Flamingo

Hello,

Armando Galvez, Vincent Carleo and Jorge Villardel were 3 of the early Flamingo deejays (1974-75), preceding Richie Rivera, Howard Merritt and Wayne Scott... and myself.

in music,

Lary Sanders, DJ
Sandpiper (Fire Island Pines), 1976 & 77
Flamingo, 1976-77 season
Hurrah, 1977
Infinity, 1977

Can anyone remember a night at Flamingo and what it was typically like. I heard that men who would go there were very sexually active. Is this true? Anyone know what Flamingo's signature tune is?

All people were very sexual active in the 1970's -- whatever "very sexual active" means. Can anyone think of a disco where sexually inactive people went?

There were some great anthems at Flamingo throughout the years but the club's signature had to be "Pull Yourself Together" by Buddy Miles released on CBS in 1974.

Lary Sanders
Flamingo DJ, 1976-77 season

many a great night at Flamingo....my fav was Howard. I used to dance on the sidelines.
To Bobbysgirl....the club changed its look weekly, driven by themes. black parties, white parties, I remember attending something of a cowboy thing once.

OMIGOD! I just found this site. I was a member of Flamingo from the year it opened until the day it closed. And what a sad day that was. I remember the Letter that Michael has sent to all the members: Remember the Bird. I commonly refer to those days at Flamingo and Studio 54 as the best days of my life. There will never be another club (in our life time in our life) like Flamingo.

I was also a member of Flamingo from Dec16 1974 until March 1980(?). It's fair to say the person I am now, was largely created by my years at the Flamingo. My favorite DJ was Wayne Scott. Who can forget his funky morning hours with songs like "I'll kill a brick" - Hot Sauce, or "Gimme love with the music" - Lalomie Washburn, "Final Thing" - Steve Bender. Wayne was always willing to expriment with the esoteric, and always hit it right! And not a lot of "Euro". Thank you Wayne. Wish I could chat with you again one day.

Most gay men forget that it was Flamingo first started both the White and Black Parties.

I do remember one private promotional party for the movie "one Last bit" with George hamilton as the star. When they went to introduce George to the crowd, George said something to the affect, that he gives good bite. Someone in the crowd yelled "you also give great head in the bathroom". The immediately ushered George off the make shift state.

I remember one Black party they had a guy on a cross and a pig in cage (the sow had a young piglette with her). Some party goer didn't think the sow was having a good time and decided to shoot it up with Katamine. The Sow died within minutes. Everybody thought the pig was asleep in it's cage (with Richie playing, nobody could sleep). He wasn't called Boom Boom Richie for nothing.

I worked at Christopher Street Pizza back when Flamingo was open. The owner of the Pizza Shop and Michael were the nest of friends. I used to have to drive the pies over to Flamingo around 1am everytime there was a party. There are no clubs like this around anywhere. Not even any music coming out now touches what we experienced back then. I miss sooo many of the great DJs from back then also.

The Flamingo was my favourite dance place when I came to NYC from Montreal. It was masculine, original and wish it would have remained open...it closed too soon. I will always remember "western night" and the very hot men and music that played there.

I'll never forget the night Flamingo was raided and closed down by the Fire Department. I believe it was opening night 1977. What an incredible party. What a bummer when the music stopped. We followed developments closely for weeks after as Michael Fesco kept sending us updates. Rumor was that the owners of a competing disco called Frankenstein had set up the raid to try and peel away some of Flamingo's following. Not a chance. We stood fast in our loyalty. For me, there was never another club to compare. At Flamingo, everything was new, being tried for the first time. By the time the Saint opened it was all repetition, barely an original idea in sight. Maybe the pecs got bigger thanks to steroids, but the men were never hotter.

I first went to Flamingo as a guest of my roommate in the fall of 1975. You entered through the door on the corner of Broadway & West Houston, then up a flight of stairs. Upon entering the club on the 2nd floor, coat check was on the left, with a row of banquettes running along the south wall parallel to coat check. There was an open space leading west from the coat check to a wall with two doorways on either end, which were the entrances to the dance floor. The dance floor itself was a large, white rectangular room with the DJ booth at the top of the wall on the center right as you entered the room. Across the top width of the wall you had just passed through to enter the dance floor was a huge electric board that looked like a piano keyboard and lit up with various colors that shone on the dance floor. Beyond the dance floor at the far end was a lounge area, which was a black room that got very naughty late in the evening <g>. I finally got my own membership by speaking with Sam, the manager of the club, who told me to just stop by during the week and speak to Jane, a lady who worked during the daytime in the office of the club, which was located behind coat check, overlooking Broadway. It was that easy for me, which I was surprised at since having a membership there was a big deal at the time. One of my most vivid memories of Flamingo was a party in April of 1976 called the Tropicana Party. The club was decorated in a tropical motif for the night, and most of the guys that night were dressed in Hawaiian shirts and Levi 501's. At the height of the evening, the music stopped and the place went dark. With the lights off, a song by Celia Cruz came on, and when the lights came up, the banquettes in the front room were lined with couples dressed as if they were at the old Tropicana Club in 1950's Havana, Cuba, all dancing to the mambo beat of the music. It was one of the greatest parties ever at THE greatest club ever.