Barefoot Boy, The

God! Talk about memories..I lived on the upper east side(e80's) & would go there every Fri & Sat. nite..w/my friends & the guy I was crazy about His name was Greg. I was a 6'3" tall Red Haired Drag Queen-always dressed ala 40's style..funny was talking about this just 2 wks ago.
we were a regular crew there -me,greg both Sony's (Sonia's) & Bobby(bimbo) & Marta..God!
What a crew we were..lots of good & wonderfull memories..too bad we lost contact...

I lived on E 30th st and my friend Doc and I would go to both Uncle Charlies and Barefoot Boy with our gay friend Steve, We were both straight and did meet some staight girls there. I remember one night at the Barefoot Boy in 1976 I asked the Swedish actress Liv Ullman to dance. Very cool place.

BB was the first place I ever danced where I was comfortable. I was used to the straight places, with girls in heels and dresses, waiting to be asked to dance by a guy. I was a girl who lived in my jeans and sneakers, and needed to dance and party hard. The guys at BB made me feel so welcome, I just couldn't wait to get there and dance to the most awesome music. I'll never forget it.

You are A fashion designer, magic artist and now visual artist... Good for You!!

BB and other dance clubs inspired my 33 year long career as a visual artist.
I even mention it in my book, see Amazon below.

I would love the publisher to market it to the gay community because I know they will enjoy and "get it"

http://www.amazon.com/Mardi-Parade-Posters-Andrea-Mistretta/dp/product-description/1589807782/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

BB was the first disco i and my strai9ght twin brothes would go to along with my cousin, we danced with each other i was 16. one night my cousin comes running back inside after leaving with girl.how i laughed when he said the girl he was making out with was a boy. now you have to understand we wewre 4 handsome puerto rican boys dancing the hustle together hoping to meet some girls. soon after months past my cousin ask me if i was gay. i was the first tiime i was asked. he said he wondered because i appeared comfortable. and i was. soon then there was crisco disco, harrys back east the archdiose in queens.1980 i won a costume ball hosted by Goege Paul Rozell Magic Dream Fantasy Ball at Bonds International. these were the building blocks to my career as and fashion designer magic artist and now visual artist.

Oh another thing i forgot about the barefoot boy
this is where my best friend Joey met his boyfriend Richie Seigal
Brother of Janis Seigal lead singer from Manhattan transfer

th BB was the best disco in NYC. Had great times there with friends from NJ ( Jimmy Villane:Mitch Weisbrot; Terry and Chris n many more. The last time I was there we were all tripping on Mescaline!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yet another place I remember fonldy where I first did poppers on the heaving crowded dance floor. I guess I qualify as a f*g h*g, since my favorite places were gay dance clubs, but that's whre the music was. I was a Playboy Bunny and my best pals were a couple of gay guys and we loved to dance. Jeff I think the place you reference is the Hollywood.

I decided to take "Dancer from the Dance" which is a few years before Barefoot Boy/Stix/Zeus and visit all the sites over the past 3 years where the kids of today say there is "fabulous" night life. The traveling has been grand, but despite news, even in The New York Times, three years of searching for a good party have gotten me nowheres to the level we had in Barefoot Boy. I guess the internet finished what restricted zoning, real estate speculation, and AIDS killed off, night life. Yes, the kids of today, usually the children or even I hate to say it, the grandchildren of my friends from the late 70s and early 80s will never know a really good time "at the disco". It's funny, in the 60s and 70s and 80s life was about discos and cheap rents, today, and for the last decade the same people or succeeding generations, are real estate brokers, developers, bankers, trying to maximize rentals and sales and that killed DISCOS!

Hey guys...
Spent many nights there and met my lover from Bermuda there. Incredibly fun place...anyone remember Disco Sally? Sadly most of my friends
are no longer around...I lived in the neighborhood
so it was easy to walk from Uncle Charlies' to BB.
Those were the days...and you're right...kids these
days have no idea.
et

I loved the barefoot boy i was very young then and it was one of the first gay clubs i would go to in NYC (jersey boy here)the music was the best the people were friendly there was some track by Denise Lasalle that they were working into a frenzy

TO DEWAYNE DIXON....FROM THE EARLY 80'S MEMBER.

CODE WORD NORMAN...DEAN..CONTACT ME ON AOL.
FLEAGLE84@AOL.COM

CARLO

I cant believe I pulled The Barefoot Boy from my wonderful memories dancing with my gay muses. You could call me a young H** from Jersey smitten with my beautiful gay boyfriends and their outrageous color, lifestyle and fun that inspired the posters I would create 9 years later for New Orleans Mardi Gras now going into its 25th year in a row. I jogged my memory writing about a young stunning boy I saw and danced with briefly with at Barefoot Boy , maybe Nov 77, in my book Mardi Gras Parade of Posters to be published by Pelican Publishing Dec 15th 09. He had a face made up with dramatic eyes ala Adam Lambert way back then. He is my first Mardi Gras poster image and he doesn't know it. I don't know him but he changed my vision and artistic perspective in ways he doesn't know. I feel I will never find him to tell him in my life which is sad for me. But I am happy to have encountered him.
Andrea M

Did any of you know a gal, ( yes, a f** hag) Sharon Kaufman ? She was a regular there. I went to NY (from ATL) with friends several times a year, I got out of the cab a half block down from The Barefoot Boy and suddenly I heard heels running, bleach blonde hair and a fake fur flying screaming "robbie!" yep, Sharon, a native New Yorker who had lived in ATL and been a close friend, SAME thing happened in Los Angles, New Orleans and again in ATL. I used to kid her saying she stalked me coast to coast. We lived together (roomates in 1 bed ) for a short time in the early 80's, she got into drama there ( we lived in the French Quater) and she blew town! Haven't seen her since, hope she survived the early 80's holocost, (sadly most of my friends going back to 1973 didn't, NOT sure why I have) She was as "buzy" as I was in the 70's and 80's.. "so many men so little time" as Miguel Brown sang... Sharon fancied herself as a "Jean Harlow" Look alike. She always hung in the Gay Bars, most guys thought she was a trans...IF ANYONE HAS SEEN HER PLEASE LET ME KNOW, Peace, Rob G. Atlanta, GA

I forget something in the club haze of the late 1970s I remember Barefoot Boy, but what was the name of the club in the "dirty 30's" between 8th and 9th? It was a largely black gay club with amazing music. This was circa December 1977. Cloud One and Patrick Adams were BIG. This was the first place I heard Marta Acuna's "Dance Dance Dance."

I remember going in there at the height of a big snow-storm and dancing in my snow boots until they threw me out. THe Softones, "Old Black Magic" was already old, so that was 1976. Anyone with an old copy of "Michael's Thing" might be able to fill me in. I seem to remember a westbound street so could it have been 37th or 39th, or uptown in Hell's Kitchen.

A lot of people forget the Ice Palace which was on 57th Street and 6th Avenue. As a downtown boy, I am not quite sure why we found our way up there but we did. Imagine opening a funky gay club in that space THESE DAYS! Sunday's had a brilliant dj who mixed in older cuts like "Makes You Blind" by the Glitter Band or Birthday by the Beatles. Genius.

Jeff

I went there when it was the Barefoot Boy and when it was Stix. When it was Stix, one Tuesday night I took the train from Brooklyn to meet my cousin there from the Bronx. He wasn't there so I sat down at the booth behind admnission. After a few minutes, one of the waiters came over and told me I had to leave because the club wasn't a "social" hangout. Not a social hangout? Holding my anger, I left and right douwn the block I met my cousin on his way to the club. I never went back again! Good thing about the club? When it was the Barefoot Boy, I met my lover of 12 years one Monday morning at 2:30AM. He too was from the Bronx. It's just something about Bronx men! lol So, the club was worth something!

I was a Jersey boy and Barefoot Boy was one of my first dancin hangouts. Loved the place and the vibe. I think it changed its name to Zeus after awhile. I remember a sweet bartender by the name of John. Great music, great club.

Hello Tony,

I live at the South Jersey Shore and I doing great. I would like to communicate with you and others from the past.

Dewane's e-Mail: Man1Music@comcast.net

Tony Smith,

Oh my God, I have been looking and ASKING about you for YEARS! This will refresh your memory, Phillip Morris security at Magique /Chippendales front door. Remeber my green Buick Appllo, your crates were in the trunk, it was a rain slicked street night, a yellow cab cut us off and we hydroplaned into the side of a oil trucks gas tank parked on second avenue and we totaled the car but THANK GOD we BOTH LIVED to WALK AWAY from that wreckage!!!!
I believe we were on our way down to Tory's or the 82 Club for after hours drinks after locking up Magique/Chippendales. Last I remeber you had owned I believe a vieo rental shop in alphabet city. I did ALL kinds of searches to track down contact information for you. Email me at phillipmorris@mail.com and then I will give you my REAL email address as we know there are immature clowns on this site that will be sending me junk email.

I lived a couple blocks south of Barefoot Boy, and Tuesday nights a now deceased famous classic musician and I would go first to Uncle Charlie's on Third Avenue for the 2 for 1, I think beers, but maybe also gin and tonics, then around 11:00 p.m. when the 2 for 1 ended, we'd head over to Barefoot Boy with the most wonderful Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens Puerto Ricans I have ever seen, before, during, or since. I am old now, but travel the world, and nothing approaches the glory of those days, Thurman Capote, Tennessee Williams, all the cast from "the Boys in the Band", several famous singers still alive (I saw one on tv here in Europe), etc. It was the most glorious period of New York night life.

Kids, even those under 30 have no idea. You can have The Saint, Studio 54, Paradise Garage, but for true experts, Barefoot Boy was the tops!

yes, that is the Dewayne Dixon who owned Intermetro Record Pool. I haven't heard or seen him since the late 90's.

Tony Smith

I was just wondering if the Dewayne Dixon, that is listed above in this article, is the same Dewayne Dixon who was the President of "Intermetro Record Pool" back in the early 80s. If it is can you pass along my Email Address to him, or maybe give me his.
Thanks Benny

Went there when I was very young with all my freinds. It was a very pretty disco. All stainless steel walls on the dance floor and a great sound system. It was very pretty and downstairs there was also area to sit down. We had so much fun there.
R/NYC