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Ad for Studio One (652 N. La Peer, West Hollywood, CA).

There's quite a bit about Studio One out there, one of LA's pre-eminient disco venues. However, the venue's legacy these days is tainted by accounts of its racist door policies, which had been the subject of community protest, multiple times.

According to the ONE Archives page on Studio One, "[t]hree pieces of identification were required before even being admitted to the club and that was only if diversity quota has not been met for the night. Women and minorities were turned away from the door while white males were always admitted."

Ad for Our Den AKA Den One (1355 N. Wells, Chicago, IL).

Located in Chicago's Old Town neighbourhood, Den one was a gay venue catering to a mixed black and white clientele. In 1977, 19 year-old House pioneer and legend Ron Hardy would establish his first DJ residency at Den One (see Jacob Arnold's excellent article about Ron Hardy's Den One residency at RBMA).

At the time of this ad however, its DJ was Artie Feldman, a regular Chicago contributor to Vince Aletti's Disco File columns in Record World. By 1978, it would become Carol's Speakeasy, named after its owner Richard Farnham AKA Mother Carol. Its closure in 1991 appears to have been precipitated by its unfortunate connection to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, when it was found that Dahmer picked up one of his victims, 23 year-old Jeremiah Weinberger there.

Ad for Nickelodeon (141 Mason St., San Francisco, CA).

This venue got a brief mention in Bob Kiggins' San Francisco Disco Scene column, as a place "where boys can be girls." Interesting as a document of burgeoning disco DJ culture for an establishment to feature their music and sound above anything else - "ALL SOUL, ALL DISCOTHEQUE," with the names and photos of their DJs - Allan Frost and Don Miley front and centre.

Not sure how many other discos would employ Universal Studios’ Sensurround system (first used on the 1974 film Earthquake) but they made sure to include that in the ad too.

Ad for the Bayou Landing chain of gay bars and discos in the US south and midwest ran by entrepreneur Dennis Sisk and business partner Tony Caterine that seems to have rose as quickly as it fell.

Another half-page ad in the issue (see The Supremes Interview) advertises the opening of their newest Cleveland location. Some of it's branches became independent gay venues, like the one in Houston, which became The Old Plantation (probably not long after this ad was printed). Though one would question the inclusivity of a name like that today, The Old Plantation would spawn a mini-chain of its own.

Ad for Ball Express (4025 Pacific Coast Highway, San Diego, CA).

Housed in a former airplane hangar, the suggestively named Ball Express was apparently the first and biggest gay disco in San Diego and by various online accounts, the place to be in San Diego’s gay scene in the ‘70s. Gloria Gaynor, Eartha Kitt and Sylvester  are all said to have played there.

Concluding this series of transcribed articles from The Advocate's August '75 'Discos!" issue is an interview w/ Hollywood DJ, A.J. Miller.

While not much is known about whatever happened to Miller, the interview is an interesting look into just how influential gay DJs and discos were.

At the time Miller was working at a club called Our Side, which had formerly been the The Paradise Ballroom (owned by the notorious Eddie Nash), which would later become the long-running Probe. Miller was apparently also a close associate of the late writer/producer Bob Crewe and was instrumental in his disco productions at the time. 

I love Miller’s last line  - “[t]he most substantial thing that gay people have contributed in the last five years is the discotheque. We’ve got people turned on to music they never heard before. I think it’s the most beautiful kind of sharing thing that we can do. We have shared something that has sort of been our secret.”

Another instalment in this continuing series of time capsules from The Advocate's August '75 Discos! issue. Here, their regular city entertainment columns became a quick trip through the NY, Hollywood, & SF gay disco scenes. A bit of a lengthy preamble from me on the blog post, had to make a note about the decidedly tainted legacy of LA's Studio One and it's racist door policies, which would be the subject of community protest multiple times.

Another time capsule from The Advocate’s August ‘75 Discos! Issue. The intro to their disco coverage written by Christopher Stone, declaring 1975 “the year of the discos.”

Dusting off the blog again to post another article/time capsule from The Advocate’s August 13, 1975 Discos! Issue. This time, posting an article from the late gay activist Vito Russo. In it, Russo laments the loss of the neighbourhood dance bar in favour of the anonymous mega-disco. Some parallels here to current debates around the rise of apps and the decline of queer space.