MEN & VINYL

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.

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.”