A walk in the West Village New York City on a Sunday in early 2011. Everywhere we looked we were looking at the past around us. It was a Sunday afternoon a very mild winter day walking down Tenth Street on our way we passed old manufacturing buildings that are now living spaces. When I started coming to New York City from Philadelphia in the late 1980′s most of these areas had become seedy, with abandonment and trash everywhere. Well that was then and this is now. A more gentrified street lay before us, even the trash had changed, what twenty years [...]
Elizabeth Taylor at the Heliport
In the summer of 1987 I was living on E89th between 2nd and 3rd, and my best friend Roxanne was living 3 blocks away on E86th, also between 2nd and 3rd avenues. Who cares? I know, but I like to set the scene, give it a little New York geography! So one afternoon we decided to go for a walk, which is one of New Yorks greatest treasures because going for a walk in New York City isn’t like going for a walk anywhere else, as is illustrated beautifully in this story. So there we were, walking south when we [...]
Most Talked About Night Club in the World Finocchio 1963
Joe “Finocchio” located at 506 Broadway in San Francisco opened on June 15th, 1936 and closed after 63 years of serving the community on November 27th 1999. The most interesting women are not women at all. They are Finocchio’s accomplished female impersonators. That is why the show at Finocchio is always tops in entertainment. At Finocchio you will see woman, that miracle of divine contradictions, in all her prismatic gyrations. Women who step is music, who’s voice is song. Women whom Victor Hugo called “The Enigma of the nineteenth century,” who Confucius called a masterpiece, whom Tennyson called the lesser [...]
Mother Childs & the New York Cafeteria Society of the 1920′s & 1930′s
In the four decades before the Stonewall uprising being gay in New York City took a little ingenuity especially when you wanted to be yourself in a public place. During the 20′s and 30′s the place to be seen was the countless cafeterias throughout the city. The cafeterias being the fast-food outlets before Mc Donald’s and Burger King’s of today. A very popular chain in New York City was Childs, which first opened in 1889 by Samuel S. and William Childs. The chain grew to a large number of restaurants and was known for its architectural designs, outstanding service and cleanliness. The most [...]
The Ninth Circle Steakhouse
Gone, but not forgotten, the Ninth Circle Steakhouse Bar which closed in early 2002 was located in the West Village on 10th Street right off Greenwich Avenue. – Yes, it really was a Steakhouse that seriously rocked in the 60′s. originally opened and owned by Mickey Ruskin of Max’s Kansas City Fame and playing host to the artsy & literary with. Its big reputation came from folks like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Charlie Mingus and others who gathered there to drink. In the ’1970s there were some celebrities and patrons, but not enough to keep business going. Ruskin sold full [...]
Caffe Cino Where Off – Off Broadway Started 1958
Caffe Cino opened in 1958 in a storefront at 31 Cornelia Street in New York City‘s Greenwich Village by Joe Cino (1931 -1967). The Cino was a friendly social place for gays where you could come for coffee and read poetry. It was a hotbed for up and coming gay actors and play writes who wanted to be able put their plays on a accepting stage ( this was before Stonewall and gay liberation) that was respectful and encouraging. The Cino was not exempt from police raids, but often times payed – off “people” to look the other way, and [...]
New York City Landmark Deno’s Wonder Wheel With Nelson Sullivan, Rupaul & the Crew
Riding the Wonder Wheel at Deno’s Amusement Park in Coney Island New York City in 1988. on the ride with Nelson Sullivan, Rupaul Charles, Larry Tee, Lohoma Van Zandt, Rosser and Trade. Mollie Worthington stayed on the ground and watched. Deno’s Wonder Wheel built in 1920 by the Eccentric Ferris Wheel Company using Bethlehem Steel forged in Coney Island. The ride has a perfect safety record in it’s entire history, named a New York City landmark in 1969 it stands 150 feet high and hold 144 people at one time in it’s 16 swinging cars and 8 stationary cars. Nelson, Rupaul and the [...]