***
The Saint was, bar none, the
greatest dance club in the history of the world. I do not make such a statement
lightly; in fact that was a first. In the case of the Saint I make it without
hesitation. The Saint was a serious dance and party club for those who loved
dancing and partying. Enter the Saint and you left the rest of the world
behind.
The club occupied the space
formerly housing the Fillmore East. Together with San Francisco’s Fillmore West, they were the
premiere showcases for top talent of the 60’s, through 1971. Near the bottom of
the page linked below, you’ll see the note that it became The Saint.
The Saint started as a secret club – membership only by referral. Guests had to be phoned in ahead of time with names left at
the door. There was no sign on the corner building at 2nd Ave. and 6th St. There was nothing that would
indicate that a club existed there except for the lines on Saturday nights. (It
tried opening Sundays and then Fridays, but it was basically a one night club.)
No matter how crowded, there was
always space on the dance floor and rarely a wait for a beer or the men’s room.
Members had lockers. The club was run very well, catering to its members rather
than just taking their money. The service and accommodating attitude was unique
in the world of gay nightlife.
I wandered in one night in
its first year as I lived about a mile uptown on 2nd Ave. in 1981. Amazingly, the doorman
allowed me in after giving me the once-over. I still remember walking on to the
Saint’s dance floor for the first time. Other than that one visit, I didn’t
start going regularly until 1983-84 with J.
Saint info & pics can be found here:
The lobby is a long hallway
leading to double doors and the first of the three floors of the Saint.
Keep in mind that this club
was the size of one of those old-style grand Broadway movie theaters as noted
in the Fillmore East history. It had 3 separate staircases spanning the 3
floors. One was a really cool black spiral staircase likely from its Fillmore
days. The club was huge. Open the doors and walk into the black / gray décor of
the socializing, drugging and drinking floor – a marble black and white floor
with gray carpeted banquettes spilling off the walls. In the center was a
massive circular bar manned by the hottest bodies you can imagine. First order
of business upon arrival was reserving “the spot” on a banquette. “The spot”
was where we could always meet if anyone got lost. With the size of the place,
the size of the crowd and the drugs we were on, some of us did get lost at
times.
One set of stairways leading up to the
dance floor.
The second floor was the uniquely famous dance floor – The Dome. The dome over the Saint’s
dance floor was larger than the one at NYC’s Hayden Planetarium. Walking into
the dome was entering yet another different world. The gigantic dance floor was
also surrounded with narrow banquettes. In the center of the dance floor was a
massive light machine at the bottom of which were mirrors.
The light machine rose like a
tower out of the floor to various heights as high as halfway to the top of the
dome. For the first time anywhere I’d seen, announcements for parties included
both the DJ and the Lights designer. Acoustically, the space was uniquely
perfect for a dance club. No huge speakers propped up on the floors or hanging
from the ceilings. Banks of speakers were hidden under the banquettes ringing
the dance floor and, well, who knows where the others were?! The result was a
vibrant, space-filling, totally danceable sound with plenty of bass and crystal
clear treble. But, it did not make you vibrate from the volume. You could even
talk while the music was playing without shouting. The music on the Saint’s
dance floor engulfed you, transporting you to a different world.
The third floor. The balcony
was the only part of the Fillmore that remained. It looked down on to the dance
floor (you could see through the dome). But back to the balcony. That
was the sex venue. The entire balcony was packed with guys having sex pretty
much all night. For the Saint, all night began at midnight Saturday night when
the club opened through the next afternoon. You’d see some gorgeous men in the
club, most of them eventually shirtless. Many of these guys would end up in the
balcony all horned up on dancing, sweat and drugs.
The price of admission (a
steep $20 at that time) was admission to a different, very special world. The Saint was the
all in one place to spend a Saturday night and enjoy good drugs, drinking, socializing, dancing and sex – in other words, the complete night out in NYC.
Despite it being “secret”,
its reputation spread around the world. And thus was born today’s “Circuit
Boys”, doing the elite gay circuit parties around the US and the
world. Each year the Saint had its special parties: Halloween, New Year’s Eve,
the White Party (Pres. Day weekend) and the Black Party (3rd weekend of March).
People came to these parties from all over the world. I went to most of them
with my friends.
The Saint officially closed
in May 1988, with “The Final Party”. It was a 2-day event, going from Saturday
night through Monday night. The event made the NY Times and drew thousands from
around the world. While on line there to buy our tickets a couple of weeks
beforehand, I overheard one queen say to his friend, “Tuesday I’m going to need
a brain transplant.” When entering the party you were given a wristband so that
you could come and go during those 2 days. Other than The Final Party, once in the
club you couldn’t go out and return. Local news featured the story throughout
the weekend with footage of guys with the bands. That was also the first time
I’d seen bands of this kind used. My friends and I were there from Saturday
night through late Sunday morning. We went home, ate, slept, ate, showered and
returned for Round 2 – Sunday night through Monday morning. The drugs we went
through those 2 days would have had a herd of horses wired to the eyeballs.
The Saint re-opened for one
night: New Year’s Eve 1988. That was huge news! It was the best New Year’s Eve
I’ve had being out rather than at a party. We were at the Saint until 3-4 PM
New Year’s Day. I swear – I lost touch with reality – the Saint became my
entire world, my reality. It was a unique experience remembered well today 20 years later.
The Saint evolved into “The
Saint at Large”, holding their big parties at various venues including Roseland
(mostly), the South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan, The Palladium on 14th
St., and one New Year’s Eve at Studio 54 (not a good choice). Roseland was the
most popular venue. As you may know, it’s also a huge space famous for decades
as one of NYC’s premier straight dance palaces. But a few times a year they
rented out their space to the Saint.
The music for the night
(and the next day) was designed to bring people down from the super high
energy music at peak hours – like until 6 AM or so. At some point the DJ
blended into what was called “sleaze music”. It was the somewhat slower, lower
key yet highly danceable music. Examples that come to mind are Erasure’s “Oh
L'Amour” and Georgio Moroder’s “Together in Electric Dreams.” Two of our
friends usually didn’t arrive until sleaze time – after 6. We knew the DJ’s,
sometimes personally from the Fire Island Pines, and knew who we liked and
didn’t.
Going to the Saint was a
“religious-like” experience among my friends and me - J, MB and whoever else
joined us for the night. It was a ritual. We all met at J’s apt. on Bleecker St. just
west of Broadway. We hung there for a couple of hours slowly getting fired up
on coke and then taking our drug of choice (usually ecstasy – back when it
first hit the US)
hoping that we’d get into the club before it kicked in. We also did coke and
crystal, depending on availability and plan. When properly “prepared”, usually
by around 2-2:30 AM, we walked to the Saint – a 10 minute walk by a specific,
traditional route that included 2 blocks along the Bowery past CBGB’s.
Upon arrival we chose “the spot” then got beers. The Saint was the only club I’ve
known that allowed drug use out in the open. No sneaking to the men’s
room. Just sit on the banquettes with a beer and snort away. Vials and joints
were flying so fast at times it was tough to keep up. Traditionally we spent
maybe 90 minutes or more at our spot on the banquette just hanging and
listening to the music. It was almost like an endurance contest as to who
couldn’t wait anymore to go upstairs and dance. Once upstairs, you were so
totally transported, sitting and chatting downstairs wouldn’t be an option for
many hours. We often danced near the mirrors at the base of the light machine –
“meet you in the middle” often the last words as one of us headed out to the
dance floor.
“Together in Electric Dreams”
was our song – J, MB and I. When it was played (and it always was), the 3 of us
always danced together. Even if we were at different ends of the club, upon hearing Electric Dreams we came from all directions and met on the dance floor (usually "in the middle").
Together in Electric Dreams
[Uploading .mp3’s via podcast are presently beyond me. The “no video stream" video converted from MP3 is the only way I could get the music up.]
[Uploading .mp3’s via podcast are presently beyond me. The “no video stream" video converted from MP3 is the only way I could get the music up.]
I never had a bad or even
mediocre time at the Saint. It was degrees of “incredible”. We all loved going
out dancing – anywhere. A Saint night, though, was always a special night.
Dancing, friendship and drugs were the essence of our days at the Saint. Some
of my fondest memories are of nights at the Saint with my friends.
[On a personal note, my days of speedy drug use have been behind me since 1996.]
***
No comments:
Post a Comment