from Splash’s Harry and Brian

Geez, r186, those are three of the nastiest gays I've had the misery to interact with in NYC. I hope you knew nice guys too!

by Anonymousreply 214June 1, 2019 8:04 AM

OK, you all are making me dredge up ancient memories. Picture it - Chelsea, 8th ave and 26th - 1979 across 8th ave from the International Ladies Garment Union Coop Apartments. A shy virgin Catholic gay guy, 22 yo, from the Northwest moves in with two straight roommates, people he knew from his college years. He wanders nights through his neighborhood (Chelsea), follows exciting looking men down to the West Village and into the piers, or west under the old abandoned rail tracks where there are trucks parked and men buzzing all around and in between, fucking just out of sight of the street. He finds an old bathhouse(the Everard) and people in line tell him about newer ones - the St. Marks, and Club Baths in the east village. He attends the gay Catholic group Dignity, in a church basement in Chelsea, and makes friends who take him to the Saint and to Limelight, as well as to Uncle Charlies, the Ninth Circle, Duplex, skating at the Roxy, Julius, Monster. His apartment breaks up and he moves to Brooklyn for one terrifying year, then returns to the edge of Chelsea (14th and 9th Ave) to serve out the remainder of his NYC days (until 1985) with a direct view of the men streaming into and out of the meat district. Good times!!! He remembers all these Cuban Chinese restaurants - there was also a doughnut shop on the corner of 8th ave and 23rd which was frequently breakfast for him after a night at the baths. Scary times too, though, especially towards the end. He lost half of his friends to AIDS between 1984 and the late 90s. Seems like another lifetime now. Was weird to visit NY in 2011 and walk the Highline directly over the site of the infamous trucks of yesteryear.

by Anonymousreply 215June 1, 2019 8:39 AM

R214, you sound like quite a prize yourself. Maybe I knew YOU.

by Anonymousreply 216June 1, 2019 8:49 AM

[quote]He attends the gay Catholic group Dignity, in a church basement in Chelsea, and makes friends who take him to the Saint and to Limelight, as well as to Uncle Charlies, the Ninth Circle, Duplex, skating at the Roxy, Julius, Monster.

LOL! Fabulous!

by Anonymousreply 217June 1, 2019 11:15 AM

[quote]Does anyone remember the guy that used to walk around and say he worked for Ridley Scott

Thin redhead? The guy I knew actually did work for Ridley Scott. He was good friends with Christian Campbell. Campbell would meet him at The Big Cup occasionally.

by Anonymousreply 218June 1, 2019 11:21 AM

R218 was this friend some sort of junkie that always needed $20?

by Anonymousreply 219June 1, 2019 12:42 PM

R219, not at all. I wonder if $20.00-guy overheard a conversation and thought Ridley Scott was a nice detail to ad to his scam. To be honest, the guy I knew was not likely to have costumes. He was more of the admin end.

by Anonymousreply 220June 1, 2019 12:55 PM

Wow! R203 R207 R209 R212 R219 I just googled this guy but didn't see anything.

I lived in NYC mainly in the East Village, so I must have missed this guy. Maybe?

Now there's a thread… memorable NYC local characters only people who lived in the city will remember (depending on the time period).

by Anonymousreply 221June 1, 2019 12:59 PM

I remember of poster on the wall before the bathrooms in Rawhide. I think it was a Tom of Finland imitation that had a muscled guy shooting a huge load into a metal trough and young studs lined up on both sides licking the cum up as it flowed by.

That's how I remember it anyway. Admittedly I was usually high on cocaine there.

by Anonymousreply 222June 1, 2019 1:12 PM

I had a friend who lived on West 22 between 7th and 8th who was very good looking (tall, great body and cock with thick black hair) who was also very sweet and didn't have a bone of "I'm better looking than most of you so I am superior" attitude which made many Chelsea men deplorable. I won't say his name because he might still be there, but he loved sex, and he always had a small parade of men over at this place, sometimes an orgy, other times just a 2nd or 3rd guy. He was a true free spirit. I had no game as a pick up artist, but whenever I called him he would say come on by I have a great looking guy here and he included me in the fun. I met so many sexy, beautiful men at his place. His charisma was something. Anyway, he is my best memory of Chelsea.

by Anonymousreply 223June 1, 2019 1:14 PM

I am loving this thread. I lived in NYC from 1979-1985 while I got my undergrad degree. Manhattan feels like home to me because of that.

by Anonymousreply 224June 1, 2019 7:02 PM

Does anyone remember the old Powerhouse Gym on 23rd before it became Steele? That was a great place. Such a great mixture of people. Everyone from Anthony Kedis to Fred from the B52’s and some fashion designers. It was before Chelsea became all gay.

by Anonymousreply 225June 1, 2019 8:34 PM

I think it's funny that the Wayans Brothers grew up in the Fulton Houses amid all this gayness on 9th Avenue between 16th and 19th.

by Anonymousreply 226June 1, 2019 8:44 PM

some of the most beautiful townhouses are on W25th between 10th and 9th Avenue. For many years no one would buy them because they face the projects right across the street. I happened to walk by the other day and the block is so full of people walking back and forth to the stairs to the Highline that the block is almost desirable. People who own those residences are sitting on 5 million and up. Probably cost under half a million in the 80s and early 90s.

by Anonymousreply 227June 1, 2019 8:54 PM

That's nice to read, R227. I suppose what I miss about the old Chelsea is its vibrancy. I guess one could say that about all of NYC. There's just no gay ghetto anymore--at least from what I can see. Where are all of the creative and lively people now? It certainly isn't in Hell's Kitchen and the West Village, (especially Christopher Street), has lost all of that gay electric energy. I guess the internet killed that. Everyone now seems to be more tapped in/connected to their phones and living over the internet.

You just don't see the outlandishness anymore. Whether you liked them or not, there were reasons, and looks, why the moniker Chelsea Boy came into being.

And, before any of you start... the linked image is for example purposes only.

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by Anonymousreply 228June 1, 2019 10:45 PM

Young artistic and VIBRANT people all live in Brooklyn now. I hear there are even some hot gays there.

by Anonymousreply 229June 1, 2019 11:16 PM

I remember watching Bruno the Colt Studios porn star working out at the Chelsea Gym and being surprised at how short he was, he wasn't Italian either he was Cuban. Joey Stefano was another, he was much hotter in person also very short.

by Anonymousreply 230June 1, 2019 11:21 PM

Don't laugh but in another 4-5 years the LGBT population will have moved to the Bronx. Upper Manhattan is getting too pricey and there are people already moving into the lower Bronx, near Yankee Stadium.

by Anonymousreply 231June 1, 2019 11:56 PM

R196 there were two Uncle Charlie's. Greenwich Avenue at Perry and Third Avenue near 36th or 38th, where "Ladies Room" door opened on the side street.

by Anonymousreply 232June 2, 2019 12:13 AM

Unless I missed it, has the Eagle and Spike been mentioned?

by Anonymousreply 233June 2, 2019 12:17 AM

Not yet, R233. Share your stories. Spill it!

For those of you who don't know the story of Rawhide just read the link. But, I guess all good things must come to an end--even JEREMIAH'S VANISHING NEW YORK blog;

JANUARY 2019

After more than a decade, this blog seems to be coming to an end. I've said most of what I had to say in my book and it's time to move on to other things. I'll probably post here and there, as the mood strikes, but not much. Comments will be approved intermittently (I'm no longer getting comment notifications, but I am getting a lot of spam comments). Thank you.

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by Anonymousreply 234June 2, 2019 12:36 AM

I used to see a guy at Splash in the mid to late 1990's th also He was about 5 feet 11 inches , slim , VERY GOOD LOOKING, VERY COOL looking too. He looked like a model even though he often dressed disheveled. He used to cruise me every so often. I was VERY attracted to him. I never spoke to him or knew his name. Does this person sound familiar to anyone?

by Anonymousreply 235June 2, 2019 12:46 AM

The Uncle Charlie's at Greenwich and Perry---that was the one.

by Anonymousreply 236June 2, 2019 1:25 AM

The Camouflage story

"In December 2013, after 38 years in business, Camouflage’s rent more than tripled, from $7,000 a month to $24,000 a month."

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by Anonymousreply 237June 2, 2019 1:28 AM

This thread is depressing. A once wonderful neighborhood full of interesting shops, affordable and delicious places to eat, fun gay bars and hot motherfuckers strolling the sidewalks looking for sex is now just empty storefronts.

How fucking sad.

by Anonymousreply 238June 2, 2019 1:36 AM

I lived in Chelsea from 1983 to 2002 when I moved up the Washington Heights which reminded me very much of the 80s in Chelsea. Now even Washington Heights is gentrifying at an alarming rate.

NYC is becoming an Utopian paradise with only skyscraper condos for billionaires.

by Anonymousreply 239June 2, 2019 2:40 AM

I still wear (and get compliments on) a gorgeous Paul Smith striped wool muffler that I bought at Camouflage in 1988.

by Anonymousreply 240June 2, 2019 2:49 AM

That's a great compliment to the brand and what was the quality of clothing at that time, R240.

by Anonymousreply 241June 2, 2019 3:11 AM

I think Washington Heights is the new gay neighborhood.

The Spike and Eagle were really the last of the classic cruise bars. Going in the early 90s, walking down the vaguely dangerous desolated West Side Highway, made me feel like I caught a hint of the 70s decadence. Glad I got to see the remnants of the old NYC before it got glossed over and upgraded.

by Anonymousreply 242June 2, 2019 3:42 PM

All of NYC will be a dull 1%ers playground in time, even the now unfashionable parts. Hudson Yards is the dreary future.

by Anonymousreply 243June 2, 2019 4:00 PM

R243, they cannot make money from the 1%. What it will be is young people spending 125% of their income to live in Manhattan.

by Anonymousreply 244June 2, 2019 4:02 PM

R244 The non 1% young won't manage to sustain that situation for long.

by Anonymousreply 245June 2, 2019 4:16 PM

[quote]The famed Food Bar, where more men have had sex in the bathroom, been on dates, than probably any other restaurant in the world....

Ate there many times, never noticed a thing. Just a nice place to eat. Great garlic mashed potatoes.

by Anonymousreply 246June 2, 2019 4:23 PM

A bf bought a one bedroom flat in London Terrace in the 90s for 425k on an interest only mortgage. The flat is small and dark. Would be fine as a pied a terre only IMO but he still gets a lot of Chelsea dick and his flat is now valued at about 1.3 M

by Anonymousreply 247June 2, 2019 5:44 PM

I was dropped off a block away from Spike one night in 1995, and the cab driver was genuinely concerned for my safety.

He asked, "Are you sure you want to get out here?"

by Anonymousreply 248June 2, 2019 10:24 PM

[quote]A bf bought a one bedroom flat in London Terrace in the 90s for 425k on an interest only mortgage.

Excuse us for not being reality brokers but what the fuck is an interest only mortgage?

by Anonymousreply 249June 2, 2019 10:35 PM

R234 one night at The Eagle I recognized soap actor Joel Crothers. We chatted for a while. When said I knew who he was he got panicky, He calmed down when I brought back memories of when we were both kid actors. He suddenly remembered me and the show we did. Was concerned about being recognized because there was a "morals clause" in Procter & Gamble contracts. To the day Joel died of AIDS in 1985 at 44, an actress from a soap bearded for him.

by Anonymousreply 250June 3, 2019 12:27 AM

My first partner and I would go to the Eagle at it's old location, I think it was on 20th and 11th/westside highway. Sunday night was movie night and we would go whenever the Rocky Horror Picture Show was playing because there would always be a good crowd, during special events there was always a few out of town attendees. One Sunday during the US Open we met one of the participants, I think he was a 30th seed player or something like that. We were playful in the dark during the movie, he had the hardest muscled ass and legs I've ever felt. We had him worked up, at one point I stood in front of him to block the view while my partner jerked him off during the movie.

by Anonymousreply 251June 3, 2019 12:43 AM

In the early to mid 80’s there was a Dean and DeLuca knock off gourmet store on the East Side of 8th Ave around 20th Street or thereabouts. Green awning, white logo, didn’t last very long, maybe an Irish name or something? Anyone remember this place? Kind of upscale for Chelsea at the time.

by Anonymousreply 252June 3, 2019 1:08 AM

Am loving all these recollections.

by Anonymousreply 253June 3, 2019 6:18 AM

Young Joel

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by Anonymousreply 254June 3, 2019 9:54 AM

Older Joel

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by Anonymousreply 255June 3, 2019 9:56 AM

Gaunt Joel

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by Anonymousreply 256June 3, 2019 9:59 AM

[quote]The opening of BARNEY'S in the mid-1970s is really what changed Chelsea and made it a desirable neighborhood.

[quote]I'm surprised I'm the first to mention it.

You're probably the first to mention it because Barney's opened at the 17th Street location in 1923. But it was indeed much smaller and more of a local place until the 1970s when the Pressmans expanded the space and started carrying more expensive goods.

by Anonymousreply 257June 3, 2019 10:24 AM

Someone way back mentioned the liquor store at 17th and 8th. It's still there; they moved up 8th to a bigger and nicer space facing 8th between 18th and 19th. Earlier, the 17th street location had been one of the three best video stores in the city, with Kim's (East Village?) and World of Video on Greenwich. Above the video store was the fabled Chelsea Gym, where the pornstars and muscle bunnies worked out. If I remember correctly, a scene in the film version of Jeffrey with Patrick Stewart and Bryan Batt was shot there.

by Anonymousreply 258June 3, 2019 10:39 AM

[quote]Above the video store was the fabled Chelsea Gym,

Gee... I wish more people knew about that gym. It sounds like it was very interesting holding lots of stories and memories. I didn't come around until David Barton's on 14th & 7th.

by Anonymousreply 259June 3, 2019 10:53 AM

R258, your mention of World of Video on Greenwich Avenue reminded me of when the location was Pottery Barn in the 60s and 70s.

by Anonymousreply 260June 3, 2019 10:54 AM

[quote] Barney's opened at the 17th Street location in 1923.

Barney's was the store I bought my first suit on my own, it was a navy blue Ralph Lauren suit that fit like a glove to my 16 year old self, I loved that suit.

by Anonymousreply 261June 3, 2019 11:05 AM

What I remember about the Barneys at that location was seeing a limousine pull up and this mature handsome man gets out of it followed by 4-5 young men in their 20's. To this day I couldn't tell you who he was and it was at the time that I was finding myself, but I remembering just marveling at that and saying "wow" to myself. Chelsea was like Disneyland for me. Everyone was in shape, well-dressed, and had fabulous careers--or, so I thought.

But, didn't Barneys open in the old Lane Bryant space? Also, didn't it close its Chelsea location and has just reopened rather recently?

by Anonymousreply 262June 3, 2019 11:24 AM

[quote] But, didn't Barneys open in the old Lane Bryant space?

The space on 17th or 18th between 7th & 8th? They use that as a combination warehouse and outlet store type space.

[quote]Also, didn't it close its Chelsea location and has just reopened rather recently?

Yes, after they opened the new uptown flagship store they eventually closed the Chelsea location for several years. They still owned the space but leased it out to Filine's Basement and Loehmann's. Then they kicked them out, did a massive and expensive renovation and reopened 2 or 3 years ago over four floors. For awhile back in the 1990s they also had a branch at the World Financial Center downtown. There also used to be branches in Chicago and LA but I have no idea about their current status.

The Pressmans, the family that founded and built the business, lost it in bankruptcy 10 or 20 years ago.

by Anonymousreply 263June 3, 2019 11:46 AM

Thanks, R263!

by Anonymousreply 264June 3, 2019 11:49 AM

I remember when they opened the Boston Market on 23 and 8th, across the street from East of Eighth, thinking “there goes the neighborhood.”

by Anonymousreply 265June 3, 2019 12:23 PM

Does anyone remember a resident named, John, who lived in the building above Big Cup? He owned the Mexican place around the corner. He was a nasty piece of work, who would dump baby powder on the front steps to discourage customers from sitting there. Back in those days, places like Bendix and Big Cup were so popular it was not uncommon to see a queue or people gathered on the sidewalk outside. During the summer, the adjacent steps became an extension of the seating area inside Big Cup. The guy was a gigantic asshole who would nit-pick and lodge complaints just to be a prick. My now deceased former neighbor told me he (John) worked behind the scenes and used his understanding of Community Board guidelines to undermine a few of the neighboring establishments. He also said he was a theif who siphoned off electricity from other businesses, so I don't completely agree the end of gay Chelsea happened organically.

by Anonymousreply 266June 3, 2019 12:56 PM

I went to BIG CUP a few times back in the late 90's or so. The gay boys there generally looked like the STEPFORD FAGS.

by Anonymousreply 267June 3, 2019 1:23 PM

FYI:

Stories About Splash Bar

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by Anonymousreply 268June 3, 2019 3:28 PM

The Spanish restaurant Don Quijote in the Chelsea Hotel was quite a place. Very interesting patrons.

by Anonymousreply 269June 3, 2019 10:08 PM

I wish Rubb BBQ was still around, they had terrific bbq and the best coleslaw, this is coming form someone who never liked coleslaw.

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by Anonymousreply 270June 3, 2019 10:19 PM

R269, Don Quixote had great paella. I guess I was one of those "interesting patrons".

Did you go to the Lobster restaurant across street? It was decorated with the shells of what had to have been 20 lbs lobsters.

by Anonymousreply 271June 3, 2019 10:26 PM

anyone remember the bar/disco Twirl on W 23rd? My boyfriend was one of the DJs in the late 90s.

by Anonymousreply 272June 4, 2019 12:05 AM

anyone remember the sex parties on the weekends in a loft on W 27th Street run by Lou Maletta? pretty raunchy scene with some hot men

by Anonymousreply 273June 4, 2019 12:07 AM

During the 1990s to mid 2000s I lived in Queens and about once a month I would visit of friend of mine in Chelsea at 19th just off 8th. All the places we would go such as Big Cup, Viceroy, Rainbows and Triangles, Camouflage, they are all gone. Nothing really remains on 8th Avenue, except for the Joyce Theater. All cities change and gentrify over decades, but never at such an alarming rate we've been seeing for the last 20 years.

by Anonymousreply 274June 4, 2019 1:40 AM

yes r272 Twirl!!!! It was cool inside

by Anonymousreply 275June 4, 2019 5:38 AM

[quote]anyone remember the sex parties on the weekends in a loft on W 27th Street

I never went to Lou M. sex parties but I went to a private sex party in Penn South, 26th & 8th there was always a good crowd and the sex was hot.

by Anonymousreply 276June 4, 2019 10:24 AM

BTW:

Happy PRIDE month everybody--and, I mean EVERYBODY!

While celebrating this observance, take a moment to remember all of those who fought, and continue to fight, against discrimination, and who believe in self-affirmation,dignity, and equal rights, for EVERY ONE!

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by Anonymousreply 277June 4, 2019 11:59 AM

Somewhat worse for the wear, but wow, the memories.

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by Anonymousreply 278June 5, 2019 4:01 AM

Chelsea was magic in my early 20s: meeting a date at the Big Cup, moving on to East of Eighth for dinner, making out by the river, then home. Clubbing at XL on 16th, Splash, Heaven, Barracuda , The Roxy. J's Hangout for those drrty nights. Coffee and a cookie at Paradise Cafe. Shopping at Universal Gear and Bang Bang (I hooked up with a tall twink named Tommy who worked there). The heavy drape at the front door of Raw Hide. Cajun and Rue des Crepes and Mary Ann's and La Taza de Oro and Venus and Antiques Cafe and Paradise Cafe (anyone remember Christian?) and Veg-City at 14th & 6th and Hollywood Diner. I used to get my photos developed at the southeast corner of 16th and 8th. Hedda Lettuce hosting the classics at Chelsea Clearview. Boy, do I miss those days!

by Anonymousreply 279June 5, 2019 5:14 AM

When G bar on 19th street opened everyone waited in long slow lines to get in. To this day they had the best looking bartenders, cheap drinks and a wide variety of patrons. One of the best spot to pick up too.

by Anonymousreply 280June 5, 2019 6:59 AM

R204 I remember the Elgin and seeing the Rocky Horror Picture Show the audience would ask set up questions to the characters on the screen and the lines they delivered were the answers. Plus people dressed up as their favorite characters from the movie and dancing to the music. It was more like an event than watching a movie.

by Anonymousreply 281June 5, 2019 10:28 AM

R263, not Lane Bryant. Loehmann's, whose openly gay CEO Steve Newman was featured on "Undercover Boss." Since 2014 Loehmann's has been Internet Only from their Executive Office at a Bronx warehouse. Steve is still CEO.

by Anonymousreply 282June 5, 2019 4:22 PM

G Lounge made for a stylish evening, had stunning bartenders and easily the most attractive clientele, but that same clientele had the most attitude of any bar in Chelsea, epitomizing the worst of chelsea and of gay new york.

by Anonymousreply 283June 5, 2019 4:51 PM

[quote]anyone remember the sex parties on the weekends in a loft on W 27th Street

No.

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by Anonymousreply 284June 5, 2019 9:32 PM

R278 You made me remember I have a Chelsea Gym t-shirt at the bottom of my bureau. I haven't seen it in years and probably don't fit it anymore.

by Anonymousreply 285June 5, 2019 9:37 PM

^Put it up for auction on EBay!

by Anonymousreply 286June 5, 2019 10:00 PM

R284, you’re an idiot. And I don’t find your picture clever, witty or funny at all. Fuck you.

by Anonymousreply 287June 5, 2019 10:05 PM

R149 I did not go to that gym but might have known the guy you describe. Did he live in a very nice studio apartment with a balcony large enough for a bed running along one side and windows along another? It was on the first or second floor of a townhouse on the north side of the street.

by Anonymousreply 288June 6, 2019 12:39 AM

What is the old Barney's/Loehmann´s now?

by Anonymousreply 289June 6, 2019 12:48 AM

R288. That's right! He was so handsome, almost too much do

by Anonymousreply 290June 6, 2019 1:07 AM

(sigh...)

I have a T-shirt!

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by Anonymousreply 291June 6, 2019 1:17 AM

R290 what a small world NYC can be. (This is R288 responding.) I have also wondered what happened to him. He had a sweetness about him, as well as that distance you describe. I am very average looking, and he most certainly was way above average. I met up with him a couple of times, and he played safely both of those times.

by Anonymousreply 292June 6, 2019 5:03 PM

A bed in a balcony? Link, please!

by Anonymousreply 293June 6, 2019 5:09 PM

R289 some of the space became the Rubin Museum of Art, which focuses on art of the Himalayan regions. Barney’s reclaimed the other part of the space and reopened a smaller store.

by Anonymousreply 294June 6, 2019 5:12 PM

Anyone remember me? I sucked most of your cocks in the late 90’s!

by Anonymousreply 295June 6, 2019 5:17 PM

It's sad that there's nothing in the U.S. even remotely similar to what Chelsea used to be.

At least Madrid still has Chueca

Any other similar neighborhoods?

by Anonymousreply 296June 6, 2019 5:22 PM

R293 lol remarkable, right? It made an impression because it seemed much more integrated into the design of the space, as opposed to a sleep loft built just to save space. Also, I probably had stars in my eyes. "Well, gollee! Even the bed is good looking!"

I'm so sorry for not recognizing you, R295. You carry the extra weight well.

by Anonymousreply 297June 6, 2019 5:23 PM

Philly still has almost exactly the same Gayborhood it had 30-40 years ago. There’s a certain comfort in that. Primarily because it hasn’t been ransacked by the 1%. This is why second tier cities are becoming more attractive.

by Anonymousreply 298June 6, 2019 5:25 PM

R298 thanks for the info. I'll check it out.

by Anonymousreply 299June 6, 2019 5:29 PM

R288. I think it is the same guy. Very tall, really handsome face, almost like a Tom of Finland character, big nipples (which he loved getting played with) and even bigger cock. He has to be in his 60s by now. He probably is still the best looking man over 60 these days. I don't hang much downtown but always remembered such an amazing looking guy. He really was a mystery. If memory serves me, I think he told me his name was Steve, but that could be a made up name. He really didn't talk much. I fooled around with him off and on from 95 to 2001. I didn't have his number but whenever I passed him on the street, if he was available, he would signal me to follow him back home. He never once came to my place. After sex, he was very shy and didn't talk much. Always very nice. You could tell he was raised with manners and had class. I completely lost track once I moved uptown. Never found out where he was from, what he did for a living or anything. He was a Fire Island regular too as I would see him there. He was often high on something and I always wondered if his drug use was a problem for him. Also, I ran into him in LA, SF, and Miami on different occasions, although he was not available for a sexual meet up. He would just nod or wanly smile when he saw me, that was cool as I didn't want to invade his privacy. His physical beauty was something. I can only imagine what he looked like at 18 or 25, as he was already in his late 30s or 40s when I first met him.

by Anonymousreply 300June 6, 2019 6:55 PM

Was Cuba Libre in Chelsea? When did it close?

by Anonymousreply 301June 8, 2019 11:16 PM

It was, R301. I don't know exactly, but I believe it closed in the early 2010's. Tommy who owned Telos and Trois Canrda owned it too.

by Anonymousreply 302June 9, 2019 3:38 PM

Does anyone remember XL, the one in Chelsea? Or maybe it was XS. Anyway, was only around for a couple of years but they went all out with the design.

And also a little bar called Blue. Or Blu. Might have been on 24th?

by Anonymousreply 303June 9, 2019 4:11 PM

Blu would have been close to the Chelsea Hotel.

by Anonymousreply 304June 9, 2019 4:12 PM

No I don’t mean the XL in Hell’s Kitchen, BTW.

by Anonymousreply 305June 9, 2019 4:12 PM

K just saw the XL reference upthread.

J’s hangout??? Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.

by Anonymousreply 306June 9, 2019 4:18 PM

XL on west 15th in the Maritime building near 9th ave. Very chic at the time.

by Anonymousreply 307June 9, 2019 4:20 PM

Was there also a place called XS?

by Anonymousreply 308June 9, 2019 4:26 PM

XES - believe that was 24th or 25th off 6th Ave

by Anonymousreply 309June 9, 2019 4:31 PM

Bingo r309!

by Anonymousreply 310June 9, 2019 4:37 PM

Chealsea was such a scene back then. So organized with it all.

by Anonymousreply 311June 9, 2019 4:43 PM

R311, where are you from? you make no sense

by Anonymousreply 312June 9, 2019 7:43 PM

What about Gym Bar, is it still open?

by Anonymousreply 313June 9, 2019 7:53 PM

I got my first mani/pedi in Chelsea in 1997. Just moved from Michigan and was in shock men would get such a female indulgence!

by Anonymousreply 314June 9, 2019 10:42 PM

R306 J's was also called The Triangle, because of shape of building where Hudson and Ninth meet 14th Street. In June 1971, I met my partner of 16 years at J's. Today it's the upscale Dos Caminos with outdoor dining.

by Anonymousreply 315June 9, 2019 10:52 PM

Steamroom of the McBurney Y.....great memories of intense orgies.

by Anonymousreply 316June 9, 2019 10:59 PM

Seeing British hunk Maxwell Caulfield nude in the locker room at the Y in the mid 80s was a sight to see. The bubble ass was just that.

by Anonymousreply 317June 9, 2019 11:06 PM

J's hangout must have had decades of dried cum stuck to the walls. Wasn't it technically in the Village?

by Anonymousreply 318June 9, 2019 11:14 PM

J’s was on the border of Chelsea and the Village - 14th st. It was unclean - like all backrooms. Which was part of the pigginess. The “shower and douche after sending me 20 pictures of every angle” Grindr kids of today would be appalled.

by Anonymousreply 319June 9, 2019 11:27 PM

I rented this very same apartment ( West 25th) Street for $455 a month 1983 to 1986. Just graduated college and moved to NYC. It was within my budget (no family money). The neighborhood was rough, but sex was always close by.

The unit did not have the same renovation as today but still $3900 a month shows that the neighborhood is no longer affordable to most of us, especially a young college grad moving to NYC for the first job.

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by Anonymousreply 320June 10, 2019 12:36 AM

R318. Yes, the south side of 14th Street is the northern boundary of The Village. The center of 14th divides the Chelsea 10011 and Village 10014 ZIP Codes, and Chelsea 10th and Village 6th Precincts.

by Anonymousreply 321June 10, 2019 3:52 PM

It is remarkable how quickly it went from the Gayborhood to Just Another High Priced Neighborhood in no time.

And how quickly Hells Kitchen took over as the gayborhood.

by Anonymousreply 322June 10, 2019 4:07 PM

R321 That sounds unusual that opposite sides of the street have different zip codes.

by Anonymousreply 323June 10, 2019 4:26 PM

Yes, south of West 14th is the West Village, north of West 14th is Chelsea. When I lived on West 16th in the 1980s, I told my friends I was living in the Village Heights and they knew what I meant.

by Anonymousreply 324June 10, 2019 5:21 PM

Patti LuPone singing at Les Mouches. She'd finish doing Evita, take a cab downtown and sing the songs better down there.

by Anonymousreply 325June 10, 2019 5:34 PM

Agree R322 - in my time here I saw it rise as a new gay neighborhood and be replaced by Kelly’s Kirchen within a 20 year span. NY changed so much so quickly.

by Anonymousreply 326June 10, 2019 6:13 PM

Gayborhoods are not set in stone during the 50s & 60s it was 8th St in GV then it moved to Christopher St in the 70s & 80s then Chelsea in the late 80s and 90s now Clinton/Hells Kitchen.

by Anonymousreply 327June 10, 2019 7:22 PM

[quote] now Clinton/Hells Kitchen.

Is that where it is now? Really?

by Anonymousreply 328June 10, 2019 7:24 PM

The real estate industry renamed Hell's Kitchen (34th-59th, Hudson River-Eighth Avenue) as "Clinton" to raise prices of apartments, condos, co-ops, and their commissions. The new name never caught on, it'll always be Hell's Kitchen.

by Anonymousreply 329June 10, 2019 7:40 PM

It's been cute that "chelsea" is right next to "clinton"

by Anonymousreply 330June 12, 2019 8:14 PM

R330 you're a fucking idiot. Why would anyone watch anything by someone born in 1989? Especially talking about New York. You need to just go to hell.

by Anonymousreply 331June 13, 2019 12:28 AM

What R332 said.

by Anonymousreply 332June 13, 2019 12:43 AM

[quote][R330] you're a fucking idiot. Why would anyone watch anything by someone born in 1989? Especially talking about New York. You need to just go to hell.

Maybe an intelligent person would have read the very first line "Chelsea today", and after having read through 330 posts of Chelsea yesteryear, would have an interest in seeing/comparing how much the neighborhood has changed from "the good old days?"

by Anonymousreply 333June 13, 2019 1:01 AM

R324, when a friend moved to Inwood, he told friends the area was "Upstate Manhattan."

by Anonymousreply 334June 13, 2019 6:20 PM

I LOVE this thread. You guys have certainly made it live again! Places I had forgotten all about. Mary Ann's was disgusting. I ate there once and never again. It felt dirty. It didn't close soon enough as far as I am concerned. I had a date with Michael Lucas at East of Eighth. Haha. I also worked at FOODBAR up until the end. It was the best job I EVER had. We could wear our own clothes, make GREAT money, got lots of hot dates, we were encouraged to drink, we did coke in the bathrooms. It was never meant to last. I was the first waiter/employee to find out from Gary that it was over. It was raining and I came in the morning and he was sad and said, "I got some bad news honey". 😢 It was a tacky area I never realized how much I would miss. All my friends working at Rocking Horse, Viceroy, Universal Gear, Splash, Rainbows and Triangles. The slutty gogo boys at Rawhide. Before it was Vinyl in Chelsea, it was Tour and before that it was Diner24 where I briefly worked also. What a time. Of course you never know it then. 🌈

by Anonymousreply 335June 14, 2019 1:52 PM

[quote]The slutty gogo boys at Rawhide.

LOL! I'll NEVER forget this one really hot and cute bear stripper felt that he needed to be filled with something and then just took somebody's beer bottle and shoved it up his hole. That one was even too much for Jay. LOL!!!

by Anonymousreply 336June 14, 2019 1:57 PM

^^^Yea man! Those gogo boys were crazy. Something about that place brought out the freak in people. The dim lighting, small area. Also, many nights at Venus after hanging out. The big cup of course. I was also a cocktail waiter briefly at G lounge. The bartenders were the sexiest. Loehmans, XES, Rush, the original XL. Sooo many good times. I wanna cry. So many dead and gone now along with the establishments.

by Anonymousreply 337June 14, 2019 2:18 PM

Who is dead from those establishments?

by Anonymousreply 338June 14, 2019 3:31 PM

Does anyone remember Man Ray, the only good restaurant in Chelsea for years.

by Anonymousreply 339June 14, 2019 3:33 PM

[quote][R214], you sound like quite a prize yourself. Maybe I knew YOU.

Well, I'm the complete opposite of those nasty, rude, gay horrors, r216, so if that's in your orbit, you very well may know me!

by Anonymousreply 340June 14, 2019 3:50 PM

[quote]Does anyone remember Man Ray, the only good restaurant in Chelsea for years.

That used to be one of my favorite restaurants!

by Anonymousreply 341June 14, 2019 4:59 PM

R339 Oh man. So many people. Waiters, Bartenders, Porn stars, hot party boys. It was all apart of that era. HX magazine and stuff. BETTER BURGER! Energy Kitchen! HEAVEN on 16th and 6th. Anyone remember VIEW BAR? haha. I would do anything to have my John Blair card again. A lost world. 😢🌈 My friends lived there. I was there everyday from 2001 to like 2009. Last days of what was left of the 90s. I wish I could do it all over again. haha. THE ROXY. Saturdays and Wednesdays. THE door guy back then, DEREK NEEM, committed suicide when he was deported back to Canada. I knew him. I think about him and that all the time. So many others. It's crazy. I'm 38. Left NYC in 2011. Visit sometimes but haven't been on that street in probably 10 years.

by Anonymousreply 342June 14, 2019 7:27 PM

When you walked by Rawhide, the smell of stale beer wafted out.

by Anonymousreply 343June 15, 2019 2:48 PM

^^^YES. haha. love it.

by Anonymousreply 344June 15, 2019 3:58 PM

Man Ray was the restaurant my older lover took me to in like 1990. Early Chelsea. The View was more my scene - simple easy hook up bar. Always met someone.

Where did you guys move? PA here.

by Anonymousreply 345June 15, 2019 5:15 PM

To all the greedy landlords. Amazon and Grindr I just wanna say FUCK YOU for contributing to the demise of what was once a wonderful gayborhood...FUCK YOU.

by Anonymousreply 346June 15, 2019 5:43 PM

Google now owns more Chelsea real estate than anyone by far. So symbolic of NYC - and Gayborhoods - in 2019.

by Anonymousreply 347June 15, 2019 5:48 PM

This thread is bringing back lots of great memories. I lived on W. 25th Street between 9th and 10th from 1984-1992. Rough neighborhood but close to The Empire Diner, the WPA Theater, the Pottery Barn/Williams Sonoma outlet, that Greek Diner on 23rd & 9th (is it still there?) , The Chelsea Theatre and a couple of decent/cheap Chinese restaurants just around the corner on 9th Avenue. I remember running into Mario Cantone quite a bit in that neighborhood. I moved out when I discovered a bullet hole in one of my windows.

The fun began from 1992-2006 when I moved into a railroad flat on 8th Avenue between 20th & 21st, just across the way from Jennifer Convertibles where I’d occasionally hookup after hours with one of the reps in their back room.

Does anyone remember the restaurant on 8th Avenue (The Chelsea Inn?) that had outdoor seating once you entered and passed through the bar? Loved the chicken sandwich with waffle fries and I’m still trying to replicate their carrot ginger dressing.

The Chelsea Gym! How could I forget that? Lots of action in the steam room (big surprise) but since I lived just down the block it was easy to continue the action at my place. Met lots of Broadway folks there.

I went back to the old neighborhood in the the summer of 2014 for a job and it was so depressing - no sense of community. Everything had changed. I’m so thankful that I lived and experienced all that Chelsea had to offer back in the day.

by Anonymousreply 348June 16, 2019 6:22 PM

Manhattan proper is just simply too expensive now. How many people can you fit in the 250 sq ft apartment? Are her poor people still living in those projects noted up thread? And, I guess that depends upon what you define as poor.

NYC, has become insane.

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by Anonymousreply 349June 16, 2019 8:09 PM

R343 I remember the View Bar. It was horrible when they started with their "private show" behind the curtain. I hope all those people went to jail. Sick people. Man ray was a great restaurant.

by Anonymousreply 350June 16, 2019 10:35 PM

Especially the Philly ex hooker turned hairdresser - Chris

by Anonymousreply 351June 16, 2019 10:36 PM

R349 I lived at 23rd and 10th ave. and would go to the Pottery Barn outlet often. I have a small table I bought at 50% discount and wish I had bought 2 tables. It's a small glass top table with a cast iron frame made to look like the branches of a tree, the arms that hold up the glass table top have leaves on them and there is a small bird in the center about to take flight. I loved shopping at the outlet there were always things you would like but didn't want to pay retail for.

by Anonymousreply 352June 16, 2019 11:06 PM

Chelsea Gay Men's Literacy Program (featuring Stephen Baldwin)

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by Anonymousreply 353June 16, 2019 11:37 PM

I moved to Chelsea, 23rd and 8th, in 1983, and the very week I moved into my basement studio, New York magazine had an article about how the neighborhood was changing. I was right around the corner from Bet’s Best, a small bakery that had great brownies. It was never super easy to be young and poor in Manhattan, but it was possible, which I don’t think it is these days.

And I remember loving the Chinese Cuban place, Mi Chinita. It was one of the few places I could afford to eat at 3very once In awhile.

I have such good memories of those times, and came AIDS and everything changed.

by Anonymousreply 354June 17, 2019 2:33 AM

are there any bars like Rawhide now?

by Anonymousreply 355June 19, 2019 6:13 AM

R343 Derek Neem committed suicide??? He was so kind.

by Anonymousreply 356June 19, 2019 8:37 AM

Anyone remember Sueños the Mexican restaurant on 17th St.? I loved going there the chef was from Mexico and had an interesting and authentic interpretation of Mexican food.

by Anonymousreply 357June 19, 2019 10:54 AM

Anyone eat here or know anything about this place? It's the Red Cat restaurant on 23rd & 10th

The Red Cat, an unpretentious neighborhood restaurant in Chelsea that became a destination, will close at the end of December after nearly 20 years in business. (It's closed)

The reason is none of the usual suspects: a big rent hike, slumping traffic or the need for a costly renovation, said the chef, Jimmy Bradley. He has simply decided to quit. But at 51, Mr. Bradley is not retiring. “I’m ready for a change,” he said. “We’ve had a great run, and I’m certain there’s another great chapter for me.”

He said that he had no idea what that chapter might be, but that he loves to be in the kitchen. For several years he ran the restaurant but did not cook, but earlier this year he returned to the stove. The Red Cat, which Mr. Bradley opened in 1999 with the restaurateur Danny Abrams, slowly drew a citywide following for its low-key charm, casual yet professional. In a New York Times review in 2005, Frank Bruni called it “a place with sophisticated food but not a whiff of arrogance about it,” and praised the way it “simmers attractively without sizzling flamboyantly.”

Mr. Bradley said he told his architect, Mark Zeff, that he did not want the Red Cat to look like a New York City restaurant, but more like “New England goes to Paris, without a stop at Martha Stewart’s house.” Mr. Zeff installed hanging Moroccan light fixtures that Mr. Bradley thought dubious, but came to appreciate.

The name was meant to short-circuit any preconceptions. “I thought the name sounded whimsical and friendly, and it didn’t tell you anything about the restaurant,” Mr. Bradley said. He went on to open the Harrison, in TriBeCa, just after the 9/11 attacks devastated that neighborhood; it closed in 2014. He and Mr. Abrams, who is no longer a partner in the Red Cat, also opened the Mermaid Inn; Mr. Bradley is no longer involved in that business.

“My goal was to have my own business by the time I was 30,” Mr. Bradley said. He was 31 when he became the chef and an owner of the Red Cat, on 10th Avenue. Chelsea was a much different place back then, with no High Line, art-gallery scene or sleek high-rise condominiums. London Terrace had elegant apartments; nearby there were, and still are, public housing projects.

Gentrification has not had a huge impact on the Red Cat’s business Mr. Bradley said. The condos often have absentee owners who don’t come in for a bowl of lentil soup or a plate of local skate, and tourists plying the High Line are not particularly tuned in to the restaurant’s presence. “It’s difficult for small businesses in New York now,” Mr. Bradley said. “My staff can’t afford to live nearby like me. They get home at 2 a.m. and have to be back at work at 9.”

Mr. Bradley grew up in Philadelphia and Rhode Island, where he still has a house, and became a cook because he preferred the restaurant jobs he worked while at the University of Rhode Island to the classroom. He arrived in New York in 1994, and cooked for a number of chefs, including Jonathan Waxman at Bryant Park Grill, who became a friend but whom he also regards as a mentor. Over the years Mr. Bradley has, in turn, employed and nurtured a number of chefs and restaurateurs, including Harold Dieterle, Joey Campanaro, Brian Bistrong, Amanda Freitag, Alicia Nosenzo and Gabe Stulman. They worked at the Red Cat, the Harrison or Pace, another TriBeCa restaurant which has become Mr. Chow Tribeca.

Mr. Bradley said he has been a partner in seven enterprises, most of them restaurants. With Mr. Waxman, Mr. Campanaro and Jason Giagrande, a food-service executive, he owns Four J Foods, a company that produces soups, coffee and other items. He did not dismiss the notion of opening a Red Cat elsewhere. “I own the name, and I think it would be easy to relocate it,” he said. “But if I open another restaurant, I’d want to be in the kitchen. It’s the most fun job I ever had.”

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by Anonymousreply 358June 19, 2019 11:09 AM

R356 Nope. R357 Yes. He was kind. Always looked after me. Was one of the first people I met. He took me out of the line at Roxy and comped by admission everywhere after that. Never waited in line anywhere again. We would always have deep talks and laughs about this crazy world. He didn't seem like the type to go out like that. I heard he was just so bored living back in Canada and couldn't cope with not being apart of the NYC nightlife anymore. They apparently were never gonna let him come back to the states so he said fuck it and checked out. A lot of other guys I knew back then too also committed suicide or overdosed. A couple died from freak accidents while drunk. Everything from my time in Chelsea is literally GONE.

by Anonymousreply 359June 19, 2019 2:20 PM

Mural in NYC

To allude to Mount Rushmore is to remember the values ​​of these four American presidents, so deeply attached to the ideals of freedom, democracy, equality, and peace. By placing in their place four artists for whom I have great admiration, I lend their memories, reminding them of the works of art that they have done and which have so much placed the world to reflect.

The Mount Rushmore of artists by @kobrastreetart. This one of Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat can be found on 10th Avenue

The Empire Diner is a restaurant in New York City that launched a vogue for upscale retro diners, and whose Art Moderne exterior became an iconic image in numerous films and television programs.

Constructed by the Fodero Dining Car Company in 1946 and operating as a Manhattan diner until being abandoned years later, it was refurbished in 1976, with additions including a stylized Empire State Building outline on its roof. It became a city fixture and an artists' nexus from then on. The restaurant closed on May 15, 2010, and The Highliner opened briefly in its space that same year. The restaurant reopened under the name Empire Diner, under executive chef Amanda Freitag, in January 2014. Freitag left in 2015

The diner reopened in 2017 but is now closed again.

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by Anonymousreply 360June 19, 2019 7:19 PM

R359 The Red Cat closed in December 2018.

by Anonymousreply 361June 19, 2019 9:58 PM

R359 Were you a patron of The Red Cat?

by Anonymousreply 362June 19, 2019 10:13 PM

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Restivo. I used to see John Waters there all of the time. Maybe, that's why no one has mentioned it?

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by Anonymousreply 363June 20, 2019 1:15 AM

Just watched Wig doc about Wigstock and the East Village scene at around the same time Chelsea was happening, I had the same thought - everyone has left or died. But I’m afraid I’m a lifer - good and bad but I just can’t find any place else I want to live,

by Anonymousreply 364June 20, 2019 4:51 AM

[quote]It was all apart of that era.

Oh, DEAR!!!

by Anonymousreply 365June 20, 2019 6:16 AM

The doorman's name was Derek Neen, not "Neem".

Show some respect and get it right!

by Anonymousreply 366June 20, 2019 6:50 AM

R367 you're right, not sure why I didn't catch that. Also, this is a really nice article with an excerpt where the author interviewed Derek. It evokes him so well.

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by Anonymousreply 367June 20, 2019 8:36 AM

R366 367 You caught some typos. Big deal. Get a life.

by Anonymousreply 368June 20, 2019 9:05 AM

I loved that small room up the stairs at the Roxy where the DJ played all the fun disco music of the 70s and tv show theme songs. the Crystal Room? I think that was the name. Always great fun and there was a little balcony to go out on to overlook all the debauchery on the main dance floor.

by Anonymousreply 369June 20, 2019 11:41 AM

Taste Buds!!

by Anonymousreply 370June 20, 2019 1:50 PM

I used to shop at that Pottery Barn outlet on 10th all the time -- I still have plates and silverware from it that were marked down 90 percent. That part of Chelsea was just for parking garages and gas stations. Now it's wildly expensive real estate. Like most people, I wish I had bought back then. Instead, I had to move when my rent on my nice two bedroom floor through, which started at $1000 a month, went to $2500. Now it's probably $6000.

I miss it all.

by Anonymousreply 371June 20, 2019 1:58 PM

R372 When I moved to Chelsea the brownstone buildings on the south side of 23rd st between 9th & 10th ave.were abandoned and uninhabitable. A developer bought this buildings and rehabbed them turning them into condos. I went to see the renovated buildings a 3 br 2 bath asking price was $195K at the time I thought that was outrageous and decided not to buy now those units are selling for $3M.

by Anonymousreply 372June 20, 2019 2:49 PM

R370 - I remember being in the Crystal Room at The Roxy the night Clinton won - ending 12 years of conservative Republican rule. In his election night speech in 1992, he mentioned that we are all Americans and included “gays and lesbians”, I cried. The first time in my life I heard a President explicitly support gays and lesbians. It really was the start of a new era and the rise of gay culture.

by Anonymousreply 373June 20, 2019 3:01 PM

[quote] It really was the start of a new era and the rise of gay culture.

Or, the end of it. There is simply way too much acceptance. Wait a minute.... Well, you know what I mean...

by Anonymousreply 374June 20, 2019 3:04 PM

The Crystal Room was always full of Twinks dancing to Britney Spears and Nsync the few times I stepped in.

by Anonymousreply 375June 20, 2019 3:24 PM

It was nice to have our own subculture and cool clubs and hip scene. Made it seem like you were part of the in crowd just by being gay. That’s been lost. But much has been gained. Glad I got to see the last days of the gay subculture.

by Anonymousreply 376June 20, 2019 3:24 PM

^^^#metoo

by Anonymousreply 377June 20, 2019 3:25 PM

[quote]For the better part of two decades, I have spent much of every summer in the small resort of Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod. It has long attracted artists, writers, the offbeat, and the bohemian; and, for many years now, it has been to gay America what Oak Bluffs in Martha’s Vineyard is to black America: a place where a separate identity essentially defines a separate place. No one bats an eye if two men walk down the street holding hands, or if a lesbian couple pecks each other on the cheek, or if a drag queen dressed as Cher careens down the main strip on a motor scooter. It’s a place, in that respect, that is sui generis. Except that it isn’t anymore. As gay America has changed, so, too, has Provincetown. In a microcosm of what is happening across this country, its culture is changing.

[quote]Some of these changes are obvious. A real-estate boom has made Provincetown far more expensive than it ever was, slowly excluding poorer and younger visitors and residents. Where, once, gayness trumped class, now the reverse is true. Beautiful, renovated houses are slowly outnumbering beach shacks, once crammed with twenty-something, hand-to-mouth misfits or artists. The role of lesbians in the town’s civic and cultural life has grown dramatically, as it has in the broader gay world. The faces of people dying from or struggling with aids have dwindled to an unlucky few. The number of children of gay couples has soared, and, some weeks, strollers clog the sidewalks. Bar life is not nearly as central to socializing as it once was. Men and women gather on the beach, drink coffee on the front porch of a store, or meet at the Film Festival or Spiritus Pizza.

[quote]There is no single gay identity anymore, let alone a single look or style or culture.

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by Anonymousreply 378June 20, 2019 3:26 PM

Oy. Not drug-addled Andrew Sullivan.

by Anonymousreply 379June 20, 2019 3:28 PM

As much as I think he’s a twat, Sullivan has and does write insightfully on a lot of the issues of gay culture. Always enjoy reading his stuff and he often eloquently describes phenomenon that I have noticed as well. But may be because he is of my age and generally has had similar experiences as mine compared to the bulk of the world.

by Anonymousreply 380June 20, 2019 4:14 PM

Anyone else seeing this message?

[quote]Hello and thank you for being a DL contributor. We are changing the login scheme for contributors for simpler login and to better support using multiple devices. Please click here to update your account with a username and password.

And yet, I can post...

by Anonymousreply 381June 20, 2019 4:32 PM

Please define "gay culture."

by Anonymousreply 382June 20, 2019 11:10 PM

r383 is currently deciding what sex/gender/pronoun they are. It may change from day to day and YOU BETTER ACCEPT IT!

by Anonymousreply 383June 21, 2019 7:03 AM

Elmo Restaurant

For nearly two decades, Elmo has been the gathering place for our neighbors, our community, and our extended global family. All of us here at Elmo, Barracuda Lounge and Industry Bar sincerely wish everyone of you the most amazing weekend ever. @barracudaloungenyc , and @industrybarnyc ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

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by Anonymousreply 384June 29, 2019 12:38 AM

Handsome bartender Mike:

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by Anonymousreply 385July 13, 2019 8:02 PM

Hunk:

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by Anonymousreply 386July 13, 2019 8:03 PM

Like R1 I was a fan of 18th and 8th. I've moved out of the city but I hear it's now some kind of overpriced condo building or something for Chinee or Russians.

by Anonymousreply 387July 13, 2019 8:07 PM

I was a member of Chelsea Gym in the earlier days. One Sunday morning when it was fairly quiet (and no cameras back then) we were on the top floor and took our pants off and worked out bare ass and cock out.

by Anonymousreply 388July 13, 2019 8:27 PM

Interesting that Mike R385 would have an Instagram as such. Is he still trying to model and/or act?

by Anonymousreply 389July 13, 2019 9:03 PM

[quote]One Sunday morning when it was fairly quiet (and no cameras back then) we were on the top floor and took our pants off and worked out bare ass and cock out.

Fun times. Fun gay times!

by Anonymousreply 390July 13, 2019 9:06 PM

R364 Restivo's is still around. Owner, Joe, lives in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

by Anonymousreply 391July 17, 2019 11:44 PM
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by Anonymousreply 392September 6, 2019 11:05 AM

25 years and still going strong.

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by Anonymousreply 393September 6, 2019 11:14 AM

[R160]

Anthony Perkins and photographer Helen Merrill moved into 467 West 21st Street in 1966. Today that block is a gorgeous row of 1800's Italianate row houses, but it obviously was much different back then. Grover Dale, AP's lover soon joined making for an odd threesome household.

Later when AP met and married Berinthia "Berry" Berenson who moved in Grover Dale and Helen Merrill got the push.

Walk past that house all the time and block is so gorgeous that went to my favorite NYC building blog to look up random addresses.....

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by Anonymousreply 394October 6, 2019 10:19 AM

Am down in Chelsea all the time for work, and can say yes, the place has gentrified greatly in past two decades, but still has an edge.

You still have plenty of gays down there young, old, middle aged, singles and couples. Chelsea today certainly has more minorities (young and old, gay or straight) than it did back in the day. Certainly no longer is the all white "Chelsea queens" stomping ground of all.

BBQ's is still on 8th Avenue and 23rd and manages to attract a huge African-American crowd who all certainly don't live in area.

Speaking of 8th Ave, it's like a cross between homeless shelter and methadone clinic waiting room. From about 14th until Penn Station you can't get away from stoned out messes or homeless camped out in doorways, shop doors, on corners, etc.... Ironically it is the young white transplants who seem to care more about the homeless than native NYers. Have seen them bring homeless food, give money, go into a store and buy them things....

Someone asked about porn shops. There is still a big one on 8th avenue just before 27th street (just a few doors down from FIT).

Speaking of FIT, that campus is on lock down 24/7. Have never seen so many security guards patrolling a Manhattan college campus in my life.

by Anonymousreply 395October 6, 2019 10:56 AM

Mike from Atlas Social Club? Where did he work in Chelsea? What do we know?

by Anonymousreply 396October 6, 2019 1:29 PM

He worked at "SPLASH" for many years. What's to know? He's a gay male and bartender that worked in Chelsea for many years.

[quote]BBQ's is still on 8th Avenue and 23rd

Speaking only for myself, I've never considered that place nostalgic Chelsea. Yep, it's been there a long time but it is relatively young compared to the many other places that have been mentioned here. Maybe it's because I never considered it a "gay" destination location.

by Anonymousreply 397October 6, 2019 1:42 PM

R382 Gay Culture: Having sex in places you aren't supposed to.

by Anonymousreply 398October 6, 2019 2:02 PM

in more ways than one, r398.

by Anonymousreply 399October 6, 2019 3:41 PM

Pottery Barn Outlet - Loved that place! Still have many things purchased there years ago now.

Also recall there was a garden center type of store on 9th between 22nd and 23rd.

Colours By Martin (paint store at 191 9th) closed several months ago. But Blossom and Grainne cafes are still going strong.

Think what also really hurt "old Chelsea" is when people (gay and straight) began buying all those old row houses and converting them back into single family homes. Rent controlled or not plenty of people (again gay or straight) got the push as owners reclaimed apartments for "personal use". New rent laws passed last June limit that action to only one apartment going forward.

by Anonymousreply 400October 7, 2019 9:43 AM

EAST OF EIGHTH on West 23rd Street. I could take family and friends there from out of town. I could also play GAY BINGO there and they had a nice prix-fixe.

by Anonymousreply 401October 24, 2019 1:45 AM
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by Anonymousreply 402October 24, 2019 1:52 AM

I was a member of Chelsea Gym for a few years. One early morning only one hottie and I were on the upper floor. We worked out with our cocks out.

by Anonymousreply 403October 24, 2019 2:00 AM

Did you clean up after yourselves R403?

by Anonymousreply 404October 24, 2019 2:40 PM

R395- There are a lot of blacks gay and straight coming into Chelsea at night on the weekends. The former Limelight attracts a big African American crowd on the weekend.

by Anonymousreply 405October 24, 2019 3:22 PM

There are still a lot of tenement buildings with crappy studios that rent for $2,000 or so. Allows a single gay man to live there. But it’s always had a much less interesting vibe than the Village. And now it seems like Google-land.

by Anonymousreply 406October 24, 2019 3:35 PM

[quote] There are still a lot of tenement buildings with crappy studios that rent for $2,000 or so. Allows a single gay man to live there

This is why NY is almost as much of a shithole as SF

by Anonymousreply 407October 24, 2019 4:49 PM

I left Chelsea (W25th Street) in 2005 and moved to Washington Heights and have never once missed the place. The mixture of people uptown is really great. So many many cute med students, latinos, and black men.....and nowadays young white professionals.

by Anonymousreply 408October 26, 2019 7:04 PM

By the end of the aughts 2010 Chelsea had become so hyper-gentrified it lost all the character of the people and places. Just like Greenwich Village had by the mid-late 1990s.

by Anonymousreply 409October 26, 2019 7:22 PM

Whine. Whine. Whine.

by Anonymousreply 410October 26, 2019 7:27 PM

R408 - I’m in the West Village but often consider moving to Washington Heights because it seems like the old NY with the diversity of ethnicities and incomes.

by Anonymousreply 411October 26, 2019 7:44 PM

A frau came to a friend's Greenwich Village co-op meeting to complain about the cobblestones and why they should be removed. It was hard to push the stroller.

True story.

by Anonymousreply 412October 26, 2019 9:26 PM

One of my biggest regrets in life is not buying the apartment I lived in that went condo in Washington Heights. 1920s building, huge floor plan, period details, for less than $250,000.

by Anonymousreply 413October 26, 2019 9:32 PM

[quote]A frau came to a friend's Greenwich Village co-op meeting to complain about the cobblestones and why they should be removed. It was hard to push the stroller. True story.

(SMH...)

by Anonymousreply 414October 26, 2019 9:36 PM

R414

It isn't funny; those fraus and ironically many gays and lesbians are helping to kill what gay night life is still active in West Village or Chelsea.

They all teamed up en masse to protest Boots and Saddles moving into a vacant space on Seventh Avenue South, and why? They area has *gasp* children, and there were worries about them coming into contact with Boots and Saddles patrons which included a large drag queen demographic. Oh and they weren't thrilled with the "leather" clientele either for same reasons.

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by Anonymousreply 415October 26, 2019 9:58 PM

R425 - I wondered what happened. That’s insane. I wish I knew about the meeting - I would have gone. It’s crazy that Pieces and BSNY have had such a hard time in OUR neighborhood. So sick of rich entitled straights. When you can’t open a gay bar in the West Village, it’s time to leave NYC.

by Anonymousreply 416October 27, 2019 5:20 AM

R416

It was all sorts coming together, this is one; Albert S. Bennett mentioned in NYP article linked in above CurbedNY post.

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by Anonymousreply 417October 27, 2019 5:29 AM

That the Christopher Street Association got involved isn't surprising. They have waged war on drag queens and trans (mostly of color and or Latino/Hispanic) that took over area after gay (ok white) life decamped largely for Chelsea post AIDS crisis years.

Not without cause however as the trannie hooker thing down there was getting ridiculous.

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by Anonymousreply 418October 27, 2019 5:37 AM

Found it!

"Lois Rakoff, another committee member, said she worried that the Seventh Avenue South space was inappropriate because it is lined with windows and sits on a block that kids frequently use on their way to the nearby library."

"What about the kids walking by?" she said, adding that she was worried about children seeing drag performances."

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by Anonymousreply 419October 27, 2019 5:40 AM

The Christopher Street tranny/hooker thing was here before me and I considered it an intrinsic part of the neighborhood. Paris is Burning captured it well. I loved that abouT the West Village. Then when hypergentrification took over around 2000, suddenly no one wanted them around. Started with closing all the black gay bars, then closing the piers after dark, then floodlights on Christopher and police harassment. I went to meetings to support the young gay kids from the boroughs who hung out here. But soon the whole city became rich people island - not even worth fighting any more. Just wish there was another city that still had the mix the old Christopher Street had.

by Anonymousreply 420October 27, 2019 5:59 AM

R420

You must be very young, battles to rid Meatpacking area (from 14th and Washington or West streets) down to Christoper had been going on since the 1980's.

Knew people who lived near Westbeth and stories they would tell..... Of course meatpacking and the piers were also famous gay cruising grounds as well.

That being said things weren't so bad pre -AIDS crisis from what I understand. It was only after many of the gay bars/clubs along Christopher closed, and action largely moved to Chelsea that the minority gays/trans filled void in earnest. It didn't help city opened that LGBT high school right on Astor Place. Many of the students made Christoper Street part of their "campus" if you will; terrorizing local residents and businesses.

Quite honestly hadn't been down that way in years before some friends and I decided to walk from Sixth Avenue and Christopher west for old time sake in early 2000's. Couldn't believe the change once you got past SAS.

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by Anonymousreply 421October 27, 2019 7:27 AM

Fair point R421. My experience started in 1989 - coinciding with the rise of Chelsea.

Those kids had nowhere to go. Pose and Paris is Burning provide good backstory for why. And there were 2-3 black gay bars on Christopher - vs the Chelsea-boy bars So it was both underage and of age POC. Not sure where those kids and trans went. Still see some of the older ones on the street. Many are really sad - clearly homeless. A few of the early trans who got surgery in the early 90s and were the belle of the ball on the street are now 50+ and roam the street alone in dirty clothes and looking homeless. They put so much of their identity into being a trans on Christopher St - and making money via tricks - they never learned to make a living or find a stable life.

by Anonymousreply 422October 27, 2019 3:54 PM

[quote]"What about the kids walking by?" she said, adding that she was worried about children seeing drag performances."

Which is hilarious because about 2 blocks south of that, there used to be a gay porn theater. The gay porn theater was on 7th Avenue South between Bedford and Leroy Streets. It had plenty of pictures of scantily clad men visible from the street. Turn the corner at Leroy and there was a public library. Head one block south on 7th Avenue South and there was a recreation center. For years, nobody had a "who will think of the children" attitude.

by Anonymousreply 423October 27, 2019 5:06 PM

It’s so depressing to walk down 8th ave nowadays. No energy, no excitement.

Just lots and lots of straight people

by Anonymousreply 424October 27, 2019 5:08 PM

Is that big blue porn store on 8th Avenue still there.

It was so big and ostentatious when it opened that even I felt it was an eye sore

by Anonymousreply 425October 27, 2019 5:09 PM

Ahh, I loved the Bendix diner and its eclectic menu, including Thai food. I had many a late night there.

It was so pathetic when it closed and became a nail salon

by Anonymousreply 426October 27, 2019 5:10 PM

My friend, a doctor, would walk with me down 8th Avenue in the late 1990’s and point out all the men he had slept with.

Yes, my friend was a big slut, and his good looks and muscle body got him whomever he wanted.

For me, he symbolized gay life in Chelsea. He was regular at the restaurants. All his clothes were from the stores. He would go clubbing at Twilo and Roxy. He knew everyone.

A decade after I met him, he met his partner and they moved away from Chelsea. About 2 years ago, he and his partner built a house and moved to Florida.

That, to me, was the end of gay life in NYC.

by Anonymousreply 427October 27, 2019 5:16 PM

I hated 8th Avenue because, as a gayling who just wanted to be noticed, I was utterly ignored by everyone. I wasn’t good looking or muscular enough for anyone to care.

Yet, Chelsea was all I knew of the gay world. I remember thinking, if no one will even talk to me at G, I’ll never find a boyfriend!

It took a number of years to realize there were vibrant gay pockets in the East Village and Brooklyn.

It’s interestingly how Chelsea gays got to dictate what “good looking” meant. First you have to be handsome and muscular. Once Chelsea boys got older and got sick of plucking every hair from their bodies, the standard changed to hairy bear. And then to daddy.

Nice to have that power over gay culture

by Anonymousreply 428October 27, 2019 5:21 PM

I lived in Chelsea in the early 2000’s. Everyone I knew there partnered up and moved away within a decade—myself included.

The gay world moved uptown to the cheaper Hell’s Kitchen. There are still some remnants there, but the culture seems to be dying there too.

Do young gays today even want a gay ghetto anymore? They seem to have mixed in with straights your the point that they don’t need meeting places just for them.

Do they even know or care about cruising? With the internet, that’s a dying art

by Anonymousreply 429October 27, 2019 5:26 PM

I became sexually mature by going to bathhouses, the ones in NYC being the most dilapidated anywhere.

The West Side Club would be hopping back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s as meth roared into gay culture. All weekend long, the bathhouse would be packed with tweaked patrons.

The last time I went, over a decade ago, it was empty. Apps had taken over. The young will never know the excitement of a bathhouse scene.

Do the bathhouses even exist anymore in NYC? With the price of real estate nowadays, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were all sold by now for condos

by Anonymousreply 430October 27, 2019 5:29 PM

When you woke up and it was a Chelsea morning, what was the first thing that you saw?

by Anonymousreply 431October 27, 2019 5:39 PM

I am an occasional visitor to New York, not necessarily attached to Chelsea, but I have really enjoyed this thread.

by Anonymousreply 432October 27, 2019 9:36 PM

R430

NYC shut down gay baths in 1985 in reaction to HIV/AIDS crisis.

Then mayor Ed Koch (closeted gay male) took heat just as he had done earlier in his political career for part is raids on Stonewall and or arrests of gays.

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by Anonymousreply 433October 27, 2019 9:44 PM

R430

NYC shut down gay baths in 1985 in reaction to HIV/AIDS crisis.

Then mayor Ed Koch (closeted gay male) took heat just as he had done earlier in his political career for part is raids on Stonewall and or arrests of gays.

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by Anonymousreply 434October 27, 2019 9:44 PM

Of course passing laws and enforcement are two different things.

In NYC, SF and elsewhere even when gay (or straight) baths or sex clubs were shut down, people still found other places such as backrooms of bars, clubs, etc....

Rudy G. as mayor upped the ante with increased raids on bars/clubs/bookstores, etc... were illicit sex took place. Using new laws regarding "nuisance abatement" NYC also began shutting places down.

It was actually mayor Dave Dinkin's administration that began the process of "cleaning up" Times Square by shutting down porn shops, book stores, etc.. Rudy G. picked up the ball and receives most of credit as city went into over drive in shutting down both gay and straight porn places (theaters, bookstores, etc....), or at least regulating them via zoning so no one place ever became a porn district with many places on same street.

Again using laws against public sex and nuisance abatement many porn places were raided and shut. All inspectors had to do was see sex going on.......

It also didn't help matters that by the 1990's Manhattan below 96th was beginning to gentrify; areas that once were mostly industrial or commercial, and thus largely empty at night or on weekends when things were closed , began becoming more and more residential. All those new residents didn't want porn or whatever in their street, so complaints were made in order to bring on heat.

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by Anonymousreply 435October 27, 2019 9:55 PM

If you thought things couldn't get worse in NYC, think on....

By late 2000's NYPD launched a new tactic; placing undercover LE in gay bookstores basically seeking to entrap any poor unfortunate soul who wandered into a back room or wrong area.

Aim was two fold supposedly; to crack down on prostitution, and shut down gay bookstores/porn places who supposedly still had backroom sex activity.

Results to say least were devastating. Once arrested many men could at best only plead things down to disorderly conduct; something that still gave them a record far as say professional licensing or other harm to current or potential career. Those who didn't get things pleaded down to an offense level were left with various prostitution or other criminal offenses on their record. Oh and their was media attention as NYPD often released news of arrests to local news organizations.

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by Anonymousreply 436October 27, 2019 10:02 PM

R428

It really is interesting how starting by the 1990's image of gay men moved to the Chelsea/muscle Mary body type.

Looking at gay porn, pictures of the community (such as those taken in bars, clubs or whatever) you didn't see every gay guy from butch to femmy all muscled out. But by the 1990's that all changed, with everyone hitting the gym. Yes, certain gay men of all ages were athletic and or otherwise kept fit; but it wasn't something required for acceptance.

Maybe it was the younger gays coming up way of reacting to HIV/AIDs crisis

It wasn't just Chelsea, but whole gay scene (at least in NYC) came to be dominated by circuit party queens. The Village People as a model of gay men would be laughed out of any West Village or Chelsea bar/club by the 1990's.

by Anonymousreply 437October 27, 2019 10:23 PM

Read it and weep; a pretty exhaustive list of all closed gay bars in NYC.

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by Anonymousreply 438October 27, 2019 10:28 PM

Some insight as to why gay bars and clubs have closed, but also how those who remain open survive.

One key as has already been discussed in this thread is inclusion, that is being welcoming to all regardless of race, body type, gender or even sexual preference. Downside to this is many gay bars are packed with straight girls or women.

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by Anonymousreply 439October 27, 2019 10:30 PM

Interestingly, despite the crackdown on bathhouses during the AIDS crisis, West Side Club, East Side Club, and Wall Street Sauna survived.

Why?

Were they mob-related?

by Anonymousreply 440October 27, 2019 10:31 PM

R436, thankfully gays started fighting back, demanding police stop these witch hunts.

I even recalled a small group of guys charged in those adult-store cases even marched in the Pride Parade.

Ultimately the police stopped and I believe apologized

by Anonymousreply 441October 27, 2019 10:34 PM

R441

Justice wouldn't come until after Bloomberg was out of office, but it did for a good portion of those involved.

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by Anonymousreply 442October 27, 2019 10:57 PM

IMHO things were perhaps safer going out to backrooms or whatever, rather than looking up and inviting guys you don't even know from Rentboy or whatever to your apartment.

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by Anonymousreply 443October 27, 2019 11:37 PM

Article on America's gay restaurants pretty much sums up what happened and or is happening not just in Chelsea but elsewhere as well.

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by Anonymousreply 444October 27, 2019 11:40 PM

What is the bathhouse experience like just guys wandering around jerking off until they find a guy they want to fuck/get fucked by?

by Anonymousreply 445October 28, 2019 3:57 AM

R445

Never went so cannot comment, am sure others will however.

Earliest memory of ever hearing about a "bath house" for gays is when Everard Baths went up in flames. Was still a child but recall hearing it on local NYC news broadcasts.

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by Anonymousreply 446October 28, 2019 4:27 AM

For the record "Turkish Baths" like Everard had long existed in NYC going back to early in 20th century.

Of course bath houses were common to all American and European urban areas where homes/apartments often lacked indoor plumbing for bathing. In New York City and other parts of USA "Turkish" was code for gay bath house by early 1900's if not before.

Just as with whorehouses there were discrete guidebooks printed for gay travelers to know where they could find places like the Everard, that or you simply looked for a "Turkish" bath in advertisements.

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by Anonymousreply 447October 28, 2019 4:35 AM

For African American gay men, and or white guys who wanted BBC, their was the Mount Morris Baths in Harlem.

By the early 1900's NYC wasn't seregated per se legally as in Jim Crow south, but there still weren't many places where AAs and whites socialized freely together, and that included gay community.

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by Anonymousreply 448October 28, 2019 4:43 AM

Mardana is still there on 8th Ave, though their 7th Ave. store is gone, as is Giraudon (anyone else remember their shoes?).

by Anonymousreply 449October 28, 2019 4:49 AM

Funniest take on 1970's gay bath scene was the play (later movie) the Ritz.

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by Anonymousreply 450October 28, 2019 4:50 AM

Staring DL favs Treat Williams and Rita Moreno

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by Anonymousreply 451October 28, 2019 4:52 AM

R423

It isn't just the fraus and straights, West Village has seen a sea change in terms of demographics, mostly influenced by arrival of wealthy gay or straight.

West Village of working to middle class is mostly a distant memory; unless you moved down there years ago and either bought when things were cheap, or nabbed an rent regulated apartment for cheap, it's all about money now.

You saw this as Saint Vincent's was in death throws; given how much that place did (along with Mother Cabrini and the other Catholic hospitals in Manhattan), the power gays of West and Greenwich Village might have been a bit more out front. But no, since they didn't go to that "dirty" hospital (like their straight neighbors most likely all go uptown for healthcare), they didn't give a rat's behind that the place closed.

Happily it came to bite Christine Quinn in the behind, robbing her of her deepest wish to be mayor, so maybe there is a God after all.

The new rent laws may slow down gentrification in West Village and Chelsea, but much of the damage has already been done. If you're a young gay person working for Google or whoever making $100k per year, then yes you can live down there; otherwise it's up to Inwood or out to Queens or Brooklyn. Maybe even the Bronx or NJ.

by Anonymousreply 452October 28, 2019 5:37 AM

[quote] If you're a young gay person working for Google or whoever making $100k per year, then yes you can live down there; otherwise it's up to Inwood or out to Queens or Brooklyn. Maybe even the Bronx or NJ.

Google, Amazon and Facebook are taking over the neighborhood now as they grow and need more space. If you work for these companies you will be putting in long hours.

All the new buildings are multi million dollar condos, I found out the GAP at 8th & 23rd closed, the building was sold to a developer who is probably going to build condos.

by Anonymousreply 453October 28, 2019 10:49 AM
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by Anonymousreply 454October 28, 2019 11:35 AM

R453

Have been wondering about that taxpayer building on 23rd and 8th for years now. Just seemed as if someone was leaving plenty of money on table by not developing.

Yes, GAP closed about a month ago or longer now, but there was some sort of pop-up Halloween store or something last time passed by.

Quite honestly that is a pretty rough corner, can't see "luxury" high rise going up, but then again it is Chelsea and 23rd going east has tons of new glossy high rises...

Being as building sits firmly in Corey Johnson's district if anything is going to be developed, you know he's going to push for affordable housing, maybe even low income as part of mix.

When have a chance later this week will look up zoning to see how high something can go as of right.

by Anonymousreply 455October 28, 2019 11:37 AM

[quote]Being as building sits firmly in Corey Johnson's district if anything is going to be developed, you know he's going to push for affordable housing, maybe even low income as part of mix.

And he'll be pushed right back. There is public housing all over Chelsea. I don't see the rich investors agreeing to public housing when a walk in any direction takes you past blocks of public housing.

by Anonymousreply 456October 29, 2019 9:33 PM

R456

I dunno, there is already one affordable housing (lottery) project in Chelsea, right on 18th right by the High Line.

IIRC affordable/low income happens automatically if developer seeks anything from city such as a zoning variance. This or if the area has been rezoned or a few other actions by city.

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by Anonymousreply 457October 29, 2019 9:58 PM

On another note, city is planning to redevelop several long vacant properties (it owns) on Seventh Avenue for low/moderate income housing.

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by Anonymousreply 458October 29, 2019 10:00 PM

Btw the guy who the city had to pay $450K for a settlement is a terrific masseur in Chelsea.

by Anonymousreply 459October 29, 2019 11:30 PM

For those who've never been, or perhaps not recently we present a walking tour of 8th avenue from 23rd to 59th.

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by Anonymousreply 460October 29, 2019 11:35 PM

Walking tour of Chelsea (2012) courtesy of local real estate brokerage company.

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by Anonymousreply 461October 29, 2019 11:36 PM

As someone who grew up in NYC, it does seem like the de-gayification of Chelsea happened overnight.

When I was in high school (early 00s) it seemed like the Gayest Place On Earth, but when I moved back to NYC in 2012 after college/CA, it seemed like the party was over.

by Anonymousreply 462October 29, 2019 11:37 PM

To be fair in immediate aftermath of 9/11/01 plenty of lower Manhattan (say from 34th or 14th going south) cleared out for various reasons.

Then came one or more recessions which also forced or caused people to move, this included LGT for both instances.

Into that void stepped straights, fraus, and others as lower Manhattan real estate came roaring back. Bloomberg canceling Rudy G's ok to demolish the High Line, and subsequent creation of that park was icing on cake.

Lots of gays packed up and moved to Jackson Heights , Astoria, UWS, Harlem, Inwood or just out of NYC all together.

Once you had less gays living in area things became a feeding circle IMHO. Businesses that depended upon a gay (or mostly) crowd suffered from lack of customers. This or they had to change focus to accommodate area's new residents.

Bloomberg continued Rudy G's "quality of life" initiatives which caused bars, clubs, or even just restaurants or coffee places where things got a bit loud to be hassled to point of shutting down.

by Anonymousreply 463October 30, 2019 4:07 AM

R452 While Chris Quinn claimed she was trying to save St.Vincent's. her campaign fund was being filled with bucks from Rudin Realty who turned the hospital into condos.

by Anonymousreply 464October 30, 2019 10:52 PM

R464

Christine Quinn began selling out St. Vincent's long before that place declared bankruptcy. She is on record early and often saying the hospital should close and have an urgent care facility instead.

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by Anonymousreply 465October 31, 2019 12:51 AM

Ms. Quinn defended her actions later by saying she "extracted" more concessions from the Rudins ( the AIDs park, Morton street school, etc..), but happily voters saw through her self serving hypocrisy.

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by Anonymousreply 466October 31, 2019 12:54 AM

Assembly member Debra Glick is another phony who claimed she worked hard to save St. Vincent's. She's the poster child for Term Limits, 20-plus years is too long for our sister.

by Anonymousreply 467October 31, 2019 1:04 AM

Think of that pension! Because can assure you every single career NYC/NYS politician does so.

If New Yorkers actually went out to vote in decent numbers, Glick et al wouldn't remain in office for so long. But city has one of the highest levels of voter apathy in nation. It is how we got stuck with Big Bird (BdeB)

by Anonymousreply 468October 31, 2019 1:13 AM

Please - as if DeBlasio has done anything. The anti-Quinn movement reminds me of the anti-Hilary movement. It was a distraction that resulted in us electing bozos instead of competent experienced women. Did DeBlasio save St Vincent’s? Has DeBlasio done one goddamn thing worthwhile? He’s a useless turd. Quinn would have been better.

St Vincent’s closed because of capitalism. Healthcare and hypercapitalism are at direct odds. It is the first of many closures and elimination of middle class services for the benefit of the super rich. It’s happening everywhere.

by Anonymousreply 469October 31, 2019 1:15 AM

Did anyone else here go to Top Men's Haricutters on Seventh Avenue?

by Anonymousreply 470October 31, 2019 1:32 AM

Thanks to the whoever bumped this thread; I missed it when it originally ran.

Loved being reminded of J's, which I had completely forgotten about. In the late 80s I had a bf who lived above it (there are steps outside....still there.....that lead up to where he lived). In warmer weather the clientele would whistle and applaud as they stood underneath the steps when he came home late from work and headed up to his apartment. They were always inviting him down for a drink.

by Anonymousreply 471October 31, 2019 2:47 AM

Another one bites the dust.

Walking up 8th avenue tonight noticed Duane Reade at corner of 26th is closing.

This however could be related to a Rite Aid being just a few blocks south. Walgreen's is parent company of both stores, and IIRC was forced to shut some DR stores in order for the merger to be approved.

by Anonymousreply 472November 2, 2019 6:07 AM

Not about Chelsea per se; but some time ago Sunday NYT did an excellent feature series on NYC scene of 1980's (fashion. clubs, gay life, etc....) mostly going on about how different lower Manhattan (from Chelsea on down) is vastly different today. Piece of course also was about HIV/AIDS which began to ravage performing arts, dance, music and other scenes starting in 1980's.

Cannot find entire piece ATM, but NYT ended the piece with a photo gallery of those heavily involved with 1980's decade who succumbed to HIV/AIDS.

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by Anonymousreply 473December 10, 2019 11:44 AM

R473, what an amazing list of talents

by Anonymousreply 474December 10, 2019 11:58 AM

[quote] Did DeBlasio save St Vincent’s? Has DeBlasio done one goddamn thing worthwhile?

No one could have saved St Vincents. The Catholic Church was in so much debt that it had to sell it's most expensive piece of land in NY to survive.

by Anonymousreply 475December 10, 2019 12:01 PM

Dioceses of Brooklyn sponsored Saint Vincent's hospital, along with the founding order; Sisters of Charity. Assets including Greenwich Village campus were sold off to pay down the staggeringly vast debt. Neither New York nor Brooklyn dioceses owned Saint Vincent's hospital/healthcare system; it was the nuns.

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by Anonymousreply 476December 11, 2019 6:39 AM

R472

Found link to series; but it is behind NYT subscription wall.

R473

Yes, it really makes you want to sit down and weep when faced with what we lost. Sadly that group only represents tip of iceberg so to speak. So many more though the 1980's, 1990's and beyond. Many feel reason why things are so bland (if not bad) culturally in now is because we lost so much creative talent gay and straight to the Madness.

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by Anonymousreply 477December 11, 2019 6:51 AM

From Sunday's NYT a few weeks ago; Chelsea Convenience hardware store on Ninth avenue closed at end of November.

Chelsea of 2019 isn't what it was back in 1990's when store opened, before Amazon and rest of online became a major presence. This and rents have gone up all over now trendy Chelsea including 9th avenue.

P.S.

For those hitting NYT paywall trying turning off javascript.

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by Anonymousreply 478December 11, 2019 8:44 AM

R106, I can confirm the horse hung-ness!

by Anonymousreply 479December 11, 2019 8:48 AM

Uncle Charlies was a cool bar......close to Chelsea

by Anonymousreply 480December 12, 2019 1:23 AM

R19 Not only did we lose the fun Rainbows and Triangles store, the entire building was demolished and this six-story steel and glass monstrosity is going up in its place.

I walked past this place this week and was saddened that next to nothing remains in Chelsea gay community. I live in Queens but whenever I was in the Chelsea area I was sure to visit and make purchases to help support the small businesses.

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by Anonymousreply 481June 6, 2020 4:18 PM

Which are is better for living...Chelsea or Washington Square ?

by Anonymousreply 482June 6, 2020 4:57 PM

I love this thread. More stories.

by Anonymousreply 483June 29, 2020 10:00 AM

Any new stories and memories?

by Anonymousreply 484May 5, 2021 12:09 AM
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