Yearly Archives: 2012

Danceteria Closing

Posted on

1986

Xerox poster [Created by Danceteria cofounder Rudolf Pieper]

14 x 8.5 inches

Not for sale.

A relic from the final night of Danceteria. The closing of the club in 1986 serves as a point of demarcation of the onset of mass death that began to mount exponentially into the tens of thousands annually. The party truly had ended. The following year ACT UP was formed beginning the second wave of AIDS activism, which eventually would include many Danceteria patrons as well as alumni. Of the myriad artists and regulars that both worked at the club and perished during the epidemic, they counted among them Keith Haring, David Wojnarowicz, Haoui Montaug, and Jeffrey Strouth. The poster is a solemn reminder of all that was lost.

G.E.

Crisco Disco

Posted on

c. 1970s-80s

Bar sign from the original club on 11th Avenue in Manhattan (Silkscreen)

22 x 25 inches

Sold.

The Crisco Disco was a New York City discotheque notable in the history of modern dance and LGBT nightclub culture. The venue was an important gay club originally located on 11th Avenue, and later at 15th Street and 10th Avenue in the Meatpacking District, a neighborhood in Manhattan that abuts the Hudson River.

It operated from the 1970s to the 1980s during the disco era, and it has been compared in importance to other NYC clubs such as Paradise Garage. Michael Musto listed Crisco Disco as one of the eight “…edgiest [NYC venues] that shall never be recaptured.” The club had a large DJ booth where DJs would mix records for the dancers. As a DJ booth, the club constructed a mock, giant vintage can of Crisco. According to Drew Sawyer, in the 1970s, cans of Crisco were “…so synonymous with gay sex (it was used as a lubricant by gay men who engaged in fisting) that discos and bars around the world took on the name, such as Crisco Disco in New York City, one of the premiere clubs during the 1970s and early 1980s.”

G.E.