James Riccio, Class of 2022, Finance and Art History

Larry Blagg’s extensive collection of gay club matchbooks and other ephemera offers a unique insight into queer life during the late 1960s through the late 1980s. These membership cards are from 12 WEST, a popular disco club located on 491 West Street, Greenwich Village, in Manhattan. 12 WEST welcomed all individuals even though the concept of membership cards were implemented to control the scene at other popular clubs to limit those who were seen to be “less desirable”. These “less desirable” people tended to be individuals of color and those who were considered less attractive. The club scene at 12 WEST was vibrant and offered refuge to those who were seen as “less desirable”, to other more popular discos, such as individuals who were people of color, overweight, short, and older.

Even though the disco scene was welcoming of all people, particularly the queer community, for the most part, it caused a backlash with middle-American youth which led to the riots at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in 1979, just a few weeks after Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’ topped the charts, where thousands of disco records were burned. Homophobia was further fueled by the onslaught of the AIDS epidemic in the United States with the first reported case in 1981, which only became worse and sparked a nationwide outcry from the queer community for governmental support.

Source

Larry Blagg gay club matchbook covers and ephemera, Blagg, Larry, 1969-1989, Human Sexuality, Box 1, Folder 3, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University, ID# RMC2021_7738

https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMM07738.html

Bibliography

“Identify These Clubs.” Disco.com. Accessed October 2, 2021. http://www.disco disco.com/clubs/identify-clubs.shtml.

Lawrence, Tim. “Chapter 6: Expansion .” Essay. In Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture ; 1970-1979. Durham: Duke Univ. Press, 2006.

Nadine Hubbs,  “‘I Will Survive’: Musical Mappings of Queer Social Space in a Disco Anthem.” Popular Music 26, no. 2 (2007): 231–44. doi:10.1017/S0261143007001250.

“The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the United States: The Basics.” KFF, June 7, 2021. https://www.kff.org/hivaids/fact-sheet/the-hivaids-epidemic-in-the-united-states-the-basics/.