Cool New Yorkers already know this, but if you want to dance your ass off, you go to a gay club.  This rings true for any city in the world pretty much.   And guess what, no one will hit on you. I have been clubbing since the eighties,  some of those years were spent working in clubs so I've always been interested in the history of nightclubs and the subculture that comes out of them.

Photo Credit:  I. C. Rapoport
In doing my research on NYC's meatpacking  district and West Village I came accross some amazing imagery from the 1960's-1980's.       I found this photographer I.C. Rapoport who was a photo journalist during this time .    He worked for Paris Match and the Kennedy administration.   Check him out.
 
IC Rapoport photo website

This was the home to the Ramrod, Club 82 (where many punk legends played) and many other gay bars.  Whats also interesting is the mob owned many of these clubs and spread a wave of extortion through the west village.  Aids changed it all, bars where Tom of FInland fashions were started and a style counter culture that now only exists in the underground and Taschen art books.
 
The last photograph of elegant drag queens is by Rapaport shot in Times Square area in the early 60's.    Flyers and Images from the Ramrod.

   

< Previous Entry

Next Entry >