A Facebook post recently circulated showing the legendary entry requirements for The Mineshaft, one of New York City’s most notorious gay clubs. The image appeared in the group Gay New York 1970s and 80s, sparking conversations about the era’s uncompromising queer nightlife.
Opening in 1976 where the Meatpacking District meets Greenwich Village, The Mineshaft operated as a members-only cruise club with a famously rigid dress code. The rules were clear: leave your cologne at home, and don’t even think about showing up in khakis and a polo…
The club quickly became legendary for both its architectural layout and its sexual openness. Different areas catered to different activities, outfitted with bathtubs, slings, scaffolding, and specialized equipment. Clothing was optional. The encounters ranged across the full spectrum of intensity. It was a space designed without apology: for pleasure, for community, for the kind of freedom that required you to check your respectability politics at the door.
Check out some of the regulars who frequented club Mineshaft in the 70s recalling the glory daze via Queerty after the jump — and find their list of rules above! No loud talk or extended conversations on the Playground!? We love these queens!
“Too many men, too little time”
As for the “golden age” of the 1970s, DT says being a young gay man in places like New York City and San Francisco was like being a kid in a candy shop.
“Guys my age would have casual sex as often as eight times a day. We wore t-shirts saying ‘Too many men, too little time’, which sums it up.”
“I had the most fun I ever will in the leather bars in all major cities, but my NY favorites were The Mineshaft for pure raunch. However, I would usually hit the Ramrod early in the evening.
“The sketchiest sex club was the Anvil, near the Mineshaft. But rumor had it that if you went there you risked being pulled out of the Hudson [River] the next morning, stabbed in the back.
“Most guys, when young, enjoy high-risk settings because it gives you an adrenaline rush, doubled by the poppers. Most of the time, the reason you get away with it is pure luck.”
Probably was “white only” as well
I’ve still got my Mineshaft T-shirt from when I was 23, a young guy from Godalming in England. I was told by my friend who took me there to keep my mouth shut as my English accent would probably not let me in. I did and it was everything you could possibly imagine, everything.