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Lou Reed met his transgender lover Rachel there, and David Bowie probably hooked up too. The New York Dolls, the Stilettos, and a pre-Blondie Debbie Harry all performed here. It was around this time that Club 82 took on new life as a nexus for glam rockers. By the early 1970s, a pair of lesbians the size of linebackers ran the bar, Tommy and Butchie, who spoke through a hole in her throat. Five hours later, police found his corpse stuffed in the back seat of his car, beaten to a pulp.Ĭlub 82 lost much of its cache in the 1960s as Village homosexuals grew more focused on fighting for their rights than in titillating straight customers. On June 20th, 1953, Franse left his club at 4:30 a.m. Not with Anna, but with Franse, who he’d left in charge of keeping Anna quiet during the divorce proceedings. Anna went to the feds and disclosed Vito’s drug smuggling operation running beneath Club 82. He even bumped off her first husband when she couldn’t obtain a divorce, which is…kind of sweet?īut in 1953, Anna asked for a divorce. Anna was a known lesbian (or bisexual, stories differ), which didn’t bother Vito in the least. He also installed his second wife Anna as the manager and co-owner.
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Genovese took full advantage of that fact, using Club 82 to launder money, blackmail clients, and stash heroin in the basement. Like many mobsters, Genovese financed Village gay bars, which were prevented from obtaining legitimate funding due to homophobic laws and social stigmas.
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Stephen Franse had a dangerous business partner – mob boss Vito Genovese. Adult magazines like Man to Man and Wink raved, “To some it may be confusin’ – but it’s always amusin’!” Some even got in on the act – Errol Flynn once walked up to a piano and started tickling the ivories with his penis. While most of the performers were gay, the customers were largely adventurous heterosexual elites looking for a little ribald good fun Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas, Elizabeth Taylor, and Judy Garland to name just a few. Lesbians in mens’ clothing bounced and waited tables. 35 female impersonators strutted their stuff three times a night at 10:30, 12:30, and 2:30 under the direction of Kitt Russell, “America’s top femme mimic” according to Walter Winchell. Franse previously operated a gay-friendly cabaret called Club 181 beneath the Yiddish Arts Theatre at 2nd and 12th until he lost his liquor license.įor over a decade, Franse operated the biggest drag show in America, though it was still pretty hush-hush. The Inn offered revues until 1953, when club impressario Stephen Franse moved into the space to create Club 82. But you’d be wrong.Ĩ2 East 4th Street has been offering clandestine entertainment since the cops raided a “dripping-wet” speakeasy called the Rainbow Inn in 1930.
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You’d never think there were any secrets lurking around here.
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The discreet door, gated during the day, reveals only a hand-painted “82” at night. You probably walked right past this innocuous building near 2nd Avenue. If you’ve ever walked across East 4th Street, you’ve probably noticed the half-dozen theaters and entertainment venues between Bowery and 2nd Avenue like La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, the Duo Multicultural Arts Center, and the Kraine Theater.