Sally's Hideaway was a Times Square nightclub located at 264 West 43rd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues. This iconic space became a place from 1986 to 1992. It occupied a small and narrow, one-story site that had formerly been the home of Blue’s; another Times Square landmark.  Blue’s was a refuge, watering hole, and mecca to its patrons – purveyors and practitioners of the Times Square sex trade and other various related street businesses.

 

Blue’s was managed by a man named Conrad, the former manager of The Anvil; the groundbreaking gay club that opened in 1974, located near the waterfront at 10th Avenue and 14th Street.  The Anvil was famous for its freewheeling backroom action and graphic onstage shows featuring performances that included sexcapades such as dildo play and nipple clamps.

 

A popular performer there was named Toby, a hunky, square-jawed and prolific entertainer whose look epitomized the mid-1970s aesthetic adopted by many in the gay community.  These playful roles, often viewed as stereotypes, were celebrated by the gay community and even made their way to popular music by way of the disco group Village People.

 

Aspirational ideals for gay men to be macho was prevalent during this era.  In fact, Felipe Rose, often referred to as the Native American of this dance group, began his career by dancing on the main bar at The Anvil prior to his ascent to fame with the Village People.  The word ‘village’ of the group’s name referred to the cluster of Manhattan gay clubs where the macho, gay may ideal reigned supreme.  This area aligned with the West Side Highway from 14th to 21st Streets.  Within this area existed Eagle, Spike, Mineshaft, The Anvil … and south of the Chelsea Piers along the Hudson River to Christopher Street was the area that is historically emblematic of that era’s gay spirit of New York City.

 

Times Square, during those days, and in contrast to the Village, was the place where Black and Latino drag queens and hustlers worked and played.  The Village, with the exception of a drag/femme queen hustling strip along 14th Street and 9th Avenue stretching over to the Hudson River, was more Caucasian; the sons and daughters of the middle class, educated, and generally more privileged.  This constituted, generally, the racial and economic divide, however, as AIDS began to devastate the gay landscape in the early 1980s, many fell hard on either side of the divide.

 

The Anvil, which had opened its doors in September of 1974, on the tide of sexual liberation, was forced to end its spectacular eleven year run in November 1985, as much a casualty of the disease itself, as hysteria and homophobia began to sweep across the country.  Other gay businesses, either forcibly or voluntarily, closed one after the other; Mineshaft (around the corner from The Anvil on Washington Street), and bathhouses – Everhard Baths (on 28th Street), Club Baths and St. Mark’s Bathhouse, Man’s Country (on 15th Street) and Barracks.  Cockring, a popular dance club at the corner of Christopher Street and the Westside Highway, was on the ground floor of the River Hotel.  Cockring opened as a result of the gay boom that the late 1970s had to offer, but closed as AIDS decimated the culture and nightlife.  In a tragic and ironic twist within this desperate time, Cockring was converted to an AIDS hospice named Bailey House.

 

It was after the closure of The Anvil, that Conrad began working at Blue’s.  He managed Blue’s from January 1986 until later that same year when a man named Sally Maggio took over the space, renaming it Sally’s Hideaway.  Maggio’s previous business venture had been during the early 1980s with a place called Greenwich Pub, located at 8th Avenue and 13th Street in the heart of Greenwich Village.  Greenwich Pub was a well known gathering place for transgender females and their admirers.  Drag shows, along with male strip shows made up the cabaret and entertainment.  These venues were popular among its colorful clientele, but it was the pub’s move to Blue’s Midtown space and the renaming to Sally’s Hideaway, that solidified its preeminence in the world of pre-op transgendered (who in the temporal sense were referred to as transexuals), drag queens, cross dressers, transvestites, male strippers, sex workers, and hustlers of every kind.  Performers included: Dorian Corey, Gina Germaine, Hawaiian Angie, Angela Carrera, The Amazing Electrifying Grace, Christina Piaget, Crissy Hill, Kevin Jackson, and Noby Rivera.

 

Sally Maggio began his show biz career managing the infamous 220 Club, located at 220 West Houston Street.  220 Club was one of the most famous transgender and gay nightclubs of the early 1970s.  It was here that Sally met Jesse Torres, an ample-bodied, femme queen who was both close friend and eventually a business partner at Sally’s Hideaway.  It is the opinion of many who lived during this time, that 220 Club descended directly from Stonewall Inn and by extension, the Stonewall Riots.  The Stonewall Inn was favored among the transgender and gay community.  The courage of its patrons was the catalyst for the Stonewall Riots of 1969 which marked the beginning of the Gay Liberation Movement.  In its day, 220 Club was the foremost venue for the transgender and drag crowds.  This distinction would later be shared by Greenwich Pub, Sally’s Hideaway, and later, Sally’s II.

 

In 1992, Sally’s Hideaway was damaged by fire, and undeterred, Sally moved the club a few doors down the block to 252 West 43rd Street.  The space was formerly occupied by an after-hours-style drug den named Rose Saigon.  Sally renamed it Sally’s II and it would later be known simply as Sally’s.  By way of a catwalk, Sally’swas conveniently connected to the lobby of the Carter Hotel (previously known as the Dixie Hotel).  This twenty-four story hotel towered monumentally over the Manhattan cityscape.  Its huge, red neon sign was visible for miles signifying its place as a phallus, or temple of rooms available for the ‘short stay.’

 

Sally’s had a circular bar, two flights above the street, as well as, a small lounge located above a flight of stairs adjacent to the bar. The low ceilinged lounge area consisted of a dozen, small cocktail tables, a pool table, and a parquet tiled open space designated for dancing, drag shows, and go-go boy contests.  Behind the circular bar, lay a wall of doors that were permanently closed until one day, Sally discovered that the Carter Theater lay beyond.  This large, shabby, unused space, originally the hotel’s dining room, contained another long set of doors to the immediate left that opened up to the lobby of the Carter Hotel.  The lobby had apparently once been converted to a 1970s style disco.  The mirrored disco ball, strings of flashing lights, and spotlights surrounding the expansive dance floor were still in working order.  This room bore witness to the hotel’s former grandeur; two of its walls still covered with beautiful, hand painted murals on lacquered canvases.  The murals were commissioned during the 1940s when the disco was hailed as Plantation Bar and Lounge; replete with genteel, antebellum scenarios and depictions of classic Greek architecture. A trompe-l’oeil striped awning was painted onto the upper reaches of this near fifteen foot high mural reaching to a ceiling said to be upholstered in leather, hidden behind the drop ceiling of acoustic tiles.  A stage stood at one end of the room, directly in line with the bar, and it was into this space that Sally’s II expanded.

 

The expanded space came into its own, and became a venue for numerous drag pageants and drag balls hosted by or in homage to great ballroom legends of the day – including Octavia St. Laurent, Pepper La Beija, Danielle Revlon, and Avis Pendavis.  It was in this space that Paris Dupree’s annual ball, Paris is Burning debuted in 1992.  The documentary Paris is Burning, directed by Jennie Livingston and co-starring Paris Dupree, garnered the title from this storried event, which continues to influence modern day ball culture and queer popular culture.  Wednesday nights showcased the Go-Go Boy Contest, emceed by Jimmy Peanuts (of Crisco Disco), where either a handful or up to as many as fifteen contestants vied for the title.  The contest featured a mix that included muscular, professional strippers hailing from the Show Palace on 8th Avenue and Gaiety Theater (located at 201 West 46th Street), to Latino Fan Club porn stars, to a kickboxing champion, to your average Joe wandering in from the street.  Some of the men who competed were … SweetTooth Curtis, Lionheart, Special K., Doctor Love, Kaos, Brown Sugar, Pretty Boy, Honey Boy, Johnny Boy, Midnight, Obsession, Shogun, David Flex, Suave, Mike Love, and Finesse.

 

It was in this hallowed place, and against the murals, that I photographed the Gods and Goddesses of Times Square … in all their unfettered glory, and recorded a last fleeting and poignant glimpse of a lost Times Square subculture from 1992 to 1997.  I like to reminiscently refer to this time, the photographs and the family of Sally’s Hideaway and Sally’s II … as the greatest story ever told. Between the years 1992 to 1997, after relocating Sally’s Hideaway to Sally’s II, Sally emceed and continued working with his talented group of emcees – Dorian Corey, Angie Extravaganza (the Mother of the House of Xtravaganza), The “Amazing, Electrifying Grace,” and the famous Chaka Savalas, who passed away shortly after the move.  Both Dorian and Angie, legends in the drag ball world, were principals in the film, Paris Is Burning, an award winning and acclaimed documentary on the drag balls of Harlem.

 

It is worth noting that both the opening and ending sequences of the documentary were filmed outside of Sally’s Hideaway.  Dorian and Angie, as well as the films other interlocutors – Pepper La Beija, Venus Xtravaganza, Octavia St, Laurent, Willi Ninja, Sol Pendavis Williams, Freddie Pendavis and Junior La Beija, all went on to new found fame post the release of this hugely successful film.

 

The “Amazing, Electrifying Grace,” the sharp-tongued and quick witted diva, was a lip sync performer and comedienne who began her career at The Anvil in the late 1970s, where she performed on a permanent basis until the club fell victim to the AIDS hysteria and panic leading to its closing.  She went on to emcee and perform at Sally Maggio’s Greenwich Pub and later at Midtown 43 where she emceed a Sunday night drag revue.  Midtown 43 was a club descended from the Nickel Bar; a Black gay bar originally located on West 72nd Street that later moved to the basement of the Diplomat Hotel in 1986.

 

Midtown 43 was a gay disco whose house DJ was the famous Andre Collins, of Warehouse fame, during the disco’s final incarnation; located one block east of Sally’s Hideaway on 43rd Street, just east of Broadway, directly next to the theater Town Hall, and across the street for the Times Square landmark – Nathan’s Restaurant (of Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog).  Midtown 43 abruptly closed in 1989.  Grace was working at Sally’s Hideaway at that time, and when it moved to the Carter Hotel (and was renamed Sally’s II), Grace was given a steady gig emceeing Sundays, and sometimes Mondays for the Talent Night.  Grace was loved by many and had a loyal following, especially among the ball and house crowd – mostly the butch queens who were predominant patrons of Midtown 43.  These same butch queens rarely patronized Sally’s Hideaway nor Sally’s II, as these two clubs catered almost exclusively to the working girls, femme queens, and their admirers.

 

Times Square, during this period, was a hotbed for the drag ball scene.  Ball queens and transgender show girls supported themselves working in the peep shows, such as Show Center (on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues) or Show World (at the corner of 42nd Street and 8th Avenue).  Show Palace, a male burlesque house, featured male strippers who might, on occasion, walk the balls for categories such as ‘Body’ or ‘Realness.’  They would often compete in the scandalous Wednesday night Go-Go Boy Contest at Sally’s Hideaway and Sally’s II.

 

Sally Maggio passed away in October 1993. His friend and business partner, Jesse Torres, managed the bar following his death.  It was during this time that Times Square, under Mayor Rudy Guiliani and opportunistic real estate interests, began to undergo redevelopment and much of the area was purchased by the Walt Disney Corporation, thus, driving out the adult businesses, and condemning and demolishing the heart and soul of the district; including Show Center and Show Palace.

This heart and soul, immortalized so vividly in John Rechy’s novel, City of Night, represented a singular American sensibility – one that combined such venerable American traditions as vaudeville, honky tonk, Barnum and Bailey, and the sexual liberation of the 1960s and 1970s.  The vibrant street culture – sidewalk preachers, portable photo studios, banjee boys and girls, tourists, hustlers, gawkers of every persuasion, and the sexual libertines – all stopped dead in its tracks by power hungry politicians and greedy, corporate entities intent on obliterating Times Square to be remade into a bland, safe, sanitized, commercialized, cynically repackaged, contrived, and inauthentic image.  The shopping mall-ing of America had finally infected the symbolic heart and soul of the greatest city in the world.  Where there once stood real steel and concrete, paint, grit, longing, and lust … now stands a plastic theme park far removed from the blood and guts of real life. In September of 1996, Jesse Torres tragically died unexpectedly while attending the Miss Continental Pageant in Chicago.  After her passing, a long time barmaid was installed as the new manager.  Sally’s II, however, like Times Square and with the passing of both Sally and Jesse, lost its heart and soul.

 

Despite this loss, it teetered on, closing off the ballroom space as business waned, and was sadly relegated to a small alcove above the front bar.  It closed its doors forever following a series of Guliani inspired police busts in November of 1997.  The management of the Carter Hotel leased the space known as Sally’s II, including the ballroom or Carter Theatre – tearing out and disposing of the historic murals, despite efforts I made to save them. The dreamy and idealized depictions contained in the murals – a candelabra, ladies and gentlemen dining, a violinist, a lady playing a piano, Greek revival architecture, emblematic of what once stood, provided a visual counterpoint to the cruder realities of late 20th century Times Square. The backdrops, against which so many dramatic lives were lived, and those who lived them, exist mostly in photographs taken by myself, spanned a five year period of 1992 to 1997. Sally's business had one thing in common – they were places where the ravishing beauty of those denizens of the city of night flourished. It is in the spirit of awe and wonderment, at the expression of freedom...and the strong, flawed, fearless, tragic, and heroic community, that I found at Sally's Hideaway and its satellite venues, that this story is dedicated to: Sally, Dorian, Angie, Grace, Jessie and the wonderful, beautiful people who passed through its doors.

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– Brian