History of transexuals 70's, 80's and early 90's

[RawNY]

aeonflux1964:
Thanks for your trip downmemory lane. I was one of the white boys hiding in the back at Sallys, lol
NYC was a hot bed for TS in the 70's and into the 80's.
I recall my intro was thorugh pics of several un-named transexuals. However, Screw Magazine was the place to start the process. I recall meeting several T throughout Manhattan and then Queens. The first a beautiful woman with beads in her hair on Columbus Ave., I believe around 72nd Street., then an unreal beauty with whome I fell in love with on the West Side , I think in the Lincoln Center Area. In those days the girls was warm and gracious and did not rush you unless there was another gentleman waiting downstairs.
WHile I wont name names, I fondly recall Sally's, but you forgot one of my favorite places, Trapeeze. Also in TImes Sq., I believe off 7th Avenue about 44th Street. A stage on which rock bands played and straight people danced and found love, a dance floor where everyone mixed with a high wire act overhead and "go go boys and girls". Then there was another room where the crowd was mostly gay , transexual and they had drag shows as well. I would listen to the bands, watch the show, dance, hang out at the bar or in the lounge upstairs over the dance floor. It was Nirvana.
One other place I was privy to was Studio 54. The bathrooms, balcony, downstairs, sex, sweat, poppers and other bodily fluids filled the air. Many transexuals and very beautiful tranvestites were free as a bird and ready for anything hedonistic.
One other place you forgot was the one of a kind Glory Hole. ROoms and Rooms and Rooms with each wall having one or more glory holes. "nough said about that .
I tried to stay away fromt he street walkers in the meat packing district. They were rough and generally ugly and usually dirty.
Over the years I haev lost track of the underground playgrounds. The commercial venues, like Vapor, cater to the curious and the hustlers. I would rather stay home and watch porn, LOL
If you know any places I forgot of, please post them. If you know any places still active and fun, please shoot me an IM.
Thanks,
Peace

[EdelweissFan]

As my screen name suggests, I was a fan of Club Edelweiss, as well as Sally's in the mid 1990s.

Here's a fun fact about Sally's. One of its main performers was a drag queen named Dorian Corey, who had 15 minutes of fame because of her role in the movie, Paris is Burning.

Some weeks after Dorian died of AIDS in 1993, some of her friends went through her closet looking for costumes, and found a body wrapped in a clothing bag, sprinkled with baking soda.

The body had a gun shot wound to the head. The police later determined that the body was at least 20 years old, meaning Dorian had lugged it from apartment to apartment. By the time it was found, the body had turned into a mummy.

A note was found pinned on the body, presumably written by Dorian: "This poor soul broke into my apartment and I was forced to shoot him."

[RawNY]

the Munson Diner? OMG, loved it, quite a bunch of characters as well.

[RawNY]

I Guess I am a bit older than you Arianna,
Alot of shit happened on Jane Street for many years prior to that. I also recall the West Side Piers before the local officials got pressure to clean them up.
Then there was the restaurant on Cannal Street and I think Broadway, which was open 27/7 an da great place to go after being in some downtown venue like the Mudd Club.
We should meet and reminsess, lol

[RawNY]

I Guess I am a bit older than you Arianna,
Alot of shit happened on Jane Street for many years prior to that. I also recall the West Side Piers before the local officials got pressure to clean them up.
Then there was the restaurant on Cannal Street and I think Broadway, which was open 27/7 an da great place to go after being in some downtown venue like the Mudd Club.
We should meet and reminsess, lol

OMG! Yes, the Mudd Club had come and gone by the time I was starting to hang out in NY. But I started taking the trains in from NJ by the time I was 13, ran away from home and lived there as a squatter punk by the time I was 16, etc. "Memories,... like the corners where they hooked..."

Was that YOU? lol we should talk,

[TJT]

The Mudd Club makes me think of the Ramones.lol

I'm damned old I guess? A cousin of mine worked the pagent scene back in the mid-70's and my family owned gay clubs.The TS/CD thing seemed a bit more blurred then?

There was still a resistance in thinking about being a Transexual. Hell,being gay was still in the med lexicon as mental illness until 1973? The whole Transexual concept was way out there. The medical community was still fighting over it actually existing? Even on the drag circuit in those days the TS concept was controversial.

However,things seemed much more wide-open then both culturally and sexually. Things weren't so puritanical or rigid. Everything but herpes could be cured by going to the doctor and no one really gave a crap what you did,it was your business. It was a great time to be young.

AIDS changed all that. It was like a fucking nuclear bomb going off. Maybe 3 girls I knew then are still alive? Most died from AIDS,several others were murdered in the backlash from AIDS. It's still hard for me to comprehend it all. I try not to think about it.

[RawNY]

The Mudd Club makes me think of the Ramones.lol

Sorry, But Joey and the boys never played there. I don't Steve Maass would have permitted it. But plenty of action in the bathroom, not to mention the cage upstairs.

[TJT]

I don't know about that,but The Ramones refer to the Mudd Club in their song, The Return of Jack and Judy.

"Judy is a punk,Jackie is a skunk
They went down to the Mudd Club
and they both got drunk"

Ever since I heard that song way back when I can't hear the words "Mudd Club' w/o that song popping into my head?

[a994]

I've never been to New York, so I have no firsthand knowledge of the Mudd Club.

But if I were in that place and that time (late '70s-early '80s), I would be much more of a Club 57 guy.

[fitfred]

no mention of angelique? anyone know what happened to her?
ragendude - she doesn't seem to feature on your site either???