Memory lane

[coogee]

Does anyone of the long time members remember Federico, a dancer at Gaiety in the mid 90's. He was one of the most gorgeous dancers ever ! If someone has a picture of him from that time , would be great. He also had a regular modeling career. Originally from Venezuela, he lived in the Chicago area with Shane, another beautiful dancer .

[+ Truereview]

Does anyone of the long time members remember Federico, a dancer at Gaiety in the mid 90's. He was one of the most gorgeous dancers ever ! If someone has a picture of him from that time , would be great. He also had a regular modeling career. Originally from Venezuela, he lived in the Chicago area with Shane, another beautiful dancer .

Welcome to the Forum, coogee!

 

I never went to Gaiety as it was a bit before my time. I heard there was a table book about the place. Your query made me think of looking it up. The book includes 60 B/W pictures and history. Maybe your dancer is included? Worth a try. Interestingly the author is named Federico Santi, but unlikely to be your Federico. The book is on amazon and can be found hee:

A Night at The Gaiety: Male Burlesque in New York City

Lol...I was just thinking this book may make a perfect stocking stiffer...errrrr...stuffer.

[Tonyko]

I first ascended those magic stairs to that turnstyle at 16 after many pussying out attempts in fear that the lady/owner in the glass booth would card me. I finally waited down on the street at the bottom of those stairs beside that filthy Howard Johnsons hoping each gaggle of guys approaching would choose THAT door as opposed to the legit rehearsal hall door right beside it lol. I finally tacked on to a trio heading up making myself look like I was part of them and that's how I first got in. (for 5$ the equiv of 50$ now lol) And I spent the next 20 years there. There were still "private" rooms behind the lounge where the dancers could "entertain" a fan, and the lounge offered wine and champagne and snacks you could take back to your seat where some had little attached tables. But that all went away not long after, no more back rooms, and the lounge just a place with a soda machine and a bowl of popcorn I would SO not stick my hand into where you'd arrange an off-site tryst between shows, usually in a room nearby. 5 years later I was living on that same street a block down and was lucky enough to be taken in by some of the dancers and the owner who took a liking to me often trying to convince me to dance lol, one summer I broke my ankle roller blading and spent the whole summer sitting in the back with my crutches every day going to eat with the dancers letting some of them nap at my place etc. I LOVED watching the mostly older guys, how excited they'd get when that tacky silver curtain closed over the movie screen which meant the show was starting, and how'd they'd ALL leap up and move closer to the stage lol. I loved the guys auditioning in their street clothes totally lost up there "trying" to dance but if they were hot it didn't matter. What's NOT too diff from today; most of the dancers were str8. They were G4P. (I got with A LOT of the guys who were gay thou ) I remember in the final years one GORGEOUS blond blue eyed adonis a str8 guy guy right out of the Navy, sitting in the back beside me waiting to audition, nervous, he'd borrowed a car and driven in from Philly just for this, bummed at the handful of men in the audience tossing out singles and wondering how ANY $$ could be made here and he'd spent so much on gas and tolls and was broke etc. I literally had to explain to him that the $$ wasn't made in this room it was made in the OTHER room. This room was just the "catalogue" lol. He was TOTALLY green to any of it or how things worked. He stayed btw and started "working" with what was to me surprising ease lol. (THAT guy is a successful business owner now who's almost 40 and one of my BF's and he's still gorgeous:rolleyes: ) I miss that place. It smelled the seats were filthy the floors were sticky the movies were awful, but I miss it.

[bigvalboy]

I first ascended those magic stairs to that turnstyle at 16 after many pussying out attempts in fear that the lady/owner in the glass booth would card me. I finally waited down on the street at the bottom of those stairs beside that filthy Howard Johnsons hoping each gaggle of guys approaching would choose THAT door as opposed to the legit rehearsal hall door right beside it lol. I finally tacked on to a trio heading up making myself look like I was part of them and that's how I first got in. (for 5$ the equiv of 50$ now lol) And I spent the next 20 years there. There were still "private" rooms behind the lounge where the dancers could "entertain" a fan, and the lounge offered wine and champagne and snacks you could take back to your seat where some had little attached tables. But that all went away not long after, no more back rooms, and the lounge just a place with a soda machine and a bowl of popcorn I would SO not stick my hand into where you'd arrange an off-site tryst between shows, usually in a room nearby. 5 years later I was living on that same street a block down and was lucky enough to be taken in by some of the dancers and the owner who took a liking to me often trying to convince me to dance lol, one summer I broke my ankle roller blading and spent the whole summer sitting in the back with my crutches every day going to eat with the dancers letting some of them nap at my place etc. I LOVED watching the mostly older guys, how excited they'd get when that tacky silver curtain closed over the movie screen which meant the show was starting, and how'd they'd ALL leap up and move closer to the stage lol. I loved the guys auditioning in their street clothes totally lost up there "trying" to dance but if they were hot it didn't matter. What's NOT too diff from today; most of the dancers were str8. They were G4P. (I got with A LOT of the guys who were gay thou ) I remember in the final years one GORGEOUS blond blue eyed adonis a str8 guy guy right out of the Navy, sitting in the back beside me waiting to audition, nervous, he'd borrowed a car and driven in from Philly just for this, bummed at the handful of men in the audience tossing out singles and wondering how ANY $$ could be made here and he'd spent so much on gas and tolls and was broke etc. I literally had to explain to him that the $$ wasn't made in this room it was made in the OTHER room. This room was just the "catalogue" lol. He was TOTALLY green to any of it or how things worked. He stayed btw and started "working" with what was to me surprising ease lol. (THAT guy is a successful business owner now who's almost 40 and one of my BF's and he's still gorgeous:rolleyes: ) I miss that place. It smelled the seats were filthy the floors were sticky the movies were awful, but I miss it.

 

Great post!!!

[+ azdr0710]

thanks, @Tonyko ...glad the Navy guy did ok....was worried there for a couple lines of text!

[jawjateck]

thanks, @Tonyko ...glad the Navy guy did ok....was worried there for a couple lines of text!

 

Anchors away!

 

And yes, this is a great remembrance. I just traveled thru distance and time to taste something I have only heard about.

[Tonyko]

thanks, @Tonyko ...glad the Navy guy did ok....was worried there for a couple lines of text!

LOL he did just fine I can't even mention what name he danced under because in it's final yrs he became the most popular dancer there. Hard to believe that whole corner is gone now, like the other side of the st. the Helen Hayes Theat the Italian restaurant where I had my 8th grade graduation pty The Grotto, all gone.

[hwic04]

Whatever became of TJ who used to dance there and escort? Does anyone know what he's doing now or if he still looks as hot as he did back then?

[+ azdr0710]

a 100% straight guy (referred to me by a popular escort) I know has been giving me great advice on gym stuff and eating.....he has really helped me over the last couple years....he performed at the Gaiety in the mid 2000s for just a few weeks until some customer complained to the lady owner that he wouldn't put out (or something - customer exaggerated).....wish I'd gotten to see that place before it closed.....

[+ V-Vhitner]

Welcome to the Forum, coogee!

 

I never went to Gaiety as it was a bit before my time. I heard there was a table book about the place. Your query made me think of looking it up. The book includes 60 B/W pictures and history. Maybe your dancer is included? Worth a try. Interestingly the author is named Federico Santi, but unlikely to be your Federico. The book is on amazon and can be found hee:

A Night at The Gaiety: Male Burlesque in New York City

Lol...I was just thinking this book may make a perfect stocking stiffer...errrrr...stuffer.

LOVE this - just ordered it for my stocking

[Despardo]

I first ascended those magic stairs to that turnstyle at 16 after many pussying out attempts in fear that the lady/owner in the glass booth would card me. I finally waited down on the street at the bottom of those stairs beside that filthy Howard Johnsons hoping each gaggle of guys approaching would choose THAT door as opposed to the legit rehearsal hall door right beside it lol. I finally tacked on to a trio heading up making myself look like I was part of them and that's how I first got in. (for 5$ the equiv of 50$ now lol) And I spent the next 20 years there. There were still "private" rooms behind the lounge where the dancers could "entertain" a fan, and the lounge offered wine and champagne and snacks you could take back to your seat where some had little attached tables. But that all went away not long after, no more back rooms, and the lounge just a place with a soda machine and a bowl of popcorn I would SO not stick my hand into where you'd arrange an off-site tryst between shows, usually in a room nearby. 5 years later I was living on that same street a block down and was lucky enough to be taken in by some of the dancers and the owner who took a liking to me often trying to convince me to dance lol, one summer I broke my ankle roller blading and spent the whole summer sitting in the back with my crutches every day going to eat with the dancers letting some of them nap at my place etc. I LOVED watching the mostly older guys, how excited they'd get when that tacky silver curtain closed over the movie screen which meant the show was starting, and how'd they'd ALL leap up and move closer to the stage lol. I loved the guys auditioning in their street clothes totally lost up there "trying" to dance but if they were hot it didn't matter. What's NOT too diff from today; most of the dancers were str8. They were G4P. (I got with A LOT of the guys who were gay thou ) I remember in the final years one GORGEOUS blond blue eyed adonis a str8 guy guy right out of the Navy, sitting in the back beside me waiting to audition, nervous, he'd borrowed a car and driven in from Philly just for this, bummed at the handful of men in the audience tossing out singles and wondering how ANY $$ could be made here and he'd spent so much on gas and tolls and was broke etc. I literally had to explain to him that the $$ wasn't made in this room it was made in the OTHER room. This room was just the "catalogue" lol. He was TOTALLY green to any of it or how things worked. He stayed btw and started "working" with what was to me surprising ease lol. (THAT guy is a successful business owner now who's almost 40 and one of my BF's and he's still gorgeous:rolleyes: ) I miss that place. It smelled the seats were filthy the floors were sticky the movies were awful, but I miss it.

I so enjoyed reading this. I spent many long evenings at the Gaiety. I particularly remember a mega-hung and rather talented Latin dancer named Calvin, a compact blond cutie named Allen, and soon to become porn star Chris Williams. I left NYC for LA in 1990--midlife crisis and time to reinvent myself. Was crushed when the building was sold. The NY Times ran an article about the closing of the last Howard Johnson's in NYC. Oddly, they didn't mention the Gaiety. It was only later on a visit to NY that I made the connection.

[+ V-Vhitner]

Will someone ever bring it back..?

It was so hot - and so nyc.

[Despardo]

Will someone ever bring it back..?

It was so hot - and so nyc.

NYC also lost ShowPalace off 42nd and 8th during the Giuliani purge. NY real estate is now so expensive that it would take mega bucks to open a new theater plus the current puritanical attitude would make it difficult as well. These vintage places must have been paying off the right people.

[+ sniper]

Whatever became of TJ who used to dance there and escort? Does anyone know what he's doing now or if he still looks as hot as he did back then?

Saw him about 3 years ago and I think shortly after that he hung it up for good(or at least completely stopped advertising - for all I know he's still working with some old regulars). Still looked very good, added some tattoos.

[Tonyko]

I so enjoyed reading this. I spent many long evenings at the Gaiety. I particularly remember a mega-hung and rather talented Latin dancer named Calvin, a compact blond cutie named Allen, and soon to become porn star Chris Williams. I left NYC for LA in 1990--midlife crisis and time to reinvent myself. Was crushed when the building was sold. The NY Times ran an article about the closing of the last Howard Johnson's in NYC. Oddly, they didn't mention the Gaiety. It was only later on a visit to NY that I made the connection.

I believe I "knew" Allen. (if you're talking 86-89 ish)

[Despardo]

I believe I "knew" Allen. (if you're talking 86-89 ish)

Short blond with bubble butt and big fat dick. Reliable performer. Saw him many times. Always a turn on.

[coogee]

Great posts! But, no one remembers Federico? Any news about his wherabouts? Anyone has a photo of him?

Other great dancers were Jagger, Dominique, Austin ( who sadly passed away).

[Tonyko]

Where this guy is is EXACTLY where I stood waiting that first time LOL.

SIDE BY SIDE to these stairs were identical stairs to the Harlequin (sic) rehearsal studios legit rehearsal space. The showtimes on this board AND the boy posters above the coffee shop that wrapped around to the Broadway side remained UNCHANGED from the first time I went till it closed lol. (only thang that changed was the movie that was playing and the admission price

[+ g56whiz]

Great post Tonyko!!

[sutherland]

A friend of mine, a New Yorker, told me the Gaiety used to advertise in one of the local papers in the 1970's - either the NY Post or NY Daily News; I don't recall which.

[+ azdr0710]

great history here:

 

http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2013/01/follies-burlesk.html

 

http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2007/10/gaiety-theater.html

 

http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2011/03/gaiety-boys.html

 

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/9809

 

http://towleroad.typepad.com/towleroad/2005/03/the_end_of_an_e.html

 

1981 ad:

 

http://forgotten-ny.com/wp-content/gallery/deuce-goodbye-gaiety/gaietyad.jpg

[danncyC]

I remember the Gaiety so well. I first went when I was 16, no one believes that I was able to get in but I did. The lady at the front desk never even looked up when I handed my cash over.

 

I had seen an advertisement in the Village Voice. And I think it took me two or three months to build up the courage to finally go. There was one dancer named JF and he was from Montreal and he had a gap in his teeth; he danced to Where Have All the Cowboys Gone and it was just so freaking sexy. I would get the Village Voice and look for the Gaiety ad and make it a point to go there whenever JF was dancing. You would not believe my shock when I found out that you could talk to the dancers and go back to their hotel rooms.

 

Thank you for posting this and bringing back the memories.

[liubit]

The Gaiety and the Show Palace....New York was definitely a fun place to live in back in the 1990s.

 

Thanks for bringing back those hot memories!

[Tonyko]

I remember the Gaiety so well. I first went when I was 16, no one believes that I was able to get in but I did. The lady at the front desk never even looked up when I handed my cash over.

 

I had seen an advertisement in the Village Voice. And I think it took me two or three months to build up the courage to finally go. There was one dancer named JF and he was from Montreal and he had a gap in his teeth; he danced to Where Have All the Cowboys Gone and it was just so freaking sexy. I would get the Village Voice and look for the Gaiety ad and make it a point to go there whenever JF was dancing. You would not believe my shock when I found out that you could talk to the dancers and go back to their hotel rooms.

 

Thank you for posting this and bringing back the memories.

LOL as you can see in my memory I was the SAME age and she also never really looked at me or the older guys I tacked onto pretending to be with. Your money went thru the slot and the turnstyle clicked. That was it. This was around '86. My Grandparents were friends with a family named Bazzini who owned a restaurant right across the street where the Marriot is now and we went a lot and I REMEMBER walking past that yellow sign at like 10yo and not really knowing what it meant but knowing it had something secretly to do with "me". Then frosh year of HS this short fat girl who was obsessed with theater had this (dirty for Catholic school lol ) magazine in the cafeteria with a hot guy dancer on the cover called After Dark and some guys called it a fag mag and then I KNEW I had to find a way to steal it from her. Which I'm embarrassed to admit I did, from her bookbag in the library lol. And in that mag was an ad for the Gaiety and I realized what was actually inside and it took me to soph year to work up the courage to try n get in. (it's funny to think how TERRORFYING the first time was, scanning the sidewalk to see if ppl are looking at you etc) I remember the first time I went backstage thru the door off the lounge, when there was still priv rooms for "entertaining", it was one of the dancer's birthday and they had a cake for him. I remember seeing a guy from my father's office there (married) and doing a dance to keep out of his sight till he left. I remember sitting on that platform in the lounge in tight jeans waiting for a dancer from Canada I got friendly with and let stay with me when he came in (just HIM not clients lol) and an older dude (WITH A SHOPPING BAG OF GROCERIES wtf lol??? )offered me $$$ to go to his place for an hour lol. I remember that dancer rehearsing in my little apt in an SRO building The Whitby on 45th, he looked like that guy from that super hero TVshow wtf was his name and show ugh tall long blond super curley hair, and he was gawd awful at dancing and I convinced him to use D L Roth's Just A Gigolo and wear a tuxedo shirt n tie and just walk around and strip to it and it was a huge hit lol. I haven't thought about this shit in YEARS. SO takes me back

[whipped guy]

Does anyone recall a dancer named Drako (the name referenced a dragon) who was aka Angelo Garcia of the boy band Menudo? He escorted under the name Drako for a while and then went through a series of name changes for a variety of reasons. I began seeing him about the time that the Gaiety closed. He had a somewhat semi-posh if small apartment on West 42nd Street for a while. He could be a more than a bit flaky but was a decent guy. He was musically very talented and I still have a CD of his where he performs in Spanish. Over the years he partnered with a couple of other escorts. However each time the relationship failed to last. Last I saw him he was working out of a god-awful apartment in the vacinity of 10th Avenue in the 40's. That was a few years ago. He then disappeared.

 

Regarding the Gaiety itself I was there once in the early 1980's. I was not overly impressed by the twink dancers who were performing. As for the venue itself it was exactly as @Tonyko described!!!! I may have only been there once, but the stairs, the turnstile, and the woman grabbing the money will be forever etched in my mind! Not to mention the raunch inside! LOL!