Mineshaft (gay club)

Mineshaft
General information
Type Bath house
Location Manhattan, New York City
Address 835 Washington Street
Country United States
Opening October 8, 1976 (1976-10-08)
Closed November 7, 1985 (1985-11-07)
Technical details
Floor count 2
Other information
Facilities roof deck, clothes check, dungeons / private rooms, slings, glory holes, bathtub

The Mineshaft was a members-only BDSM gay bar and sex club located at 835 Washington Street, at Little West 12th Street, in Manhattan, New York City, in the Meatpacking District, West Village, and Greenwich Village sections.[1]

Description

Among those who frequented the Mineshaft were Jack Fritscher, who was present at its opening night and attended hundreds of times,[2] Fritscher's lover Robert Mapplethorpe, who took many pictures of the Mineshaft and was at one point its official photographer,[3] gay erotic artist Rex,[4] and Annie Sprinkle, who said she was one of three women ever allowed in.[5][6] (One of the other women was Camille O'Grady.[7]) Manager Wally Wallace (born James Wallace) said that he turned away Mick Jagger, and a bouncer turned away Nureyev.[8] But Vincente Minnelli, Fassbinder, Rock Hudson, and Foucault got in.[9]

There was no sign on the entrance; the exterior has been described as "grimy".[10] The location had previously been used by a gay bar, Zodiac.[11] The entrance to the club was up a flight of stairs, on the second floor. The door was manned by someone who rejected anyone wearing preppie clothes or cologne. Originally the Mineshaft was on that one floor (and with a scat room, which was soon abandoned as too extreme.)[12] It soon expanded to the first floor beneath, cutting a hatch in the middle of the (second) floor which gave access down rough stairs to a recreation of a jail cell, the back of a truck, dungeons, and a room containing spotlighted bathtubs in which men could let other men urinate on them.[13][14]

The Mineshaft operated from October 8, 1976 until it was closed by the New York City Department of Health on November 7, 1985, although tax problems played a significant role in its closing.[15] The bar had a roof deck, clothes check, dungeons, slings, cans of Crisco (used as a lubricant for fisting),[16] and other services. There was a wall of glory holes.[17] Nudity or minimal clothing was encouraged. After it closed, six men, associated with both the Mineshaft and an affiliated heterosexual club, the Hellfire, were charged with a variety of crimes.[18] Four pled guilty, former New York City police officer Richard Bell was convicted, and the sixth fled the country to escape prosecution.[19]

According to Jack Fritscher, Jacques Morali drew his inspiration for the four archetypes of the Village People from the Mineshaft's dress code.[20] Glenn Hughes, the original leather biker of the Village People, frequently attended.[21]

The existence of the Mineshaft was widely known among gays who never visited; it has been called a "mythic[al]...space".[22]

Dress code

A sign said the following:

The Mine Shaft dress code

as adopted by the club on October 1, 1976
is to be followed during the year 1978.

The Board of Directors

Approved dress includes the following:
Cycle leather & Western gear, levis
Jocks, action ready wear, uniforms,
T shirts, plaid shirts, just plain shirts,
Club overlays, patches, & sweat.

NO COLOGNES or PERFUMES
NO SUITS, TIES, DRESS PANTS
NO RUGBY SHIRTS, DESIGNER SWEATERS, or TUXEDOS
NO DISCO DRAG or DRESSES

also

NO HEAVY OUTTER [sic] WEAR IS TO BE WORN IN PLAYGROUND

NOTE: The code was designed for particular men who compose the basic core of our club[23]

Popular culture

The Al Pacino movie Cruising was intended to depict gay cruising as it existed at the Mineshaft, though the bar is not named in the movie.[24] Since the Mineshaft would not allow filming, scenes from the movie were filmed at the Hellfire Club, which was decorated to resemble the Mineshaft. Regulars from the Mineshaft appeared as extras.[25] Scenes were shot in streets and other locations near the Mineshaft.[26] Pacino attended as part of researching his role.

A bar called the Mineshaft does not appear in the 1970 novel Cruising by Gerald Walker, which, with substantial changes, was the inspiration for the 1980 film of the same name and this did model club interiors on the real Mineshaft.

Freddie Mercury wears a Mineshaft T-shirt on the official video for the Queen song Don't Stop Me Now. The images and posters for the club were created by the Rex (artist).

References

  1. ↑ Patrick Moore, Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality, Beacon Press, 2004, ISBN 0807079561, p. 19.
  2. ↑ Jack Fritscher, "The Mineshaft", introduction, written 2002, to reprint of article first published in Drummer, 19, December 1977, http://www.jackfritscher.com/PDF/Drummer/Vol%201/33_Mineshaft_Mar2008_PWeb.pdf, retrieved September 29, 2014.
  3. ↑ Jack Fritscher, Robert Mapplethorpe: Assault with a Deadly Camera, pp. 189-190.
  4. ↑ Fritscher pp. 502-505 and 509.
  5. ↑ "Keith Hennessy asks Annie Sprinkle Ten Questions about the Old Days", Dance Theatre Journal, 2013, reprinted at http://tessawills.com/when-sex-performance-came-together/, retrieved September 29, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Annie Sprinkle's Kinky NYC 1975-1995", http://anniesprinkle.org/2008-events, retrieved September 29, 2014.
  7. ↑ Jack Fritscher, introduction to reprint of "The Mineshaft" from Drummer 19, December, 1977, Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer, San Francisco, Palm Drive Publishing, 2008, ISBN 1890834386, pp. 471, 474, and 510, http://www.jackfritscher.com/PDF/Drummer/Vol%201/33_Mineshaft_Mar2008_PWeb.pdf, retrieved September 29, 2014.
  8. ↑ Fritscher, p. 479.
  9. ↑ Fritscher, pp. 479 and 510.
  10. ↑ Patrick Moore, Beyond Shame. Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality, Boston, Beacon Press, 2004, ISBN 0807079561, p. 178.
  11. ↑ Paul L. Montgomery, "Raids Close 9 After-Hours Bars Linked to Mafia", New York Times, July 19, 1971, p. 1.
  12. ↑ Moore, p. 23.
  13. ↑ Will Kohler, "LGBT History Month: Remembering the Mineshaft - 835 Washington St. NYC, NY (1976-1985)", http://www.back2stonewall.com/2012/10/disappearing-gay-history-mineshaft-835.html, October 4, 2012, retrieved September 29, 2014.
  14. ↑ Jack Fritscher, "Pissing in the Wind", Drummer, 19, December 1977, reprinted with introduction by Jack Fritscher, http://www.jackfritscher.com/PDF/Drummer/Vol%201/33_Mineshaft_Mar2008_PWeb.pdf, retrieved September 29, 2014, also reprinted as "Wet Dreams, Golden Showers" in Corporal in Charge of Taking care of Captain O'Malley And Other Canonical Stories, San Francisco, Gay Sunshine Press, 1984, ISBN 0917342453, pp. 193-202, reprinted at http://www.jackfritscher.com/PDF/Corporal/Wet%20Dreams.pdf, retrieved September 29, 2014.
  15. ↑ Jay Bletcher, "Sex Club Owners: The Fuck Suck Buck Stops Here", in Policing Public Sex. Queer Politics and the Future of AIDS Activism, Boston, South End Press, 1996, ISBN 0896085503, pp. 25-44, at p. 33.
  16. ↑ The Mineshaft hosted meetings of the long-defunct Fist Fuckers of America, according to the Mineshaft Newsletter, February 1978, quoted by Jack Fritscher, http://www.jackfritscher.com/PDF/Drummer/Vol%201/33_Mineshaft_Mar2008_PWeb.pdf, Also p. 508, retrieved September 29, 2014.
  17. ↑ Will Kohler, "LGBT History Month: Remembering the Mineshaft - 835 Washington St. NYC, NY (1976-1985)", http://www.back2stonewall.com/2012/10/disappearing-gay-history-mineshaft-835.html, October 4, 2012, retrieved September 29, 2014.
  18. ↑ Kirk Johnson, "6 Tied to Late-Night Clubs Indicted in Conspiracy Case", New York Times, March 1, 1986.
  19. ↑ Associated Press, "Ex-Officer Is Convicted In Sex-Club Operation", New York Times, November 18, 1986.
  20. ↑ Fritscher, p. 509.
  21. ↑ Fritscher, p. 466.
  22. ↑ Moore, p. 20.
  23. ↑ Posted on maleholeformale9.tumbler.com, https://36.media.tumblr.com/86db660b472aa578684e8abe8ef7c217/tumblr_nrke38O8L51tzk694o4_r1_1280.jpg, retrieved 7/25/2015. Typographically edited
  24. ↑ Unsigned, Was The Mineshaft A Mafia Joint?, http://bitterqueen.typepad.com/friends_of_ours/2010/12/was-the-mineshaft-a-mafia-joint.html, December 29, 2010, retrieved September 29, 2014.
  25. ↑ Jack Fritscher, p. 509.
  26. ↑ Fritscher, p. 506.

Further reading

Ira Tattelman, "Staging Sex and Masculinity at the Mineshaft", Men and Masculinities, vol. 7, no. 3, January 2005, 300-309.

Coordinates: 40°44′26″N 74°00′27″W / 40.740560°N 74.007583°W / 40.740560; -74.007583

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