After hours gay clubs nyc

overview

While their significance is often underestimated or dismissed by heterosexual society, bars and other establishments played a pivotal role throughout the 20th century — but particularly in the pre-Stonewall era — as centers for LGBT protest and community.

These spaces, whether always gay friendly or only during certain times of the day or week, gave LGBT people the freedom to be themselves in a way they usually could not be in their personal or professional lives.

This curated collection largely reflects the bar and nightlife scene of downtown Manhattan; as we research more sites we encourage you to reach out to us with suggestions in upper Manhattan and the outer boroughs.

Header Photo

Truman Capote (center) with Liza Minnelli and Steve Rubell at Studio 54 in an undated photo. Photographer and provider unknown.

It’s a familiar sight for many of us; the swathes of revellers flocking from clubs as night starts to make way for daylight, while all around you the city seems unusually calm, almost tranquil.

In these moments it’s as if a new side to the urban area has revealed itself, one not bound by the conventional monotony of  the rat race, but something far more magical. And it was this magic that photographer Richard Renaldi wanted to capture in his latest body of work, Manhattan Sunday.

It’s Manhattan nightlife that helped Richard embrace his identity as a young gay man in late 1980s and 90s NYC. Drawing on these experiences Manhattan Sunday features dark and white images from 2010 to the present, taken in the initial hours of Sunday mornings when revellers filter into the streets, breathing animation into the defunct city in a dazzling mix of hedonistic serenity.

Tell me more about how you conceived Manhattan Sunday.
I was thinking about the trial I’ve had over the years of leaving a club at daybreak or even early morning; New York is usually 24/7, but on Sundays everyone’s just staying dwelling. But if you go out Saturday night and generate it